Abstract
General Overview: This report from the Family Violence Prevention Fund focuses on the challenges, prevention and treatment of intimate partner violence (IPV) in immigrant and refugee communities in the United States.

Discussion: Immigrant and refugee women experiencing IPV find it difficult to access support services for a range of reasons, including language difficulties, a lack of economic resources and their social isolation. This report discusses the needs of immigrant and refugee IPV victims, and advises funders, service providers and policy-makers on how they can best meet them. The authors also identify key research and evaluation issues in relation to IPV in refugee and immigrant communities. Their findings are based on interviews with seven stakeholder organisations: Arab-American Family Support Center, Asian Women’s Shelter, Casa de Esperanza, License to Freedom, MANAVI, MUNA Legal Clinic, and Refugee Family Services.

The report contains two appendixes. The first appendix offers an overview of the legal structure and financial assistance available to immigrants and refugees in the US and highlights critical differences in the treatment of the two groups. The second appendix is a literature review on IPV in immigrant and refugee communities and deals with the following topics: prevalence of IPV; dynamics, risk factors and consequences of IPV; knowledge, attitudes and beliefs of the community in relation to IPV; the socio-cultural and socio-political context of IPV; immigrant and refugee women’s help-seeking, and individual and agency responses; and intervention and prevention programs. The review concludes with recommendations for future research projects.