Breaking Free from Violence
Cheng Searching for Ways to Best Support Survivors of Attacks by Intimate Partners
As a young girl growing up in Taiwan, Shih-Ying Cheng witnessed how violence within her family had detrimental effects not only on herself but her surrounding family. The assistant professor at the Jane Addams College of Social Work is searching for ways to reduce or eliminate what she experienced.
Practicing as a licensed social worker in the East Asian country of about 24 million prior to earning her doctorate degree from Washington University in St. Louis, Cheng assisted intimate partner violence (IPV) survivors and immigrants who migrated to Taiwan through arranged marriages, many of which were conducted through an international broker. The work, she said, shaped her interest in studying IPV, especially in developing strategies to support survivors’ safety, autonomy, and well-being toward a violence-free life.
For the past several years, Cheng has partnered with a Chicago-based organization to learn how it assists IPV victims within the group’s community. Employing the research method of photovoice, where participants document their experiences through photography and stories, Cheng has learned and developed a variety of strategies to support and serve survivors.
“Listening to stories and reflections from frontline practitioners is very rewarding, and I often feel so lucky to be able to do this work,” Cheng said.
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Shih-Ying Cheng, PhD
In a recent study, “Beyond the Numbers: Community Advocate Perspectives on National IPV Data Among AAPI Survivors” published in the journal Families in Society: The Journal of Contemporary Social Services, Cheng analyzed data from the National Crime Victimization Survey and compared it to insights from domestic violence advocates. Both sets of data indicated high rates of spousal abuse, repeat victimization, and physical symptoms among Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) survivors.
“Our findings suggest there is a need for improved representation of AAPI survivors in research and reaffirm the importance of providing culturally responsive services to prevent repeat victimization and address IPV-related physical symptoms,” she said.
The Asian population is currently the fastest-growing racial group in the United States, projected to reach 46 million by 2060. In IPV research, however, they are underrepresented, Cheng said. National surveys in the U.S. suggest that occurrences are less prevalent among AAPI women compared to other racial groups. Incidents are often underreported due to a lack of awareness, traditional family values, and the absence of language accessibility in national surveys.
According to the Centers for Disease Control, IPV is common, affecting millions of people in the U.S. each year. More than one in three women (about 43.5 million) and more than one in six men (20.7 million) experienced contact sexual violence, physical violence, and/or stalking by an intimate partner during their lifetimes.
IPV can result in injuries and sometimes leads to death. Many other negative health outcomes are associated with IPV, including conditions affecting the heart, muscles and bones, and digestive, reproductive, and nervous systems, many of which are chronic. Data from U.S. crime reports suggest that about one in five homicide victims are killed by an intimate partner. The reports also found that more than half of female homicide victims are killed by a current or former male intimate partner.
Mental health problems, such as depression and symptoms from post-traumatic stress disorder, are also experienced by IPV survivors. They are at higher risk for engaging in behavior such as smoking, binge drinking, and risky sexual activity, and individuals from some racial and ethnic minority groups are at higher risk for worse consequences.
IPV not only takes a physical and mental toll on victims, but monetarily as well. The lifetime economic cost of IPV-related medical care, lost productivity from paid work, and criminal justice amounts to $3.6 trillion. The cost of IPV over a victim’s lifetime was $103,767 for women and $23,414 for men.
Cheng has published nearly 20 journal articles on IPV in her career, and she is continuing her research on the subject. Her most cited study analyzes the effectiveness of intervention programs for individuals who perpetrate violence. The article finds evidence linked to the effectiveness of some of the programs in reducing recidivism but raises caution about how the findings vary across studies with different measurement methods and designs.
“Both my practice experiences and research have underscored the importance of examining women’s victimization holistically, as many experience multiple forms of gender-based violence throughout their lives, including child sexual abuse, dating violence in adolescence, and IPV within marriage,” Cheng said. “My goal is to examine these various forms of gender-based violence through a life-course perspective and also look into what needs to be in place to best support survivors at different stages.