Abstract

Led by the Vancouver and Lower Mainland Multicultural Family Support Services Society (VLMFSS), Enhancing Wellness – M4Y is a 5-year research initiative that delves into the unique challenges faced by immigrant women and youth who have experienced violence or abuse during the COVID-19 pandemic in British Columbia, Canada. The first part of the literature review surveys existing scholarship that identifies the exacerbation of family violence during the pandemic, women’s coping strategies, and current crime prevention initiatives at provincial, national, and international levels. The second part provides an overview and assessment of digital interventions designed to promote mental health and prevent gender-based violence before and during the pandemic. The review demonstrates that the pandemic intensified existing social and health inequalities, marginalization, and oppression among socially disadvantaged groups experiencing family violence. Immigrant and refugee women face multiple and systemic barriers to accessing resources and the gap persists in providing trauma-informed and culturally inclusive services across sectors. The review concludes that correlations between the scope of impacts, accessibility to support systems, and digital interventions for immigrant women and youth who have experienced violence during the pandemic remain understudied. Recommendations for incorporating digital technology in relationship violence prevention are discussed.

Utilizing the literature review as the guiding principle, online surveys and focus groups are key approaches to identifying support systems and tools best tailored to the target group’s specific needs. Through an intersectional mixed-methods approach, the Enhancing Wellness-M4Y project provides substantial data analysis to inform the development of an interactive web app that emphasizes security, engagement, well-being, and equity. The research aims to center the perspectives of immigrant women and youth and build individual and organizational resilience within the diverse immigrant communities in responding to relationship violence through improved pathways to safety, resources, and self-empowerment.

Keywords: family violence; relationship violence; immigrant women; youth; COVID-19; coping; intersectional; digital intervention; crime prevention