A multi-sectoral evidence synthesis on religious beliefs, intimate partner violence and faith-based interventions

Abstract In recent decades, more studies have emerged that examine the relationship between religion / spirituality, marital functioning and mental health. The scholarship on domestic violence (DV) / intimate partner violence (IPV) and religion does not appear to have integrated this evidence sufficiently and also lacks a multi-sectoral perspective. Ultimately, evidence from psychology and counselling needs to be bridged with evidence from public health and international development programming and studies in anthropology and sociology. A better integration could help to increase understanding of the multidimensional effects of religious parameters in the experience of DV / IPV and to identify how these effects could be leveraged resourcefully in faith-based interventions at community level and in psychosocial counselling involving victims, survivors and perpetrators in religious contexts. The current synthesis is the result of a systematic review that was conducted to start to bridge this multi-sectoral and multidisciplinary evidence to identify specifically: a) the influence of religious beliefs and experience on the rationalisations, behaviour and mental health of victims, survivors and perpetrators, and b) faith-based interventions in community and psychological counselling and their effectiveness. In pursuing these questions, we aimed to overcome the dominance of western definitions and paradigms of domestic violence or religion by combining evidence from sectors that are more international, such as public health and international development, and studies conducted in low-and middle-income societies that received less attention historically. We especially sought to distance ourselves from rigid understandings of ‘religion’ in an effort to make the review more relevant to diverse religious traditions and experiences.