Moving Beyond Safety to Healing: Survivors and Practitioners’ Inputs on Survivor-Centered Intimate Partner Violence Research

Abstract In intimate partner violence (IPV) research, there is increased recognition of the importance of fostering collaborations between researchers, survivors, and practitioners. However, significant gaps exist, particularly around how these collaborative research processes can be undertaken. More research is needed that systematically documents these research collaborations and the critical perspectives that survivors and practitioners bring to conducting IPV research. In this article, authors describe the feminist participatory research approach, whereby they invited women who are survivors and practitioners to offer inputs on a proposed longitudinal qualitative study to examine help-seeking pathways among female survivors. Authors interviewed five survivors and seven practitioners to gather their feedback on the proposed study design (e.g., research questions, recruitment plans, and data collection methods) and used a thematic analysis approach to identify and summarize key recommendations. Participants provided insightful recruitment and data collection strategies centered on survivors’ safety, healing, and community building. Findings highlight that survivors and practitioners hold immense insight into the nuances of IPV and are, therefore, best suited to offer methodological insights to strengthen IPV research. This article demonstrates how community inputs on initial research phases are integral to conducting research that considers and honors survivors’ diverse contexts and experiences.