Digital Coercive Control, Institutional Trust, and Help-Seeking Among Women Experiencing Violence: Evidence from Greece and the UK

Violence against women remains prevalent, yet many survivors do not engage with services even where health infrastructure exists. This study investigated the role of institution-facing resources, Institutional Trust (ITR) and Procedural Justice (PJ), and the role of interpersonal resources, Social Support Provided (SSP), in women’s formal care-seeking intentions, as mediated by Psychological Distress (PSS) and General Self-Efficacy (GSE). An online survey was administered to women in Greece (n = 392) and the United Kingdom (n = 328), yielding a sample of 718. To compare the structural paths in the model across the two countries, measurement invariance was first explored, while the model was estimated through multi-group structural equation modeling. Across the pooled sample, PJ and GSE predicted HSB firmly, while ITR had no direct link to the construct. SSP did not directly predict HSB, but was linked to GSE in all models. The results of the interaction and group-difference models showed PJ and SSP had a slight indirect effect through GSE, while distress-based pathways were weaker and context-dependent. Multi-group models revealed significant cross-national differences: the direct effect of ITR and PSS on GSE was stronger in the United Kingdom than in Greece. The direct effect of PJ/GSE and SSP/GSE also had a stronger impact in Greece than in the United Kingdom. Overall, the results indicate that the willingness of women to seek help is less driven by their trust in institutions and more driven by their expectations of fairness in provider interaction and their perceived personal capability, where social support plays a role as the antecedent increasing women’s Perceived Self-Efficacy. The implications include prioritizing procedurally just practices, designing interventions that enhance self-efficacy for system navigation, and mobilizing informal networks as partners in the help-seeking process.