Social care support for south Asian domestic violence victims in the United Kingdom: a scoping review protocol

Objective: This scoping review aims to synthesise the literature on social care needs of south Asian domestic abuse victims and barriers and facilitators relating to 1) victims seeking help and engaging with professionals and services and 2) professionals supporting and safeguarding these individuals.

Introduction: In the United Kingdom, there is an emphasis on services to prevent domestic abuse and support victims. The south Asian community encounter complexities that prevent services from providing appropriate support and victims from seeking help.

Inclusion criteria: Studies that explore psychological, physical, sexual, emotional and/or financial abuse perpetrated by a family member will be included. Also, studies that include samples of male and female adult south Asian domestic abuse victims and survivors and professionals who have had direct experience of supporting these individuals will be included. Studies that include samples of services outside of the United Kingdom, not related to a domestic setting (e.g., institutional abuse) and not published in English will be excluded.

Methods: The search strategy involved searching several databases including Web of Science, National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) and Applied Social Sciences Index and Abstracts (ASSIA) for literature. The titles and abstracts of identified references will be screened using the inclusion criteria in the first instance followed by full text papers. Data will be extracted using a pre-determined data extraction form and analysed using narrative summary. Results will be presented in a table.