LATEBREAKER
Injuries/Violence
“I wish that they understood that if a woman is being held hostage by money, she is being held hostage physically”: Experiences, Impacts, and Implications of Economic Abuse on Perinatal People Sarah Scott* Sarah Scott
Background
Economic abuse is one form of intimate partner violence (IPV) intended to control a survivor’s ability to make, save, or spend money in order to gain power over them. Economic abuse creates barriers for survivors to maintain employment, critical for securing health insurance, avoiding food insecurity, and sustaining stable housing. Perinatal people may be more vulnerable to economic abuse due to changes in financial and employment life such as parental leave, increased expenses, and increased healthcare costs. Yet, little is known about how economic abuse manifests within the perinatal period.
Objective
To explore: 1) how economic abuse manifests within the perinatal period; 2) what impacts economic abuse has on perinatal people; and 3) how best to support perinatal survivors.
Design/Methods
We conducted virtual semi-structured interviews with IPV survivors and IPV advocates. Participants were recruited through an online recruitment registry, national IPV organizations, and local domestic violence agencies. Interview audio-recordings were transcribed verbatim. We used a deductive-inductive thematic analysis approach. Two research team members individually coded each transcript. The codebook used apriori codes matching the interview guide and inductive codes. The coders met several times to resolve discrepancies in coding. The research team met monthly to review emerging codes, consolidate codes into themes, and make iterative changes to the interview guide.
Results
We completed 18 interviews with advocates and 20 interviews with survivors. Demographics are available in Table 1. We identified seven themes. Participants described several experiences of economic abuse, including financial control, exploitation, and employment sabotage. Participants described health, financial, and social impacts on survivors and children. Partners leveraged the criminal-legal, child welfare, and healthcare systems and cultural norms about pregnancy, including those related to gender and religion to financially harm survivors. Participants highlighted finances as a barrier to leaving the relationship. Advocates described how economic abuse impacts marginalized survivors. Dream resources described include cash assistance, healthy relationship and financial education, and employer policies. Representation quotes are presented in Table 2.
Conclusions
This study built on existing literature to highlight the ways that economic abuse specifically impacts perinatal survivors and their children. Findings emphasize the need for support for perinatal survivors of economic abuse.
