The Impact of Online Faith Leader Training on Korean Americans’ Intimate Partner Violence Attitudes, Stigma, and Bystander Intervention

With a high rate of religious affiliation in the Korean American (KA) community, faith leaders can be a vital resource for the prevention of intimate partner violence (IPV). This study examined the impact of exposure to a culturally sensitive IPV training program for KA faith leaders (n = 98) on KA community members’ IPV attitudes, stigma, discussion about IPV, and intentions to intervene as a bystander. In partnership with two community agencies serving Asian American (AA) IPV survivors, two waves of survey data were collected from Asian community members: one before the intervention (n = 375) and the other after (n = 304). Approximately half of the participants were KAs. A series of 2 × 2 between-groups analyses of variance (ANOVA) tested changes in outcomes between KAs and other AAs. Although no significant ethnicity ×wave interaction effects were observed across outcomes, simple-effects analyses indicated that church-affiliated KA participants reported more frequent exposure to IPV information from their churches in Wave 2 than in Wave 1. KA community members also reported significant increases in their discussions about IPV with others and intention to intervene as bystanders after the intervention. These findings suggest that faith leader interventions have the potential to bridge faith and secular communities, amplifying the reach of prevention efforts beyond religious settings. Engaging religious leaders and faith communities can offer far-reaching strategies to reduce, and ultimately prevent, IPV in highly religious communities.