Community Research

Research on MUA's response to the COVID-19 pandemic was recently published in the Journal of Social Sciences!  You can access it here..

Watch our video — Mujeres Unidas y Activas: Creating a New Cycle — to learn about a USF and UCSF research project on how female leadership development reduces risk factors for domestic violence in immigrant families.

Background

MUA was founded in 1990 as a result of a research project on the lives of undocumented women. Since then, MUA has continued to collaborate with academic and community researchers to conduct studies and publish reports on the experiences and perspectives unknown to the immigrant community, as well as the impact of MUA members on US policies.

Recent studies

Over a three-year period from 2020 to 2022, MUA conducted two community-led process and impact assessment studies in collaboration with Professor of Cultural Anthropology Kathleen Coll (USF) and the social epidemiologist Alison Cohen (UCSF). The research was supported in part by Blue Shield of California Foundation  y Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, with the technical collaboration of Strategic Prevention Solutions.  

Key Research Questions 

• Does MUA’s leadership development model break the cycle of domestic violence in an immigrant woman’s life?  What about for her children and grandchildren?  If so, how is this achieved?
• What is the longer-term impact of becoming a MUA leader on an immigrant woman’s life, and on her family?
• What elements have led MUA to be successful over the years in building a membership base and developing strong leaders?  How did these elements affect MUA's ability to respond effectively to the needs of the community during the COVID-19 pandemic? 
• How does developing immigrant women’s leadership lead to greater social change?

A community-led research team

The team consisted of 10 MUA staff members (all Latina immigrants), two academic researchers, six graduate students, and a project manager. The staff was trained by academic allies in qualitative and quantitative methods. The MUA team, together with partners, identified the priorities of the study and designed the instruments for the surveys, interviews and focus groups. MUA staff shared their lived experiences with academic allies and taught them the contextual factors relevant to addressing the research questions. The MUA Leadership Team ensured that the research remained grounded in the ethics, values ​​and priorities of the organization. The team's collective analysis of the research results occurred throughout the process, including strategies for dissemination to members of the community, foundations and academia.

Methodology

Over a two-year period, the team conducted 254 surveys, 40 individual interviews, and 7 focus groups with over 60 participants. Study participants included MUA members, their adult children, current and former staff members, and long-time allies.

Surveys and focus groups explored how the model of membership growth and leadership development has evolved over time, MUA's strengths and challenges, and MUA's impact on the lives of members and their families. in terms of mental health, self-efficacy, social networks, domestic violence, parenting practices and gender norms. Since the study was conducted right during the COVID-19 pandemic, we also collected data on how the MUA model was adapting to be able to respond to the needs of a community in crisis.

Key results

Leadership development is violence prevention

MUA does not identify itself primarily as a domestic violence agency; However, violence prevails in the lives of immigrant women. 81% of members who completed the survey revealed that they are survivors of family violence, including physical, sexual, emotional and/or financial abuse. Other studies show that there is a high probability that survivors of violence will experience re-victimization, and that children who witness domestic violence are much more likely to be victims or perpetrators of violence as adults than the general population. .

Our study found that developing survivors' leadership skills is an effective form of violence prevention. The longer a woman participates in MUA, the more likely she is to develop protective factors against violence in her life.

MUA members who completed the survey reported high levels of the following proven protective factors against violence (BTC project, 2019):

— High self-esteem: The belief that you can set and meet your personal goals. 75% of women who had participated for less than 6 months in MUA felt they could meet their personal goals, while 96% of those who had participated for 5 to 10 years said they could do so.

— A strong social network: More than 90% of members surveyed said that participating in MUA had helped them develop important new friendships.

— High scores on the Social Justice Scale: MUA members obtained an average score of 12 on a scale of 16 in a survey intended to measure their attitudes and behaviors in terms of demanding social justice for themselves and others. This high score indicates a willingness to express and defend your rights.

In fact, more than 90% of members surveyed agreed that participating in MUA had reduced the level of violence in their lives, and the number of years they had participated in MUA was positively correlated with the degree of decrease in violence. violence in their lives.

Since 1990, MUA has combined mutual support groups and public policy campaigns to address gender-based violence against immigrant women. The research showed positive impacts of this work on the members and their now adult children.

Transforming the causes of violence

We found that MUA addresses the causes of violence at three different levels:

— Oppressive social and economic systems

— Sexist norms in the family 

— Internalized oppression

Through interviews and focus groups, we identify the path that women take to become leaders and make changes in their lives and their communities, transforming the systems that oppress them at each of the three levels.

Creating a New Cycle of Mutual Respect Across Multiple Generations

The changes that a woman experiences in MUA not only impact her, but are transmitted to her children and grandchildren.

In two focus groups of MUA members who are now grandmothers, they talked about how participating in MUA helped change their concepts of parenting to be less authoritarian and more nurturing, and the positive effects they see in their children and grandchildren. In focus groups of adult children of MUA members, they stated that they had learned about healthy intimate relationships and positive parenting practices from their mothers, and that many of them attribute positive changes to their mothers' participation in MUA.

MUA members and their children spoke not only about breaking the cycle of violence, but also about creating a more positive cycle of mutual respect and equality in the family. Watch the video above to hear from two adult children of MUA members.

Elements of Success in MUA's Organizational Model

The study identified some key factors that have helped MUA succeed in developing strong leaders who transform their lives and the lives of their families:

• Linking collective practices of personal transformation with building community power for structural change. 
• Focusing on building strong personal relationships in a kind and supportive environment. 
• Provide mutual aid based on respect and self-determination, without judgment or criticism.
• Peer Counseling Model: An understanding that women who have gone through their own healing process can help heal other women by sharing their stories and witnessing each other's stories, leading to collective healing.
• Support members to reflect on which parenting practices for their own children were healthy and which were not; collectively question and transform patriarchal gender norms in raising our children and grandchildren.
• Transformation of members from feeling like victims of violence and injustice to understanding that they are leaders and organizers with the power to create changes in our society.