An exploratory study of help-seeking behaviour of Chinese male victims of intimate partner violence (IPV) in Hong Kong

Abstract

This study is its first kind in Hong Kong exploring the help-seeking behaviour of Chinese male victims of intimate partner violence (IPV). Grounded Theory Methodology (Strauss and Corbin's version) was adopted as the research methodology. Guided by theoretical sampling, snowball and purposive sampling was used to invite suitable informants to this study. In-depth interviewing was employed as the data collection method. Based on GTM, the data analysis method followed the steps of open coding, axial coding and selective coding. Eight informants participated in this study. Based on GTM, some important categorical concepts emerged from the data, including "victimization", "impact", "threshold for help-seeking", "threshold for victimization disclosure", "help seeking process" and "consideration of continuing / quitting help seeking". Linkage of these concepts formulated a new model, namely, "Threshold Model of Help-Seeking" (TM) to describe and explain the help-seeking behaviour of male victims in Hong Kong. This study went further to explain the applicability of this model in practice. In addition, this model helps generate knowledge of explaining help-seeking behaviour of Chinese male victims in Hong Kong.