Help, Near and Far: Digital Mental Health Solutions for Domestic Violence Victims

Family, they say, is best in a time of test. Yet, as underscored by the COVID-19 pandemic, what is often considered a source of strength and support—friends and family—can become appallingly violent, oftentimes repeatedly. For domestic violence victims, timely mental health assistance could help them find restored strength in themselves and others to continue building their lives and make contributions to society. Yet, partially because of the strain exacerbated by the pandemic, mental health services worldwide are often lacking and inadequate. Technologies could be one way to address this dilemma. Generative artificial intelligence, for instance, could help researchers and victims build personalized chatbots to alleviate mental health pain and suffering. Wearable technologies could monitor domestic violence victims’ biometrics and send alerts to doctors and loved ones when dangerous patterns occur. “Low-tech” too, has been a near-ubiquitous tool that many domestic violence victims can rely on to call mental health hotlines and more. Yet, though the post-COVID era and generative artificial intelligence have brought many digital health innovations that have the potential to help domestic violence victims better navigate their mental health challenges, to date, there is a dearth of research on what these innovations might entail, how efficacious they are in offering timely mental health solutions to the victims, and whether victims have the awareness and autonomy, know-how and skills, as well as education and other resources needed to leverage these mental health services effectively.

To bring clarity to the aforementioned issues, this Research Topic aims to investigate digital mental health solutions for domestic violence victims in the post-pandemic era. Please note that this Research Topic values research diversity and creativity and welcomes high-quality submissions from all traditions, schools of thought, and disciplinary backgrounds.

In this Research Topic, we invite manuscripts in the form of original research, reviews, mini-reviews, case reports, hypotheses and theory, perspectives, and experimental studies. These can cover, but are not limited to, the following areas related to public health education:
• What available digital mental health services can domestic violence victims utilize post-COVID?
• What are the characteristics, functions, and efficacies of available digital mental health services for domestic violence victims?
• What challenges and opportunities might domestic violence victims face while attempting to utilize and apply available digital mental health services?
• What are the limitations in existing digital mental health solutions for helping domestic violence victims who might face challenges such as low digital literacy, poor financial autonomy, and seemingly inescapable webs of family ties and duties?
• What are the digital mental health services or solutions that domestic violence victims might need most but have yet to access?
• What are the ethical considerations in developing, delivering, and evaluating digital mental health solutions for domestic violence victims?