Impact Scholar is Leveraging Global, Interdisciplinary Partnerships in Mission to Reduce Intimate Partner Violence

In an ever-evolving landscape of public health challenges, few issues are as pervasive and globally resonant as gender-based violence. Tackling this problem head-on is Maria Jose Baeza Robba, a second year impact scholar at the Center for Global Health Equity. Her groundbreaking work centers on promoting help-seeking behaviors and improving healthcare access for women who have experienced intimate partner violence. Driven by a commitment to global health equity, Baeza Robba is dedicated to ensuring that the invaluable knowledge and practices for caring for these women are shared internationally, breaking down the silos that often restrict these insights to local contexts. 

A Scholar with a Vision 

Baeza Robba's journey is rooted in a profound commitment to leveraging her nursing and research skills to address social justice issues globally. She holds a PhD in Nursing from the University of Miami and both a Bachelor’s and RN in Nursing from Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. With a background in providing mental health care to female patients in Chile, Baeza Robba was particularly moved by their stories of recovery after experiencing intimate partner violence: "Witnessing the courage of my patients motivated me to find ways to support and empower women affected by intimate partner violence," she reflects. Her early experiences have fueled her interest in global work, taking the learnings from the communities she served as a clinical nurse to other cultural contexts where women share the experience of gender-based and intimate partner violence. 

Her global health journey began as a nurse volunteer, helping to develop health literacy interventions in Sri Lanka. Today, as a nurse researcher, she concentrates on understanding the lived experiences of marginalized women who face intimate partner violence. Through her work, she describes the process these women undergo—from recognizing they are in a violent situation, to disclosing their experiences and seeking help, ultimately gaining self-agency and empowerment. Her research delves into how women make decisions to reclaim their voices, stop the violence, and choose paths that prioritize their well-being. This work is crucial because recognizing how this process manifests in different cultural and contextual settings can help promote it. Ultimately, this knowledge could enable more women to seek the support they need, addressing a critical gap in help-seeking behavior among those who experience intimate partner violence. Her research also explores how this population defines well-being and advocates for holistic treatment options that promote overall wellness. Additionally, her work includes contributing to numerous systematic and scoping reviews, providing valuable evidence to advance the understanding of the consequences and prevention of intimate partner violence. 

Building and Sharing Collaborative Solutions to Intimate Partner Violence 

The heart of Baeza Robba’s work at the center lies in addressing the barriers that prevent female university students in sub-Saharan Africa from seeking help when they experience intimate partner violence. Her research focuses on understanding the process through which young women disclose their experiences of IPV, the dynamics of these disclosures, and the tools needed for women to become agents of their own safety and well-being. Integral to Baeza Robba's work is her involvement with Sub-Saharan African University Gender-Based Violence Prevention and Response (SUBVERT) network. This network comprises administrators, faculty, and students representing a consortium of universities in sub-Saharan Africa and the University of Michigan working together to build the evidence-base related to gender-based violence prevention and response across university campuses in the region. The network’s unique emphasis on interdisciplinary and international collaboration ensures equitable knowledge sharing among participating members. Said Baeza Robba: "Our aim is to create scalable interventions that can be adapted to various low-resource settings, offering tangible support through technology." Baeza Robba’s work through the SUBVERT network is part of a global effort poised to generate significant impact—reducing mental health challenges such as depression, anxiety, and stress, preventing recurring violence, and improving overall well-being among participants. Within this network, she is currently collaborating with partners from Ghana and Nigeria to better understand how university students voice their experiences related to intimate partner violence and identify the resources that are improving well-being among this population and how they are accessing related care. This project seeks to inform intervention development by adapting culturally and contextually relevant strategies. The ultimate goal is to connect women seeking care for intimate partner violence with trauma-informed resources and empathetic mentors. "Through this intervention, we hope to break cycles of violence and empower women and their communities," Baeza Robba says.