Yoga for Black and Brown Women Who Have Experienced Abuse From an Intimate Partner

A Culturally Tailored, Trauma-Informed Yoga Program for Women of Color Who Have Experienced Intimate Partner Violence

The goal of this clinical trial is to determine if a culturally tailored and trauma-informed yoga (CT-TIY) program improves the overall well-being of Black and Brown women who have experienced IPV. The main questions it aims to answer are:

• What is the feasibility, acceptability, and safety of delivering the CT-TIY program?
• Do participants randomized to the CT-TIY program experience increases in our primary outcome of psychological well-being relative to women randomized to an enhanced care-as-usual control condition?
• Do participants randomized to the CT-TIY program experience improvements in our secondary outcomes of empowerment, resilience, health-related quality of life, collective self-esteem, and culturally specific coping relative to participants randomized to an enhanced care-as-usual control condition? Researchers will compare CT-TIY to enhanced care-as-usual to see if CT-TIY to determine the feasibility, acceptability, safety, as well as initial efficacy of the yoga program.

Participants randomized to the CT-TIY program will:

• Have 15 weeks to complete a target of 10 CT-TIY yoga classes
• Provide feedback on the CT-TIY program after each class they attend
• Complete assessments at Baseline, after completing the CT-TIY program (week 16), as well as 3-months (week 27) after completing the CT-TIY program
• Complete an exit interview where they provide feedback on their experiences in the yoga program

Participants randomized to the enhanced care-as-usual control condition will:

• Receive a referral to a domestic violence provider and the Futures without Violence General Health Safety Card, designed to help women recognize how their relationship impacts their health and the lives of their children, and provides information on safety planning and hotlines for support.
• Complete assessments at Baseline, week 16, and week 27 of the study.

Researchers will use a two-group, randomized controlled single-blind design with 40 women of color who have experienced intimate partner violence (WOC-IPV) who meet study criteria. After eligible participants have consented to participate and completed the baseline assessment, they will be randomized to CT-TIY or enhanced care as usual (ECU). The RA who completes assessments will be blind to intervention condition. Following the guidelines of Leon and colleagues, the primary purpose of this pilot study is to evaluate the feasibility and acceptability of the CT-TIY program, as well as the proposed recruitment, randomization, and retention procedures.

The Yoga Program (SOAR "Sisterhood Overcoming Adversity through Resilience"):

Before starting the yoga program, participants will attend a brief 20-min orientation session where they will meet 1-1 with a member of the research staff. This meeting will provide an overview of the program, provide yoga supplies (i.e., each participant will be provided their own mat, journal, and water bottle), and offer an opportunity for participants to ask questions privately (as opposed to within the yoga session). This session will also provide an opportunity to discuss safety concerns and how to address those concerns if any exist (e.g., safety practicing yoga at home, safely getting to yoga classes), as well as an opportunity for participants to decide that participating in the program may not be a safe option for them, given their current situation. This meeting will also emphasize that the yoga classes will provide invitations, where participants can take what they want and need from the class. Participants will be asked about physical limitations and health conditions and encouraged to speak to a medical professional to determine if the program is a good fit for them. Additionally, participants will be reminded that modifications will be provided for all activities and encouraged to listen to their bodies and do what feels comfortable in their bodies.

Each yoga class will be 75 minutes in length, although unlike yoga classes offered in the community, the entire 75 minutes will not be active movement. The focus of this yoga program is not exercise, but mindful reflection and movement. The general structure of yoga classes will be the same: (1) Time to settle in and be present in the body (this will include affirmations, journal prompts, essential oils), (2) Opening Ritual (e.g., chime, opening song, collective breath), (3) Mind-Theme (some education related to the theme), (4) Breathwork, (5) Mindful Movement/Asana, (6) Closing Rituals (e.g., Namaste, Ase, or Amen). Participants will be provided with consent cards at the beginning of each session- one side indicates that the participant is ok being touched and open to manual assists in session, and the other side indicates that the participant is not open to manual assists during the session). Manual assists will only be offered to those who indicate with their consent card that they are open to such assists (e.g., adjusting participants' poses so that they get the most out of the pose).

Inclusion Criteria:

• Self-identify as a Woman of Color (WOC).
• Lifetime experience of intimate partner violence (IPV)
• Age 18 years or older.
• Willingness to complete study procedures