Digital Insights into Domestic Violence: Leveraging Health Technology and AI to Understand Online Help-Seeking Behaviors

Domestic violence is a critical concern within forensic and legal psychology, as well as public health, due to its widespread, long-term, and multifaceted impacts on survivors. Despite its prevalence, a significant proportion of people affected by domestic violence do not access formal support services, impeded by barriers such as fear, stigma, dependency, immigration concerns, and a lack of trust in institutions. In recent years, online health communities (OHCs) and social media platforms have emerged as alternative spaces where victims of domestic violence share their lived experiences, seek advice on legal and health issues, and connect with sources of emotional and informational support. These virtual platforms generate rich, naturally occurring narratives that can illuminate early indicators of escalating violence, emotional distress, and patterns of help-seeking or withdrawal—elements that are often difficult to access through traditional legal or clinical channels.Recent advances in health technology and computational linguistics have unlocked new possibilities for analyzing these digital traces. Tools such as Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC) and large language models (LLMs) enable researchers to conduct fine-grained analyses of language, emotion, and psychological processes within OHC interactions. Studies have demonstrated the utility of these methods for identifying markers of distress, patterns of risk, and shifts in the emotional trajectories of those affected by abuse, as well as for mapping the types of information sought and provided. However, the application of AI and linguistic technologies in this sensitive context raises significant ethical and legal challenges regarding privacy, consent, data re-identification, and the responsible integration of findings into legal, forensic, and public health practices. Critical gaps remain in our understanding of how to balance innovative research with survivor protection and ethics, as well as how these insights can inform systems-level interventions.This Research Topic aims to galvanize interdisciplinary scholarship at the intersection of forensic and legal psychology, public health, and digital health technologies by investigating the digital footprints of people experiencing domestic violence in online spaces. The primary objective is to harness computational linguistics and health informatics to elucidate information-seeking behaviors, emotional expression, and trajectories of help-seeking, while interrogating the implications for legal risk assessment, public health interventions, and ethical use of sensitive data. Key research questions include: How do victims articulate their needs and navigate online platforms for support? What linguistic and psychological indicators can signal risk escalation or readiness to seek help? And what are the ethical boundaries for using AI-driven insights in practice?To gather further insights into the interactions between people experiencing domestic violence and online help-seeking in OHCs, this Research Topic welcomes articles addressing, but not limited to, the following themes:Computational analysis of language and emotion in digital narratives related to domestic violenceEvolution and patterns of help-seeking and withdrawal behaviors in online communitiesForensic and legal considerations of digital evidence from OHCs, including risk assessment and victim–offender dynamicsEthical frameworks for AI and natural language processing in sensitive health and legal contextsImplications for public health policy, system responses, and service designPrivacy, consent, and re-identification concerns in online research on vulnerable populationsOpportunities and challenges in translating digital findings into actionable legal or health interventionsWe welcome submissions in the form of original research articles, reviews, perspectives, theoretical papers, and case reports. Topic editors: Vivian Hui, Rose Eva Constantino Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/77657/digital-insights-into-domestic-violence-leveraging-health-technology-and-ai-to-understand-online-help-seeking-behaviors