Rebecca J. Macy

College- or University-Based Sexual Assault Prevention Programs: A Review of Program Outcomes, Characteristics, and Recommendations

This article examines literature reviews of research articles and dissertations focused on the effectiveness of college- or university-based sexual violence prevention programs. Literature reviews were eligible for inclusion in this article if they examined empirical published peer-reviewed research articles or dissertation research that reported original data; focused on examining the effectiveness of programs that were developed to reduce sexual violence that occurred in college or university settings; offered recommendations for developing and implementing effective college- or university-based sexual assault prevention programs; and reviewed studies that occurred in the United States. Eight review articles met the inclusion criteria. The results suggest that the effectiveness of college- or university-based sexual violence prevention programs varies depending on the type of audience, facilitator, format, and program content. Recommendations from existing reviews of empirical research concerning these program characteristics should be considered by college or university administrators when designing and implementing their own programs on campus.

Aftercare Services for International Sex Trafficking Survivors: Informing U.S. Service and Program Development in an Emerging Practice Area

International sex trafficking into the United States appears to be a serious and growing problem, although the evidence regarding prevalence, risk, and consequences is incomplete. Nonetheless, human service providers are increasingly being asked to offer services to sex trafficking survivors. Consequently, providers need information to guide services and program development in this emerging practice area. To address this knowledge need, we systematically reviewed and synthesized 20 documents addressing the needs of and services for international survivors of sex trafficking into the United States. The main finding from the review shows the importance of a continuum of aftercare services to address survivors’ changing needs as they move from initial freedom to recovery and independence. Based on our synthesis of the reviewed literature, we present a service delivery framework to guide providers’ development of services for survivors.

Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Services Historical Concerns and Contemporary Challenges

More than 20 years ago, concerns were raised about whether domestic violence and sexual assault agencies need for stable funding would conflict with the values that initiated these respective movements. Since then, the movements have evolved considerably. Therefore, it is timely to investigate the challenges domestic violence and sexual assault agencies face today. This exploratory study used focus groups and interviews to identify the challenges facing North Carolina domestic violence and sexual assault movements from the perspectives of agency directors and funding staff. Using an open-coding approach, seven challenges were identified including funding, sustainability, community norms, tension between grassroots versus professional service providers, lack of attention to sexual assault, the need for welcoming services for all survivors, and the need for comprehensive services to help survivors with co-occurring mental illnesses and substance abuse problems. The findings also pointed to recommendations for ways to address these challenges.

Heterogeneity Among Violence-Exposed Women Applying Person-Oriented Research Methods

Variability of experience and outcomes among violence-exposed people pose considerable challenges toward developing effective prevention and treatment protocols. To address these needs, the authors present an approach to research and a class of methodologies referred to as person oriented. Person-oriented tools support assessment of meaningful patterns among people that distinguish one group from another, subgroups for whom different interventions are indicated. The authors review the conceptual base of person-oriented methods, outline their distinction from more familiar variable-oriented methods, present descriptions of selected methods as well as empirical applications of person-oriented methods germane to violence exposure, and conclude with discussion of implications for future research and translation between research and practice. The authors focus on violence against women as a population, drawing on stress and coping theory as a theoretical framework. However, person-oriented methods hold utility for investigating diversity among violence-exposed peoples experiences and needs across populations and theoretical foundations.

Responding in Their Best Interests Contextualizing Women’s Coping With Acquaintance Sexual Aggression

Using an investigation of 202 college women who completed a survey about coping with sexual aggression from a known male assailant, the authors examined assailant behaviors, along with women’s victimization history, alcohol use, positive relationship expectancies, and sexual assertiveness, to clarify how these factors shape women’s responses to acquaintance sexual aggression. Multivariate regression analyses showed that these factors and assailant actions accounted uniquely and cumulatively for women’s responding. Rape avoidance and resistance training programs can benefit by using a two-pronged approach: by targeting factors that impede and promote women’s assertion and by helping women anticipate and respond to assailant actions.

Identifying Domestic and International Sex-Trafficking Victims During Human Service Provision:

Children, youth, and adults of both genders are sex trafficked into and throughout the United States every day. Regrettably, little attention has been given to how human service providers might identify the sex-trafficking victims they are likely to encounter. To address this knowledge gap, the authors review 20 documents with the aim of detecting and synthesizing service identification recommendations in the scientific literature, government reports, and documents produced by organizations working with sex-trafficking victims. The review shows consensus regarding identification recommendations, including (a) trafficking indicators, (b) victim interaction strategies, (c) immediate response strategies, and (d) child-specific information. The review also shows consensus regarding screening questions that are important for service providers to use in identifying sex-trafficking victims. These questions relate to the victims’ safety, employment, living environment, and travel and immigration status in addition to specific questions used with children and youth. The review results offer human service providers a preliminary set of screening strategies and questions that can be used to identify sex-trafficking victims in the context of human services. Building on the review findings, the authors offer policy and research recommendations.

Pregnancy-associated violent deaths: The role of intimate partner violence

This literature review examines intimate partner violence in relation to pregnancy-associated femicide and suicide. Empirical publications were eligible for review if they included information on intimate partner violence and examined females who were pregnant/postpartum and who were victims of femicide/attempted femicide and/or suicide/attempted suicide. Nine publications met the inclusion criteria and were reviewed. Results suggest that intimate partners perpetrate one- to two-thirds of the pregnancy-associated femicides in the United States and that pregnant women make up 5% of urban intimate partner femicides. Intimate partner abuse during pregnancy appears to be a risk factor for severe intimate partner violence, including attempted/completed femicide. So little information exists concerning intimate partner violence in pregnancy-associated suicides that it is impossible to draw conclusions regarding this topic; however, a hospital-based study suggests that intimate partner violence may be a risk factor for attempting suicide while pregnant. More research is needed concerning intimate partner pregnancy-associated femicide and suicide so that evidenced-based preventive/therapeutic interventions may be developed.

Physical and sexual violence among North Carolina women: associations with physical health, mental health, and functional impairment.

OBJECTIVE This study examines links between womens experiences of violence during adulthood (including physical and sexual violence) and womens physical health, mental health, and functional status. METHODS Data were analyzed from a representative sample of 9,830 North Carolina women surveyed by the North Carolina Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS). RESULTS One-quarter of the women experienced violence as adults, with current or ex-partners being the most common perpetrators. Logistic regression analyses that controlled for the sociodemographic characteristics of the women found that women who experienced violence were significantly more likely than other women to have poor physical health, poor mental health, and functional limitations. Moreover, these negative health outcomes were most prevalent among the women who experienced a combination of both physical and sexual violence. CONCLUSIONS These findings underscore the need for trauma-informed womens health services and policies.

Intimate Partner Survivors’ Help-Seeking and Protection Efforts: A Person-Oriented Analysis

Domestic violence advocates and researchers advocate for a survivor-centered approach for assisting women experiencing intimate partner violence (IPV), with individualized safety plans and services; yet little empirical work has been done to determine IPV survivors’ specific combinations of vulnerabilities and assets that might inform such an approach. Using latent profile analysis of a cohort of 448 survivors, five distinct subgroups were previously identified in terms of biopsychosocial asset and vulnerability profiles. The purpose of the current study was to apply person-oriented methodology for survivor-centered investigation of differences in help-seeking and protective actions according to subgroup membership within this cohort. Though not differing demographically, the subgroups were found to differ significantly and meaningfully in their patterns of IPV help-seeking and protective actions. Thus, reliance on population-aggregate linear relationships between IPV exposure and safety efforts may risk overlooking important variation by vulnerability and asset profile, and knowledge of distinct clusters among functioning profiles may help with understanding of survivors’ coping strategies.The authors outline service-need considerations across the subgroups and provide guidance for targeted outreach, locating IPV survivors and matching services to their needs.

A Research Agenda for Sexual Revictimization Priority Areas and Innovative Statistical Methods

Sexual violence against women is a significant problem with serious consequences for womens well-being, including an increased risk of subsequent sexual violence (or revictimization). Although there is substantial and mounting research about sexual revictimization, significant knowledge gaps remain. The factors and processes that drive revictimization are still largely unknown, and thus, little evidence exists to inform revictimization prevention interventions. Given the increased research attention to revictimization, this is an appropriate juncture to take stock of what is known about revictimization and to prioritize next steps for research. This article develops an agenda for further research by identifying three priority areas for investigation, including prospective research, revictimization resilience, and contextualizing revictimization. Next, the article overviews cutting-edge statistical methods that offer innovative ways to investigate these priority areas including growth, multilevel, and person-centered models. Recommendations for revictimization measurement and sampling are also given.