Envisioning Future Directions: Conversations With Leaders in Domestic and Sexual Assault Advocacy, Policy, Service, and Research

Abstract

This article delves into the views of 72 leaders in domestic violence and sexual assault advocacy, policy, service, and research to determine their vision for the future direction of the field. Through discussions with experts, we identified numerous strategies necessary to best meet the needs of domestic violence and sexual assault victims. Common themes focused on the need to (a) examine the context of victims' and offenders' experiences; (b) increase cultural competence to adequately provide appropriate victim services and criminal justice responses for underserved, marginalized, and culturally specific populations; (c) increase reliance on victims' voices; (d) continue to develop partnerships at both the community and the state levels and ensure the role of local communities; (e) expand the concept of successful outcomes that can be reliably and validly assessed; (f) emphasize mixed-methods approaches to address these questions, in recognition that various methods complement each other; and (g) be open to novel or emerging approaches to intervention.

Reporting Sexual Assault: Survivors’ Satisfaction With Sexual Assault Response Personnel

“…The present study’s findings can be useful for the criminal justice system to incorporate improvements in its response to sexual assault. In particular, when interacting with survivors, all personnel should exercise respectful, nonjudgmental, and empathic interaction (Campbell, 2006; Coker et al, 2015; IACP, 2015; Kirkner et al, 2017; White et al, 2019). Without this basic type of human interaction, procedural explanations provided by personnel are likely less effective.…”

“…Available literature points to the importance of hearing the voices of survivors, but most studies targeted the perspectives of support service providers as a proxy (Coker et al, 2015; Koss, White, & Lopez, 2017; White, Sienkiewicz, & Smith, 2019), and actual survivors’ experiences have rarely been examined. Among the few available studies, Kirkner, Lorenz, and Ullman (2017) pointed out that survivors in their study expressed the need for informal and formal support providers to engage in practices that include supportive listening, conveying empathy and belief, assuring survivors they are not to blame, and validating culturally specific experiences.…”

Sexual assault survivors' engagement with advocacy services during the COVID‐19 pandemic

“…Despite increasing numbers of rape crisis centers across the country, antiviolence activists and researchers have continually expressed concerns that the needs of survivors from diverse backgrounds were not being met (Bach et al, 2021 ). Sexual assault advocacy services were limited in their effectiveness if they were not coupled with supporting survivors' needs more broadly as they related to housing, health care, and other basic needs (Huntington et al, 2005 ; Kennedy et al, 2012 ; White et al, 2019 ). This was especially true in marginalized communities in which syndemic violence, poverty, and institutionalized racism increased the risk of sexual violence and decreased the likelihood that sexual assault survivors' needs would be addressed (Armstead et al, 2021 ; Bryant‐Davis et al, 2010 ; Fedina et al, 2020 ; Mueller et al, 2021 ).…”

Advancing Theory, Methods, and Dissemination in Sexual Violence Research to Build a More Equitable Future: An Intersectional, Community-Engaged Approach

“…Community agencies may need to invest money in research and evaluation, something which is difficult to do when budgets typically are insufficient to meet the needs of survivors (Burk, 2018). Despite these potential challenges, however, domestic and sexual violence leaders have identified a need for more survivor involvement in the design and evaluation of programs and services and have called for strengthening researcher–practitioner partnerships (White, Sienkiewicz, & Smith, 2019). A community-engaged approach to our research seems the most promising way to incorporate survivor voices in the development of a robust knowledge base that reflects the diverse contexts in which sexual violence occurs.…”