The Development of a Peer Advocacy Intervention for Survivors whose Partners are in Relationship Violence Intervention Programs.

Relationship Violence Intervention Programs (RVIPs), also known as abuser intervention programs, are the predominant psychosocial interventions in the United States designed to interrupt and reduce abusive partners’ violent behaviors and increase survivor-partners’ safety. RVIPs seek to reduce abusive partners’ violence by increasing their motivation to change violent behaviors and teaching them how to regulate emotions; however, it remains unclear whether the abusive partners’ participation in a RVIP increases safety and improves health for survivor-partners. The goal of this proposal is to develop and test a community-based intervention delivered by survivor-peers to improve mental health and increase safety behaviors for survivors with RVIP-engaged partners. Informed by the empowerment process model, our intervention will be utilize previous evidence-based advocacy interventions for survivors and will be trauma-informed (understanding IPV as a form of trauma), survivor-centered (survivors guide the goal-setting), anti-oppressive (recognition of how power inequities influence violence exposure and resource access), culturally relevant (the use of signifiers and practices that are rooted in survivors’ cultural norms), and community-based (grounded in the local context). We aim to: 1. Develop and test feasibility of a community-based, peer advocacy intervention for IPV survivors whose partners are enrolled in RVIP. Using a CBPR approach and qualitative methods, we will conduct four focus groups with community stakeholders (two survivor groups and two practitioner groups) to develop the intervention content. We will also convene an advisory group of six community stakeholders, survivors, and academic experts to support with qualitative data analysis, treatment intervention protocol development, provider selection process, and development of procedures for ensuring intervention fidelity. We then will recruit 10 survivors and train five peer advocates into an uncontrolled study to assess intervention feasibility. 2. Implement small-scale pilot randomized control intervention to estimate effects on mental health, safety, and empowerment. We will employ a randomized control trial to assess whether the intervention significantly improves survivors’ depression, PTSD, empowerment, and safety beyond services as usual. We will also test intervention satisfaction. This proposal will support us establishing pilot data to increase capacity to implement a multi-site, large-scale intervention. We will develop three peer-reviewed journal articles, technical reports, and a toolkit on participatory development. CA/NCF