Scaling up Trauma and Violence-Informed Outreach With Women Affected by Violence

NCT ID: NCT05566821

Last Updated: 2023-11-18

Basic Information

• Recruitment Status: COMPLETED
• Clinical Phase: NA
• Total Enrollment: 39 participants
• Study Classification: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Start Date: 2022-10-05
• Study Completion Date: 2023-08-30

Brief Summary

Using a participatory action research design, this study examines the process and impact of implementing an evidence-informed, strengths-based, trauma- and violence-informed outreach program with women at greatest risk of health and social inequities to mitigate the effects of multiple forms of violence in their lives. Through collaboration among community service leaders and staff, women with lived or living experience of gender-based violence, and researchers, this project aims to improve the capacity of organizations to build and sustain effective and trusting relationships with women in order to foster health, well-being, safety, and increased ability to independently navigate their support needs.

Detailed Description

Using collaborative research activities, an advanced model of the STRENGTH intervention developed in earlier community-based studies is being tested. That evidence showed that women have unique strengths and abilities in navigating their safety, health and well-being, and that a strengths-based approach is critical to communicate respect and build trusting relationships. Trust facilitates women's engagement and retention in health and social care and enhances their capacities to independently navigate these systems. Appropriate, safe, and responsive outreach can effectively improve safety, reduce overdose deaths, and enhance engagement with health and social care.

The study involves a case-based mixed method design to test an empirically driven model for outreach with women affected by violence, through a series of longitudinal studies with diverse sub-groups of women in differing social and geographical contexts. The two-year intervention study is embedded in a larger 7-year national project aimed at building capacity of outreach programs to prevent and mitigate the effects of gender-based violence and advance the theory and practice of community-based, participatory action research.

Intervention-specific Research Questions:

1. How effective is this outreach program in:

• building trusting relationships with women?
• supporting women to achieve their self-identified priorities and goals (short-term, medium-term, and long-term goals) in ways that foster safety, autonomy and rights to self-determination?

2. What factors enable or confound the success of the outreach intervention?

Project Objectives

To generate new knowledge about program delivery to effectively engage with women to:

• Build trusting relationships between women and short-term, medium-term and long-term supports
• Enhance women's capacity for autonomy, ability and confidence in achieving short-, medium-, and long-term goals
• To generate new knowledge about how to enhance delivery of health and social care services that are non-harmful and non-traumatizing

This research will provide important knowledge about how to more effectively design, implement and evaluate programs and practices that can increase social and health supports and mitigate the effects of gender-based and structural violence. It tests how an empirically driven model of outreach combined with enhanced service integration supports women to identify their priority needs and can bridge the gap in service needs and access with women affected by violence and inequities.

Conditions

Gender-based Violence; Outreach Intervention

Study Design

• Allocation Method: NA
• Intervention Model: SINGLE_GROUP
• Primary Study Purpose: OTHER
• Blinding Strategy: NONE

Study Groups

STRENGTH Outreach Intervention

Participants enrolled in STRENGTH intervention elements

Group Type: EXPERIMENTAL

STRENGTH Outreach Intervention

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

The STRENGTH outreach intervention is a community-led, strengths-based, and trauma- and violence-informed program to support self-identifying women who experience interpersonal and structural gender-based violence. The outreach intervention aims to support individuals to achieve self-identified priorities.

Interventions

STRENGTH Outreach Intervention

The STRENGTH outreach intervention is a community-led, strengths-based, and trauma- and violence-informed program to support self-identifying women who experience interpersonal and structural gender-based violence. The outreach intervention aims to support individuals to achieve self-identified priorities.

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

Eligibility Criteria

Inclusion Criteria

• Self-identify as a woman, therefore the study is trans-inclusive
• Have some degree of English proficiency in understanding and communication
• Live and/or spend significant time for work and/or health and social services in the service area of one of the participating community organizations
• Age 18 or over

• In addition, women already enrolled in another program with wrap-around supports and who are able to independently navigate health and social care will not be eligible to participate in the outreach program intervention.

• Minimum Eligible Age: 18 Years
• Eligible Sex: ALL
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

Sponsors

Inner-City Women's Initiatives Society

UNKNOWN

Sponsor Role: collaborator

Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada

OTHER

Sponsor Role: collaborator

Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research

OTHER

Sponsor Role: collaborator

University of British Columbia

OTHER

Sponsor Role: lead

Responsible Party

Victoria Bungay

Professor

Responsibility Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Principal Investigators

Vicky Bungay, PhD

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Professor

Locations

University of British Columbia

Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Countries

Canada

Other Identifiers

H22-01197

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id