New technologies are being adapted to provide support to survivors of interpersonal violence, like sexual assault and dating violence, but little research has been done to understand what service modalities work best. This project is an evaluation of SAFELine advocacy services for people impacted by interpersonal violence. Safe Alliance’s SAFEline provides 24/7 support via phone, chat, and text services for survivors of intimate partner violence, child abuse, sexual assault, stalking, and human trafficking. SAFEline’s chat and text services were launched to increase accessibility for several populations, including teens and young adults, and Deaf people.
The Institute on Domestic Violence & Sexual Assault (IDVSA) will work with SAFE Alliance and the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) to evaluate SAFEline and how technology-based services are used to help interpersonal violence survivors.The ETA project is a formative evaluation that will address SAFEline’s use of technology-based victim services, including 1) whether technology is increasing the number of victims served, 2) how technology-based services are impacting current service delivery efforts, and 3) analyze who are the users of technology-based services. This formative evaluation assesses program approach and model fidelity of SAFEline and the feasibility of subsequent evaluation for the agency.
Mixed methods approaches will be used to conduct a formative evaluation and evaluability assessment. Primary and secondary data collection will aid understanding of program use and evaluation feasibility.
This evaluation collaboration will contribute to understanding of technology-based advocacy, or support, for people impacted by interpersonal violence.