Evaluating Transitional Living Facilities
The purpose of the proposed study is to understand features of sober living homes that promote recovery among women with histories of addiction and trauma. In the current OVW/DOJ-funded study, we are focusing on a unique gender-responsive and trauma-informed recovery community in Phoenix, Arizona—Support, Education, Empowerment, and Directions (SEEDs) program.
Learn MoreIDEA3
The purpose of the IDEA3 (Internet Delivered Enhanced Assess, Acknowledge, Act) project is to determine the effectiveness of an online sexual assault resistance intervention for first-year female college students.
Learn MoreProject LIVE (Love, Inclusivity, Vaues, Education)
The purpose of this project is to prevent sex trafficking among racially and ethnically diverse high school students in Des Moines, Iowa. Researchers and community partners will collaborate with Des Moines Public Schools to deliver the READY to Stand Curriculum™ to high school students and school personnel and evaluate its effectiveness.
Learn MorePromoting Resilient Youth with Strong Hearts and Minds (PRYSHM) Project
The PRYSHM Project seeks to develop and evaluate an online program for LGBTQ+ teens, ages 15 to 18. The program aims to help LGBTQ+ teens feel acceptance and pride in their LGBTQ+ identities, and to empower them to make healthy decisions consistent with their personal values, hopes and goals for the future.
Learn MoreRapid City Family Project (RCFP)
The goal of the Rapid City Family Project is to work closely with community members to create a program that reduces adverse childhood experiences, including child abuse, exposure to domestic violence or community violence, and other upsetting or traumatic experiences. The project is community-led, which means members of the Rapid City area community will play an active role in developing the program and making decisions about how we evaluate the program.
Learn MoreStrong, Thriving and Resilient Men (STAR-M)
Strong, Thriving and Resilient Men (STAR-M) is a research project to better understand sexual assault experiences among sexual minority men in the U.S., including cis and trans men and transmasculine people, to inform affirming prevention and response efforts. Almost half of sexual minority men experience adult sexual assault victimization in their lifetime, and as many as 30% of sexual minority men report lifetime adult sexual assault perpetration. Although rates of victimization and perpetration among sexual minority men are alarmingly high, even when measured over short periods of time, little research has examined risk and protective factors for adult sexual assault victimization or perpetration.
Learn MoreStudent Health Adjustment & Relationship Experiences (SHARE) Study
This exciting new study is being conducted on 20 campuses across the United States with students, faculty, staff and campus administrators. As part of this project, researchers seek to better understand the role of stigma in partner violence among sexual minority individuals. This research project evaluates a new sexual stigma model for intimate partner violence and examines the relation between LGBTQ+ students’ experiences of stigma along with social, emotional, psychological and behavioral factors that may increase risk for intimate partner violence.
Learn MoreStudent Thoughts on Prevention Programming (Project STOPP)
Few sexual violence (SV) prevention programs are developed and evaluated in ways that center the experiences of racial, ethnic, and sexual minority college students although many forms of SGBV are experienced at higher rates by those students. Project STOPP addresses this gap by intentionally recruiting students from across the United States with an array of intersectional identities around race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, and gender to participate in focus groups where they are asked about how their identities influence their response to SV prevention, particularly bystander intervention programming (BIP). The study also assesses these students’ perceptions of the effectiveness of BIP at preventing SV for their groups.
Supporting Survivors & Self (SSS)
Supporting Survivors and Self (SSS) is an intervention for social supports of survivors of partner abuse and sexual aggression. This program is unique in that it is grounded in theories of behavioral etiology and behavioral change. Participants in the program (young adults) are given tools to help them in responding in healthy, positive ways should someone come to them to disclosing an experience with sexual abuse or violence. The program seeks to ultimately increase the positive social reactions while decreasing the negative social reactions to disclosures. It also provides participants with stress and coping strategies around receiving a disclosure, as well as an understanding of resources that can be used by victims (if needed). In the current study, we are testing the effectiveness of the intervention.
Learn MoreSupporting LGBTQ+ Youth
We have several projects currently underway that focus on developing and evaluating resilience-focused and culturally grounded violence prevention programs for diverse LGBTQ+ youth across various settings (e.g., online, Indian reservation).
Read News StoryThe Takini (Survivor) Project
The Takini (Survivor in Lakota) Project seeks to understand the factors that support healing and recovery for Native American and/or rural women who have survived domestic violence. The project is a collaboration between UNL researchers (Edwards, Mullet) and USD researchers (Diamond-Welch)
Learn MoreTeens and Technology (T&T)
This exciting new study is being conducted among teens (ages 14-17 years old), professionals who work directly with teens and guardians/caregivers of teens across the United States. As part of this project, researchers are seeking to better understand whether a phone app that works to help prevent aggression and alcohol use might work among teens. The research is designed to better understand the use of technology among teens and determine whether guardians and/or teachers/professionals would be open to using an in-school phone app that focuses on aggression and alcohol use prevention among teens.
Learn MoreWahwala Iyohlogya Othipi (Peaceful Means)
This project will establish and evaluate an Indigenous-led sexual violence prevention center on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. The expected impact is to reduce sexual violence among Indigenous persons throughout the U.S., and to provide all Indigenous K-12 youth with the opportunity to receive a culturally adapted version of IMpower by 2050.
Learn MoreYouth Voices in Prevention
The teen years are an exciting time for creativity, growth, and change. It is also a time that can be challenging. Some challenges that teens face are peer-to-peer aggression and risky situations. These things can harm teens. The good news is that we can keep these things from happening. In fact, youth are safer when they feel they matter to their community, have skills to cope with tough situations, and are involved in taking action to make a difference.
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