New Research Projects to Understand and Improve Responses to Intimate Partner Violence (IPV)

October 20, 2014
Photo of three young women (main page)

Photo of three young women (blog page)By Seth Chamberlain, Senior Social Science Research Analyst, Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation

Intimate partner violence (IPV)1 is a widespread problem in the United States. In response, ACF’s Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation (OPRE) has recently initiated a project in collaboration with the Office of Family Assistance to strengthen appropriate approaches to addressing IPV in the context of healthy relationship programs, and another project in collaboration with the Family and Youth Services Bureau’s Division of Family Violence Prevention and Services to document how IPV hotlines funded by ACF are linking the public with needed resources.

One in four women and one in seven men have been the victim of severe physical violence at the hands of an intimate partner in her/his lifetime (Black, et al., 2011  (PDF)). These men and women are more likely to report a variety of poor physical and mental health problems, including chronic pain, difficulty sleeping and activity limitations. The risk of intimate partner violence is significantly higher among individuals with lower incomes. Almost 10 percent of women with incomes less than $25,000 a year reported rape, physical violence or stalking within the 12 months prior to the survey, compared to six percent for women with incomes $25,000-$50,000, and three percent $50,000-$75,000 and over $75,000 (Breiding, et al., 2014  (PDF)).

To address this issue, OPRE has recently awarded a contract to strengthen approaches for addressing IPV in healthy relationship programs. ACF oversees the healthy marriage grant program, which funds organizations to provide healthy marriage and relationship education to low-income couples. As part of the legislative requirement for this funding that is outlined in the Social Security Act §403(a)(2)(A)(ii)(II)(bb), healthy marriage and relationship programs must consult with domestic violence experts or coalitions in the development of their programs or activities. These programs take a broad range of approaches to serving couples experiencing violence. However, there is little consensus on the best way to maximize their safety and well-being. Further, evidence is mixed on the effects of healthy relationship programs on IPV. For example:

  • In the Building Strong Families study, across all sites severe physical assault was not affected. However, in one site, the intervention increased reports by women of experiencing severe physical assault in the short-term (Wood et al., 2010 (PDF)), though this effect disappeared by the long-term (Wood et al., 2012 (PDF)).
  • In the Supporting Healthy Marriage demonstration evaluation of programming for low-income married couples, the intervention decreased psychological abuse at 12- and 30-month follow-ups (Hsueh et al., 2012 (PDF); Lundquist et al., 2014 (PDF)).
  • In the Community Healthy Marriage Initiative demonstration evaluation of community-wide healthy marriage initiatives, the interventions did not have an impact on IPV outcomes (Bir et al., 2012 (PDF)).

This project will document IPV experiences among healthy relationship program populations, as well as existing healthy relationship program approaches to addressing IPV. Additionally, it will review the literature and consult with program and research experts in order to better understand how best to serve couples experiencing IPV in healthy relationship programs, and to develop protocols to guide them to the most appropriate services. ACF awarded a contract to RTI International for this project.

Additionally, a separate project will document the activities of the National Domestic Violence Hotline and the National Dating Abuse Helpline . These hotlines provide:

  1. Crisis intervention and support by helping the caller identify problems, priorities and possible solutions and options, including making plans for safety and a plan of action
  2. Information about resources on domestic violence and dating violence, children exposed to domestic violence, sexual assault, intervention programs for batterers, and working through the criminal and civil justice systems
  3. Nationwide referrals to domestic violence shelters and programs, social service agencies, programs addressing the needs of children exposed to domestic violence, legal assistance agencies, economic self-sufficiency programs, and other related services
  4. Direct connection to a local domestic violence service provider for callers in need of immediate shelter or services

The hotlines offer multiple modes of services: telephone calls that are answered 24/7 and available in 200 languages; on-line chats; texts; and websites with resources. All contacts are anonymous and no personally identifying information is collected; however, both hotlines do collect extensive data on the services they provide as well as the specific needs and requests of those that contact them. This project will comb through existing data and collect additional data in order to document the activities of the two hotlines. This project will also develop new ways for the hotlines to collect information on their activities and performance, in order to better document and monitor performance. ACF awarded a contract to the Milken Institute School of Public Health at George Washington University to carry out this project.

For more information on these projects, please contact Seth Chamberlain .


1 Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) is defined as physical, sexual, or psychological harm by a current or former partner or spouse. This type of
violence can occur among heterosexual or same-sex couples and does not require sexual intimacy (Centers for Disease Control, 2013).

Program Office:
Types:

Next/Previous Posts