Introduction
This brief describes the National Domestic Violence Hotline Services Assessment Framework based on Theory (SAF-T) project’s use of a participatory approach to engage a range of stakeholders throughout the process of developing a theoretical framework to explain how the National Domestic Violence Hotline (The Hotline) empowers and supports contactors by phone, text, or chat.
The purpose of the first phase of the SAF-T project is to build a theoretical framework based on existing behavior change theory to inform the development of performance measures for The Hotline.
This brief presents the following information:
- An overview of the project;
- Description of The Hotline;
- Rationale for a theoretical framework to guide the development of performance measures;
- Discussion of the importance of stakeholder engagement, which stakeholders were involved, and the process of engagement throughout;
- The use of concept mapping; and
- The resulting framework and explanation of its components.
It also describes the value of using a stakeholder engaged approach throughout the SAF-T project in order to ensure that project activities aligned with the unique context and goals of The Hotline.