Rape Survivors Seeking Immediate Support through the National Sexual Assault Online Hotline (NSAOH): Opportunities and Challenges for Crisis Intervention

Background and Purpose: In the aftermath of rape, hotlines can provide emotional support, referrals and information to help victims understand options and make decisions. The 48 hours following rape is an especially critical window for post-assault care (e.g., medical forensic evaluation).  However, many survivors delay seeking help, and little empirical work has examined the characteristics of victims who do reach out for help in the immediate aftermath of assault.

The National Sexual Assault Online Hotline (NSAOH) provides live, one-on-one confidential online support to victims who might not otherwise seek help due to stigma, privacy concerns, or practical barriers. Examining anonymous data from the NSAOH, this study seeks to understand and classify survivors who disclosed rape that occurred in the previous 24 hrs.  The aims of this preliminary investigation are twofold. First, we describe subgroups of users distinguished by patterns of event characteristics. Second, across subgroups, we examine themes that emerge in staff descriptions of safety planning, as well as challenges in providing services.

Methods: Support specialists provide anonymous information based on the first session of every shift, but do not solicit information from users. The sample was limited to sessions with hotline visitors who disclosed having been raped in the last 24 hours. For the current investigation, unknown or undisclosed information are excluded from analyses.  We applied Latent Class Analysis (LCA), a person-centered analytic approach, to uncover subgroups of victims distinguished by patterns of indicators (in this study, assault characteristics). The indicators included frequency of assault, victim-perpetrator relationship, whether the victim was living with the perpetrator, and the victim status as a minor or adult. LCA classifies cases into groups such that people are most similar within group and different between groups. 

Results: Preliminary analyses included cases with complete data on all indicators of interest (N=411) based on session assessment data gathered from support specialists. Fit indices reveal a three-class solution best fit the data. Based on probabilities within each class, the groups were interpreted and labeled as follows:  (1) “Acquaintance/Stranger Rape” (43%), (2) “Intrafamilial Child Abuse” (42%), and (3) “Intimate Partner/Intrafamilial Rape” (15%). 

Victims of Intrafamilial Child Abuse and Intimate Partner/Intrafamilial Rape were characterized by a high likelihood of living with the perpetrator and experiencing ongoing (repeated) abuse. Across classes, safety planning included addressing medical concerns and physical safety, as well as discussion of reporting and disclosure to others. Discussing ways for the victim to stay safe and avoid further abuse while living with the perpetrator emerged as a prominent theme for Intrafamilial Child Abuse.

Conclusions and Implications:  An anonymous hotline service presents unique opportunities for crisis intervention—especially for victims at risk for continued assault—who might not otherwise access support. Staff also face considerable challenges in helping child abuse victims, as many victims are hesitant to disclose their abuse outside the anonymous hotline context. These findings highlight areas in need of further development in victim services, particularly in serving survivors at risk for continued victimization.