Online Safety Planning Among Women Experiencing Intimate Partner Violence

Background & Purpose: Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) is one of the most common social problems in the United States with 1 in 3 women reporting experiences of violence perpetrated by their partner (Black, Basile, Breiding, et al., 2011). Given the prevalence, and severity of the outcomes, online safety planning is gaining popularity among IPV practitioners, health professionals, and social service providers (Ford-Gilbo et al., 2017; Glass et al., 2009). In previous research, women in a community sample that used online safety planning experienced reduced decisional conflict and increased empowerment (Eden et al.,  2015). This study examined the online safety planning tool with a group of survivors accessing domestic violence programs. Specific hypotheses included (1) associations between women’s level of empowerment, decisional conflict, mental health symptoms (depression and PTSD), and violence severity; and (2) test the impact of the intervention on levels of empowerment and decisional conflict.

Methods: Participants (N = 249) were women clients in domestic violence programs throughout a metropolitan region in the southwestern U.S. Participants were randomly assigned to an intervention group (n = 123) or control group (n = 126); ages ranged from 18-66 years (M = 38 years, SD = 11 years). Participants were primarily low income, with 35% earning less than $100 per month. Members of the intervention group received the online safety plan and members of the control group received safety resources (treatment as usual). Measurement occurred at pre-test with post-test data collected immediately after the intervention. First, a series of Pearson’s correlation analyses were used to examine associations between variables at pre-test among all participants. Second, an independent-means t-test was used to see differences in scores at post-test on decisional conflict and empowerment among all participants. Third, a dependent-means t-test was used to analyze differences at pre-test and post-test on decisional conflict and empowerment between participants in the intervention group.

Results: Findings show that higher levels of empowerment were associated with lower levels of violence (r = -.215, p = .005), lower levels of depression (r = -.338, p < .001), lower levels of PTSD (r = -.298, p < .001) and less decisional conflict (r = -.544, p < .001). Immediately post-treatment, women in the intervention group had less decisional conflict than women in the control group by an average of 7 points (t(96) = 2.096, p = .039). There was no measured difference in empowerment between the intervention and control groups.

Conclusion and Implications: The reduction in decisional conflict shows that an online safety plan may assist women when they must make difficult choices regarding an abusive relationship. The stagnant empowerment score could be explained by a number of factors including the clients’ perceptions of their stay in shelter, revisiting their abuse experiences during the survey, or using the risk assessment for the first time. Empowerment scores may change over time when pairing the online safety plan with intensive advocacy.