The Uptake of Digital Technologies in DV/SA Organizations in Response to Heightened Coercive Control during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Background & Purpose: Emerging evidence suggests that domestic violence (DV) and Sexual Assault (SA) rates increased during the COVID-19 pandemic. Due to the implementation of necessary public health measures (e.g., social distancing and lockdown orders), DV survivors were forced to shelter-in-place with abusive partners and experienced isolation from support networks. While some studies suggest that human service agencies adopted digital technologies such as telehealth to respond to evolving community needs, there has been limited inquiry into how DV/SA organizations integrated digital technologies in their service delivery systems. Prior research demonstrated that DV/SA staff are reluctant to integrate emerging technologies due to concerns over client confidentiality and limited technological prowess. The primary aims of this presentation: 1.) To explore IPV providers' perceptions of how the COVID-19 pandemic influenced survivors’ safety; 2.) To construct knowledge regarding how organizations utilized digital technologies to respond to shifting service needs during the pandemic.

Methods: Key informant interviews were conducted with a snowball sample of organizational representatives from DV/SA (n=30) across the United States. Theoretical sampling was employed to identify culturally specific and non-mainstream organizations. A semi-structured interview guide was utilized to elicit participants’ perspectives regarding how the COVID-19 pandemic influenced their organizations' use of technology and impacted their clients. We utilized exploratory thematic content analysis to construct primary thematic domains across the data.

Results: Across the interviews, organizational participants shared concerns regarding client safety during the pandemic that stemmed from clients living with their abusers, increased opportunities for tech abuse, heightened external DV triggers, and increased challenges accessing in-person services. To respond to these concerns, DV/SA providers shifted previously in-person services to virtual formats using video conferencing software, revised pre-pandemic safety-planning practices, implemented discussions of tech safety with clients, and adapted primary prevention programming to digital formats. Several discussed internal discussions regarding adopting telehealth platforms, though few had done so. A small number of organizations expressed they had robust technological infrastructure before the pandemic, so they didn't need to shift their practices significantly.

Conclusions & Implications: The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated existing inequities, including the prevalence of DV and digital surveillance. However, the results of this study also demonstrate that the pandemic heightened opportunities for organizational learning about the potential for technology and catalyzed the uptake of such technologies for the majority of DV/SA organizations. While many of the interview participants expressed concern regarding the use of technology to facilitate abuse and compromise client confidentiality, they also acknowledged the importance of developing internal capacity to ameliorate such harms and the potential of emerging digital technologies to increase service utilization. Implications for developing more substantive and sustainable digital infrastructures in IPV organizations after the pandemic will be discussed.