Community Prevention Educators Perspectives on Intimate Partner Violence and COVID-19 in the U.S

Background and Purpose: Little is known about community-based intimate partner violence (IPV) prevention efforts during the COVID-19 pandemic as few studies have examined this topic. Such community prevention efforts largely consist of educators based in IPV community agencies (e.g., shelters) who provide community outreach and education regarding IPV in various community locations such as non-profits or schools. During the COVID-19 pandemic, and continuing to the present day, community IPV prevention efforts have shifted to use online technology-based platforms and online community outreach through social media platforms. This study aims to increase our understanding of IPV community prevention education during the COVID-19 pandemic, specifically addressing three research questions: 1) What did IPV community prevention education look like during the COVID-19 pandemic? 2) What barriers to education were encountered by community IPV prevention educators? And 3) what lessons were learned by community IPV prevention educators during the COVID-19 pandemic?

Methods: IPV community prevention educators were recruited from listservs and via snowball sampling. All interested participants completed a brief screener survey to ensure they were interpersonal violence community prevention educators during the time of the COVID-19 pandemic, located in the U.S., and over the age of 18. Interviews were conducted by either a Ph.D. student or the PI of the study via Zoom. Participants (n = 25) received a $25 gift card for their participation in the study. Coding of transcriptions was done in Dedoose using a coding scheme developed from the interview guide. Several rounds of iterative content coding developed the coding scheme and created a consensus among coders on the categories and how to code the transcripts.

Results: During the interviews, participants spoke about their perceptions of community-based violence prevention education. The first set of categories concerns community prevention education during the COVID-19 pandemic (corresponding to Research Question 1). Participants discussed a variety of challenges with conducting community-based interpersonal violence prevention education during the COVID-19 pandemic (Research Question 2). Barriers to virtual interpersonal violence prevention included the ability to connect with communities and maintain engagement, and the ability to use platforms and connectivity, especially in rural communities. While many challenges to virtual prevention education were discussed, some benefits of such education included more active participation reported by some community participants and also usage of social media to connect with younger community members (Research Question 3). Participants also discussed the importance of dedication and an adaptable approach in delivering community prevention education and felt that community prevention is not prioritized in many communities.

Conclusions and Implications: This study demonstrates the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on community IPV prevention efforts and the challenges of prevention during this time. Community social workers, community IPV prevention educators, and those in other community agencies (e.g., IPV services agencies) can benefit from this information in conducting current interpersonal violence prevention education efforts, many of which have remained virtual even post-lockdown, and navigate barriers associated with community-based violence prevention education.