Domestic and Sexual Violence Service Needs for at-Risk Populations in a Diverse East Coast County: A Thematic Analysis

Background and Purpose: Multiple barriers exist for seeking help with domestic violence and sexual violence (DV/SV), particularly for those who experienced discrimination and structural oppression. These barriers include racial, ethnic, cultural, and language-based discrimination. A self-identified DV/SV agency for a large East Coast county asked that service needs and barriers for at-risk, structurally oppressed individuals be explored to improve services and their delivery to the county. We conducted individuals interviews with community leaders from this county to investigate DV/SV in their community, what (if any) related services are used to address, what (if any) barriers to receiving DV/SV services may exist, and what may be needed to address any identified barriers to accessing and using local DV/SV services. The research questions for this study include: (a) “What is known about potential DV/SV-related service needs in this county?” (b) “What (if any) barriers to services use and delivery may exist among community members who remain in need of services?” and (c) “How may barriers be best addressed?”

Methods: The purpose of this study was to explore what is known about DV/SV services, and related DV/SV service needs among at-risk, structurally oppressed populations residing in a large, diverse Esat Coast county. In collaboration with a county-wide DV/SV agency, we designed a semi-structured interview guide to direct qualitative interviews with local community leaders within the county. These interviews lasted approximately one hour, were audio and video recorded, transcribed, and thematically analyzed following the steps outline by Bruan and Clarke, using a combination of vivo, descriptive, and values coding by a single coder, to prioritize nuanced codes and themes.

Results: We conducted qualitative interviews with 20 local community leaders who represented communities of the structurally oppressed, at-risk populations if interest to the DV/SV agency. The community leaders who were interviewed served the following populations: people who are transgender, people living with disabilities, teens, and refugees and immigrants from a range of countries. he following overarching themes were identified from the interviews: (a) discrimination, stigma, and language-related challenges as barriers to help-seeking; (b) community needs for greater DV/SV awareness and education; (c) community strengths in diversity, resilience, and connection; (d) cultural and family-related risk factors for DV/SV and barriers to DV/SV service use, and (e) recommendations for welcoming and inclusive, culturally responsive, and accessible DV/SV services. These themes will be further elaborated on in our poster.

Conclusion and Implications: This study elucidates the unique needs of at-risk populations for DV/SV services within a diverse, large East coast county. These DV/SV service needs include culturally responsive dissemination of DV/SV information and services, further efforts to address stigma when seeking help for DV/SV, and more expansive language options for DV/SV services. Additional implications for DV/SV practice and research will be presented.