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How Advocates Use CARE to Accommodate the Needs of Domestic Violence Survivors Seeking Services With Brain Injuries and Mental Health Challenges: A Process Evaluation

NCJ Number
309703
Journal
Violence Against Women Dated: February 2024
Date Published
February 2024
Length
12 pages
Annotation

This paper reports on an evaluation of the CARE intervention’s implementation at agencies that serve domestic violence survivors; it reports on the evaluation’s methodology and findings, including that the use of CARE increased advocate awareness of brain injury among domestic violence survivors, which led to support service improvements.

Abstract

The authors evaluated the implementation of Connect, Acknowledge, Respond, and Evaluate (CARE), an organization-level intervention, to accommodate the health needs of survivors, including brain injury. Participants were staff or administrators at agencies serving domestic violence (DV) survivors (n = 57 advocates; n = 5 agencies). Process evaluation focus groups (n = 10 groups) were conducted. Two researchers coded/analyzed focus group transcripts using grounded theory. The use of CARE increased advocate awareness/knowledge of brain injury among survivors leading to improvements to the agencies’ provision of structural and functional social support to survivors. CARE is a valuable resource to accommodate survivors, thereby improving staff's perception of their ability to provide trauma-informed service provision for DV survivors. (Published Abstract Provided)

Date Published: February 1, 2024