The UW-Madison Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research and Graduate Education (OVCRGE) has awarded almost $250,000 for a new research project to Associate Professor Kate Walsh (principal investigator) and colleagues. The project aims to address barriers to care for sexual violence survivors of color, LGBTQ+ survivors, survivors living in poverty, and people with multiple minoritized identities.
The project, “A Mixed-Methods, Multi-Stakeholder Study to Understand and Improve Access to Post-Sexual Assault Care for Survivors of Color, LGBTQ+ Survivors, and/or Survivors Living in Poverty,” is expected to yield new information about barriers to care, experiences with care and associated physical and mental health and economic disparities among survivors of color, LGBTQ+ survivors, survivors living in poverty and those with multiple minoritized identities and key stakeholders who work within systems of care.
The project also will consider where post-assault care occurs (hospitals, clinics, Indian reservations, LGBTQ centers, advocacy spaces, etc.) and the perspectives of various types of care providers. Furthermore, the project will assess barriers and facilitators for different types of care across groups.
The researchers will use narrative approaches including in-depth interviews and focus groups with survivors of sexual assault, as well as input from nurses, social workers, advocates and advocacy organizations about barriers to seeking post-assault care. In addition, the study will allow researchers to develop and validate methods and survey measures.
More about this project and the other six projects awarded funding support can be found here.