Violence and Abuse in Rural America – Models and Innovations

Evidence-Based Examples

Domestic Violence Enhanced Home Visitation Program (DOVE)

Updated/reviewed March 2024

• Need: To reduce violence against pregnant women and women with infants in rural Missouri.
• Intervention: A tool for existing home visiting programs, DOVE was a brochure-based and safety planning intervention for women experiencing interpersonal violence.
• Results: Women receiving the DOVE intervention saw a larger average decrease in number of violent incidents than women in the control group.

Effective Examples

STAIR (Skills Training in Affective and Interpersonal Regulation)

Updated/reviewed March 2024

• Need: To increase access to telemental health services for rural veterans, especially women, with a history of trauma.
• Intervention: STAIR (Skills Training in Affective and Interpersonal Regulation) is a 10-week program designed to reduce PTSD and depression symptoms and increase emotional regulation and social functioning in clients.
• Results: Therapists reported that clients attended more sessions when offered via teleconferencing, and clients reported satisfaction with the program.

Wyoming Trauma Telehealth Treatment Clinic

Updated/reviewed February 2024

• Need: To provide psychotherapy to survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault.
• Intervention: University of Wyoming psychology doctoral students provide psychotherapy via videoconferencing to crisis center clients in two rural locations.
• Results: Clients, student therapists, and crisis center staff were satisfied with the quality of services, and clients reported reduced symptoms of depression and PTSD.

Other Project Examples

Jana's Campaign: Secondary Education Prevention Programming

Updated/reviewed March 2024

• Need: To reduce teen dating violence in middle schools, high schools, and youth organizations by promoting healthy relationship behaviors and fostering a culture of respect among adolescents.
• Intervention: Jana's Campaign offers prevention programs, including curricular and co-curricular activities, to highlight the 'red flags' and underlying causes of unhealthy dating relationships.
• Results: Since 2013, 661 middle and high schools and more than 92,673 students in Kansas, Nebraska, Colorado, Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas, Oregon, Montana, and Washington State have benefited from these programs.

Schoharie County ACEs Team

Updated/reviewed December 2023

• Need: Agencies in Schoharie County, New York were seeing a widespread trend of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) in the children and families they served.
• Intervention: The Schoharie ACEs Team was formed as a way to educate rural communities about ACEs, the associated brain science, and ways to build resiliency.
• Results: The ACEs Team has put on 5 half-day educational conferences, 2 virtual conferences, and 10 trainings for various groups across the region. The team has also trained 3 school districts on trauma-informed care and provided resources for families exposed to trauma.

Safe Place of Eastern South Dakota

Updated/reviewed November 2023

• Need: To provide victims of domestic violence and sexual assault a safe space, advocacy, education, and family support services.
• Intervention: Safe Place of Eastern South Dakota provides emergency/transitional housing, support and referral services, family visitation services, and community education.
• Results: In 2022, Safe Place of Eastern South Dakota answered 350 crisis calls, provided shelter for 132 survivors, and advocated for 94 survivors.

The Massachusetts Department of Public Health TeleSANE Center

Updated/reviewed May 2023

• Need: Clinicians in rural and underserved areas are often unprepared to provide comprehensive medical-forensic examinations for patients who present for care following a sexual assault.
• Intervention: The MDPH TeleSANE Center uses secure telehealth software to connect sexual assault nurse examiners to clinicians and patients in hospitals across Massachusetts — including four in rural counties — offering expert clinical guidance and support before, during, and after examinations.
• Results: Clinicians report that the service gives them increased confidence throughout the examination process. To date, the MDPH TeleSANE Center has assisted in the care of over 730 patients.

Canyon Creek Services

Updated/reviewed March 2023

• Need: To reduce and prevent domestic violence and sexual assault in Utah's rural Beaver, Garfield, and Iron counties.
• Intervention: Canyon Creek Services provides a 24/7 emergency hotline, emergency shelter, hospital response, crisis intervention, housing advocacy, and community education services.
• Results: In 2022, CCS served 756 survivors, with 141 of them accessing the emergency shelter. CCS reached 159,275 people through community outreach and prevention campaigns.

Together We Can Be Bully Free

Updated/reviewed February 2023

• Need: Union Parish, a rural county in Louisiana, was experiencing higher than average suicide rates among youth.
• Intervention: Union General Hospital, a Critical Access Hospital, started a program to educate students grade 4 through 12 on the negative effects of bullying and how to model positive social behavior.
• Results: The 3,000+ students trained have learned how to recognize, report, and react to bullying.

Butte Child Evaluation Center

Updated/reviewed August 2022

• Need: Before 2000, Butte and southwest Montana had around 1,300 cases of child abuse a year, with only a 20% conviction rate for perpetrators of sexual abuse.
• Intervention: Multiple agencies in the community came together to address the issue of child abuse by forming the Butte Child Evaluation Center (CEC), a Children's Advocacy Center.
• Results: During a 3-year grant cycle, over 200 interviews and exams were performed on victims of sexual abuse and the Butte CEC became the first program in Montana to be accredited by the National Children's Alliance.

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