The research and evaluation (R & E) initiative is authorized by 34 USC 12291(B)(7), which permits OVW to set aside up to three percent of available funds from most OVW programs to conduct…

The Office on Violence Against Women (OVW) awarded $449,819 under the Research and Evaluation Program (CFDA 16.026) to Yale University on November 1, 2022 for a project ending October 31, 2024.

The project aims to develop and pilot test a web-based single-session hope intervention for domestic violence survivors. The intervention targets survivors' sense of hope to increase self-worth, empowerment, and emotional well-being. Yale University will conduct process and efficacy evaluations of the intervention. They will produce at least six practitioner and scholarly works describing the project's findings on hope's dynamic role in survivors' recovery. The results will contribute to the evidence base on effective approaches for combating domestic violence under the Research and Evaluation Program.

The research and evaluation (R & E) initiative is authorized by 34 USC 12291(B)(7), which permits OVW to set aside up to three percent of available funds from most OVW programs to conduct evaluations of promising practices for combatting domestic/dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking, and to research problems emerging in the field. By generating more knowledge about strategies for serving victims and holding offenders accountable, communities that benefit from violence against women act (VAWA) funding will be better equipped to align their work with practices that are known to be effective, and they will be more capable of building empirical knowledge on the efficacy of new and promising ways of making communities safer and more just. This project with yale university draws from research outside of the gender-based violence field that targets hope as an outcome for interventions, since hope may help predict other, positive long-term outcomes. The project team, which includes domestic violence survivors, will develop an intervention to increase survivors' sense of hope, and, in turn, their self-worth, empowerment, and emotional well-being. Pilot testing will assess the feasibility, acceptability, and safety of the intervention. This project will address a need for low-burden interventions for survivors who have no intention of seeking services at brick-and-mortar programs, and the study will contribute to a burgeoning body of research on the role of hope in survivors' recovery. The project will result in: 1) reports to OVW, 2) a web-based single-session intervention targeting hope; 3) process evaluation findings; intervention efficacy findings; and a description of the dynamic nature of hope; 4) at least six practitioner and scholarly products, and 5) archivable data.