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 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 issues 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. This project aims to address adolescent relationship abuse (ARA) disparities among sexual and gender diverse youth (sgdy) by developing and pilot testing a prevention approach tailored specifically for high-school- aged sgdy and their caregivers. A collaborative team of sgdy, caregivers, and community leaders will CO-design an intervention informed by theories of minority stress, stigma, sgdy- affirming approaches, bidirectional parental monitoring, and behavioral change theory, then conduct a randomized controlled trial of the programs pilot with 54 caregiver-adolescent dyads. The development of the intervention will also be informed by interviews already conducted with caregivers of sgdy to understand their worries forthe youth they care for and theirthoughts about what would be helpful for supporting sgdy. The project involves partnerships with futures without violence, pflag pittsburgh, women's center and shelter, and proud haven. The study team willassessthe feasibility (i.e., whether the approach is viable), acceptability (the extent to which the target population wants to participate), and appropriateness of the intervention, and secondary outcomes will measure behavioral changes through pre- and post-intervention surveys, ultimately aiming to inform future programs and policies regarding youth health and safety.