Group therapy is an effective modality to treat various mental health concerns and is proven to have significant interpersonal benefits. Despite the high prevalence of sexual violence amongst college-aged women, there are limited contemporary models for providing a trauma-specific group for this population. This article describes an innovative…

Domestic violence against women has been a serious social and public health problem faced by contemporary society. This type of violence has grown in recent years, placing the woman not only as a victim of the aggressor but also of a sexist culture established over time. One of the ways to combat this problem is through prevention based on…

Objective: Empowerment Self-Defense (ESD) is a sexual violence prevention approach backed by rigorous empirical research, yet its availability on college campuses is limited. This manuscript evaluates the feasibility and efficacy of an ESD program embedded within a university counseling center. Methods: Participants completed an 8-session ESD…

This paper explores the challenges and successes of engaging female survivors of childhood sexual abuse and sexual violence in community-based, arts-informed adult learning. The study presents the complex physical, psychological and emotional barriers to participation that were encountered during the fieldwork period. The rationale for using an…

This mixed-methods study investigated the effectiveness of a sex positive sexual education and violence prevention program: Relationships, Sexuality, and Violence Prevention (RSVP). Researchers tested the impact of the program among 63 college women. A series of one-way ANCOVAs tested the impact of the program on (a) positive sexual…

Background: Domestic abuse is a public health issue, and increasing evidence suggests that young women are more likely to suffer than older women, yet limited evidence exists in England about educational and intervention programmes for young women at risk. Study's objectives: To evaluate a gender-specific (women-only) programme aimed at educating…

This program evaluation explored whether the transitional vocational rehabilitation program at a non-profit organization in Tennessee, named Thistle Farms, was effective in improving trauma-related mental health symptoms and in increasing the sense of empowerment among female survivors of intimate partner violence. The study additionally evaluated…

This purpose of this research is to examine the critical issue of intimate partner violence and to explore a how non-battering "well-meaning men" can help to end this violence against women. Domestic violence has been primarily considered a women's issue, and current efforts to prevent this violence have been led mostly by women. In…

This article provides an overview of Building Connections, a national initiative in Canada to embed trauma-informed approaches into community-based projects, highlighting the components that indicate successful implementation. Building Connections uses a relationship-based approach (a) to support the readiness to engage in an intervention focused…

Objective: The purpose of the study is to systematically review the available evidence on the effectiveness of interventions to improve the response of various helping professionals who come into contact with female victims of intimate partner violence (IPV). Methods: Several databases were searched, and N = 38 studies met the inclusion criteria…

The purpose of the present study was to examine the experiences of six bilingual Spanish-English speaking mental health professionals who facilitated groups using the Sí, Yo Puedo (translated in English as Yes, I Can) curriculum and program within a six-year period in two Midwestern states. Designed for immigrant Latinas, the main components of…

I became curious as to why the anger group "Just the Tip of the Iceberg" that I was facilitating was succeeding. The women are required to complete a 20-hour workshop and write a letter to the Court or to their worker, explaining what they have gained or learned in this process. I was interested to find out how the presentation of…

In 2008, in the case of the "District of Columbia vs. Heller," which involved a district law banning most handguns, the U. S. Supreme Court declared that the Second Amendment protects citizens' rights to self-defense and that the federal government cannot prohibit guns in homes. Two years later, the Court further made clear that the…

This paper examines the challenges of using feminist pedagogies in the development of school-based interventions to address Violence Against Women in Sexuality and Relationships Education in Australia. The focus of the paper is a feminist-based classroom program developed by a group of teachers, which was piloted in three secondary schools in…

HIV/sexually transmitted infection (STI) risk-reduction interventions are needed to address the complex risk behaviors among African-American female adolescents in disadvantaged communities in North Carolina. In a two-group randomized trial, we reached 237 sexually active, substance-using African-American female adolescents, to test a…