This multi-site, mixed-methods study funded by UNICEF explores the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and its corresponding movement restrictions on women and girls’ safety and well-being and their knowledge of and access to gender-based violence (GBV) services. The study employs online surveys and key informant interviews to (1) understand how the pandemic has impacted GBV service delivery, (2) assess challenges providers have faced in reaching especially marginalized and vulnerable women and girls, and (3) identify innovative and sustainable solutions for delivering GBV services during future pandemics. The study focuses on women and girls in humanitarian, host-country, and high-violence settings. Current sites include Italy, Guatemala, Brazil, Zimbabwe, and Brazil.
PI: Lindsay Stark
Co-I: Ilana Seff
This project, in partnership with the Women’s Refugee Commission and Mercy Corps, involves implementation science research around a sibling-centered intervention for families in humanitarian settings. Adolescent girls, their adolescent brothers, and their caregivers receive synchronous programming to improve family functioning, transform attitudes around gender inequity and violence, improve mental health, and ultimately prevent violence against adolescent girls. Current sites: Borno State Niger.
PI: Lindsay Stark
Co-I: Ilana Seff
This partnership with Transcultural Psychosocial Organization (TPO) Uganda investigates the effectiveness and implementation of the Journey of Life (JoL) program in Kiryandongo refugee settlement, Uganda with funding from USAID. JoL addresses the social ecologies of children and adolescents by working with caregivers, educators, and community members to understand the importance of their involvement in the protection of children. Preventive and curative measures for improving community mental health and psychosocial outcomes include bolstering coping skills, meaning-making, social functioning, and building social capital.
PI: Lindsay Stark
The prevalence of GBV in emergencies comes at a high impact to both individuals and societies. Humanitarian actors are increasingly asked to quantify the economic costs of GBV but are unable to do so without having field-friendly and evidence-based costing methodologies. In order to address this gap, CVIP is working with health economists to conduct an analysis of the economic costs of intimate partner violence in a conflict-affected setting. This study is funded by UNICEF and will pilot costing methodologies to inform guidance for future gender based violence costing studies. Current site: Colombia
PI: Lindsay Stark
The Gender-based Violence Information Management System (GBVIMS+) is an inter-agency survivor-centered system that provides a technological solution to providers of GBV case management services in humanitarian settings. In addition to helping case workers and supervisors systematically manage case information, the tool honors principles of safety, non-discrimination, and the right to self-determination, facilitates the quality assessment of services, and generates aggregate, anonymized statistics to inform improved GBV prevention and response efforts. Washington University in St. Louis will be leading an upcoming evaluation of GBVIMS+ in a few countries, employing an implementation science framework for generating learning.
PI: Lindsay Stark
This project will use a randomized controlled trial to assess feasibility and effectiveness of a learning-collaborative as an implementation strategy to advance use of CPT for treating PTSD in 15 Texas Rape Crisis Centers. For more information, please click here.
Social Workers Advancing through Grounded Education (SAGE): Building Capacity for Mental and Behavioral Health in Indian Country
The SAGE project recruits, trains, and financially supports Native and non-Native students as they complete 360 hours of their concentration practica. For more information, please click here.
This five-year intensive summer research institute is designed to prepare a new cadre of skilled investigators dedicated to engaging in child abuse and neglect research. To learn more, click here.
In 2016, Washington University in St. Louis announced stepping up its efforts to stop sexual assault — expanding both prevention programs and crisis services and launching a new research initiative to develop and test solutions. For more information, please click here.