Trauma, Violence and Related Health Disparities Initiative

Background

Trauma and violence are significant public health concerns that are prevalent and pervasive in societies across the world. While violence and trauma impact all communities, some communities experience multiple forms of violence and trauma. Further, the impact has been greater on marginalized populations such as women of color, indigenous women and girls, racialized immigrant and undocumented women, queer and trans communities, those with physical and mental disabilities, incarcerated and institutionalized women.

Mission

Trauma, violence, and related health disparities initiative focuses on research, education, and outreach efforts to prevent and address interpersonal violence with the goal of eliminating health disparities among marginalized groups affected by violence and trauma.

 The mission is to use a multi-level bio-socio-ecological framework to
a)    understanding health disparities among populations affected by violence and trauma, and
b)    Identifying multidisciplinary best practices and culturally sensitive trauma-informed approaches to preventing and addressing trauma, violence, and related health disparities.

Strategies

1. Creating mentorship and training opportunities for students and post-doctoral fellows interested in violence and trauma-related health disparities.

2. Providing a forum for researchers, practitioners, and community members to come together to discuss ideas and best practices to prevent and address violence, trauma, and related health inequities locally and globally.

3. Creating an expert database of JHU faculty for support with research and practice efforts to address violence and trauma and related health disparities

4. Building partnerships to improve outcomes for populations affected by violence and trauma and related health disparities

5. Creating a yearly resource guide/digest for disseminating information about violence and trauma-related health disparities, based on review of recent literature.

6. Creating a resource database of culturally specific community organizations serving populations exposed to violence and trauma.

Current Research Projects on Violence and Trauma:

1. It’s weWomen Plus Project for Health Safety and Empowerment of Immigrant Women with Intimate Partner Violence Experiences

2. BSHAPE Safety and Health Study for Survivors of Cumulative Trauma

3. Danger Assessment Training and Technical Assistance Center for IPV Risk Assessment

4. A Comparison of Firearm-related Intimate Partner Homicide in Texas and Maryland: Prevalence, Identification of Those at Risk, and the Effect of Firearm Regulations

5. Adapting and Testing the MyPlan App to Prevent Dating Violence with Adolescents

6. Wa’Kan Ye’Zah: Enhancing Caregivers and Children’s Well-being through an Evidence-based and Culturally-Informed Prevention intervention

Completed Research Projects

1. Danger Assessment for Immigrant and Indigenous Women

2. Community Partnered Response to Intimate Violence

3. Domestic Violence Enhanced Home Visitation Intervention (DOVE) Project

4. Effectiveness of Housing Intervention for Battered Women (SHARE Study)

5. ESSENCE Project: Examining stress, sexual experiences and neighborhood correlates of HIV risk among African American women

6. Internet-based Intervention to Improve Mental Health Outcomes for Abused Women

For more information on the Trauma, Violence and Related Health Disparities Initiative contact, the Gender-based Violence FIG and Trauma Violence and Health Disparities Initiative Faculty Lead, Bushra Sabri at [email protected].

Social Media

View information on Twitter: @JHUViolTrauma 

View information on Instgram: JHUViolTrauma