nursing school*2017 Update: Information for the myPlan app can be found at www.myplanapp.org.

The One Love Foundation has launched the One Love MyPlan, a second mobile application to guide women endangered by or in fear of relationship violence toward safe decisions.

The smartphone app helps a user determine if a relationship is unsafe and helps to create the best action plan by weighing an individual’s unique characteristics and values. MyPlan also offers a safety decision aid for friends concerned about a female friend’s relationship.

MyPlan, available at JoinOneLove.org, is the latest tool in the One Love Foundation’s “Be 1 for Change” initiative, with a mission of ending relationship violence through education and technology. The One Love Danger Assessment app launched in 2012.

In partnership with Loveisrespect.org, MyPlan provides access to trained advocate support 24/7 through an embedded live chat function and takes users through four phases:

  • My Relationship–gathering information about the relationship
  • My Safety–risk assessment for the user
  • My Priorities–ranking of the users priorities when making a safety decision
  • My Plan–personalized safety plan and information on available resources.  

The new app is based on more than 10 years of National Institutes of Health- and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention-funded research by Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing professor Nancy Glass, PhD, MPH, RN, FAAN, and her team. According to research, every year 3 million to 4 million women in the U.S. are abused and 1,500-1,600 are killed by their abusers. Development and research for MyPlan took place at numerous locations throughout the country, including Johns Hopkins University, Arizona State University, the University of Missouri-Columbia, and Oregon Health and Science University. Participants were females 18-25 who had experienced relationship violence while in college, and male and female friends 18-25 with a female friend who experienced relationship violence. The results showed that college-age women and their friends would respond positively to a technology-based safety decision aid that could be accessed from smartphone or other mobile devices.

“The One Love Foundation continues to make strides toward providing teens and young adults with the most up-to-date and safest tools available to help understand and combat relationship violence,” said One Love founder Sharon Love, whose daughter Yeardley was killed in 2010 by an estranged boyfriend. “With the support and expertise of partners like Dr. Glass, we are able to continue furthering our mission to end relationship violence by getting these easy-to-access tools in the hands of young people who could be in a dangerous situation.”