Author: Anne P. DePrince, PhD

Anne is a Professor and Chair in the Psychology Department and Director of the Center for Community Engagement to advance Scholarship and Learning (CCESL) at the University of Denver. She directs the Traumatic Stress Studies Group.

The Wrong Lesson: The Radical Re-Write of the Definition of Sexual Harassment in the Proposed Title IX Rules

January 25, 2019

Only a handful of days remain to make public comments on the problematic Title IX rules proposed by Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos (comments have to be submitted by January 30). If you’re thinking about submitting a comment, there are resources available on writing an effective comment and plenty of reasons to get your keyboard. For example, the proposed rules will require survivors to submit to cross-examination by an advisor of the accused’s choosing and create significant barriers to reporting.

The proposed rules also include a radical re-write of the definition of sexual harassment that has serious implications for what we teach this country’s young people about why sexual harassment and assault matter.

The new rules require that schools dismiss complaints that do not involve “unwelcome conduct on the basis of sex that is so severe, pervasive, and objectively offensive that it effectively denies a person equal access to the [school’s] education program or activity” (§§ 106.30, 106.45(b)(3)). According to the new rules, then, sexual harassment only matters after severe harm has already occurred – such as after a survivor has already left school entirely. In this, the proposed rules say that harassment matters only because of the consequences to an individual survivor and not the occurrence of sexual harassment.

Here’s the problem – or at least a problem – with this approach. Imagine a man uses the same sexually explicit words and graphic images to abuse two different women. One woman leaves college; the other does not. Though the man engaged in the same behavior, what he did can be investigated as sexual harassment in one instance and not in the other. The proposed rule reverse-engineers the definition of harassment based on the way survivors react rather than the behavior of the harasser. This puts the onus of defining why sexual harassment matters on the shoulders of survivors: If they can’t demonstrate severe harm, it doesn’t matter that they were sexually harassed.

An enormous body of research clearly establishes that, on average, sexual harassment and assault result in short- and long-term physical, cognitive, emotional, interpersonal, and behavioral harm. Research also documents that the impact of sexual harassment and assault on survivors varies. Some women experience physical and mental health consequences; others don’t. Some women are aware of and able to describe the immediate impact of abuse, others aren’t. Saying sexual harassment matters only after survivors can demonstrate severe harm fails to recognize the diverse responses humans have to traumatic stress and perversely penalizes resilience in the face of abuse.

This is not to say that harm should not be considered in some contexts. For example, victims have to demonstrate that they suffered harm to get monetary restitution through the civil legal system following sexual harassment or assault. Having to demonstrate harm when asking for monetary restitution for harm makes sense. However, students who report sexual harassment and assault to their schools are not asking for financial damages – they are asking to learn in an environment where they are not sexually abused.

In my own field of traumatic stress, we have used research on the harm that results from trauma to make the case that that practitioners and policy makers should pay attention to traumatic stress. Studies in the 1980s and early 1990s, for example, were critical to documenting the psychological symptoms people often experience in the aftermath of traumas. That research led to establishing posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) as a diagnosis as well as increased policy, practice, and research attention to trauma.

So, documenting the harm that results form sexual harassment and assault to survivors has helped make the case that health and legal systems should pay attention to these forms of abuse. However, the new Title IX rules throw into sharp relief the limits of harm-based arguments, particularly when applied to individual students. For example, we know from work on trauma-informed schools that narrowly thinking about the impact of trauma on one student fails to recognize how trauma affects the learning environment for all. If sexual harassment matters to our schools only because it causes severe harm, and a particular student does not experience severe harm, then the new rules say sexual harassment doesn’t matter. That doesn’t make any sense.

In our larger national conversations, it’s time to step back from harm-focused reasoning to re-ask: Why do sexual harassment and assault matter to our schools?

Our educational system plays a critical role in socializing young people into the norms and values upon which our communities and democracy depend. Sexual harassment and assault violate a fundamental social contract between human beings who share the halls of schools and streets of neighborhoods: that we will not abuse each other in the most intimate way possible. If our educational system defines sexual harassment as mattering only when it causes harm to a specific person, we teach that abusing a person isn’t the wrong part. Abusing a person who is harmed is. That’s the wrong lesson – for schools and for society. And the wrong policy.

Telling a Story of Practitioner-Researcher Collaboration for Victim Services

January 24, 2019

When you feel strongly about something, it’s a really good day when someone hands you a microphone and says “tell us about it“.

One of those good days came about recently when the Center for Victim Research invited Kazi Houston and Emily Tofte Nestaval from Rocky Mountain Victim Law Center and me to talk about our Wrap Around Legal Services for Victims of Crime Project collaboration for a new podcast, “Tell Us About It: Victim Research Convos“.

It was a good day because, as it turns out, I feel pretty strongly about practitioner-researcher collaboration. In fact, my work is guided by the assumption that when practitioners and researchers team up, good things happen. Practice and policy can be stronger because of the inclusion of research insights; and research can be stronger because of the inclusion of practice and policy insights.

My fundamental belief about the importance of practitioner-researcher collaboration shows up in my choice of research methods, particularly community-engaged approaches. Community-engaged research is characterized by mutual benefit and reciprocity. In this approach, research is designed and implemented to be of benefit to communities as well as to researchers and science.

Lots of the research that we do through the Traumatic Stress Studies (TSS) Group takes a community-engaged approach, seeking to address questions that advance science and practice simultaneously. The potential power of community-engaged, practitioner-research collaboration really stands out, though, in the Wrap Around Legal Services for Victims of Crime Project. In that project, my research team collaborated with Denver-area agencies (led by Rocky Mountain Victim Law Center) over several years to identify unmet legal needs and barriers to getting legal needs met following crimes, such as sexual assault and domestic violence. Based on that research, our practitioner partners designed an innovative, wrap-around program to meet unmet legal needs and reduce barriers — the Legal Information Network of Colorado (LINC). LINC offers a website where survivors can go any time day or night to read legal information written in plain language. Survivors can work with a Navigator, who is specially trained to help connect them with resources to meet their legal needs. Building on early successes in Denver, which the TSS Group team helped evaluate, the LINC program is now rolling out statewide.

The story of this collaboration makes up the first two episodes of the new “Tell Us About It: Victim Research Convos” podcast. Episode 1 features Kazi Houston and Emily Tofte Nestaval (Rocky Mountain Victim Law Center) sharing practitioner perspectives on collaboration with researchers. They offer great examples of what practitioner-research collaboration can look like and how that collaboration can help victim service agencies accomplish their goals. Give a listen here:

In Episode 2, I got to share perspectives on collaboration for advancing practice and science. For practitioners wondering what might be gained by partnering with researchers or researchers thinking about incorporating community-engaged methods, I hope there is something in this podcast for you:

Thanks to the Center for Victim Research for letting us tell this story. And here’s to a good day, with a story of the impact of practitioner-research collaboration in two parts.

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The “Wrap Around Legal Services for Victims of Crime” project was supported by Grant 2012-VF-GX-K018 awarded to Rocky Mountain Victim Law Center by the Office for Victims of Crime, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice. The opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this post are those of the contributors and do not necessarily represent the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.

Your Chance to Comment on Proposed Title IX Rule Changes

December 10, 2018

As reported recently, Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos has released new proposed regulations to Title IX. The proposed changes run counter to what we have learned through the TSS Group as well as research nationally about the causes and consequences of sexual assault, reporting decisions, and the importance of trauma-informed responses. The sweeping changes would be far-reaching, affecting the kinds of cases that can even be investigated to requiring survivors to submit to cross-examination by an advisor of the accused’s choosing. The proposed changes promise to have a chilling effect on reporting and institutional responses to campus sexual assault. And, unlike Obama-era guidance on Title IX, the new rules would be legally binding.

Now that the new rules have been proposed, the public has until January 28, 2019 to comment. Several resources are available to learn more about the proposed rule changes as well as how to make an effective comment that draws on data to make substantive critiques and/or suggest alternative policies. Here are a few:

Maybe it’s the college professor in me, but here’s one more reminder: The due date for public comments is January 30, 2019 – no extensions.

Update: January 12, 2019. New resource links were added to this post. 

Update: January 25, 2019. Because the Federal eRulemaking Portal was unavailable for two days, the due date for comments was extended to on January 30, 2019. The deadline has been updated in the post above. 

Happy Holidays from the TSS Group

December 10, 2018

lunaholiday

Dear Colleagues and Friends of the TSS Group,

As 2018 draws to a close, I offer my heartfelt thanks to you for your collaboration. Your willingness to work, share, and learn together continues to make it possible to do research that advances understanding of sexual assault, domestic violence, child abuse, older adult abuse, and sex trafficking in our communities. I am grateful for opportunities to work with and learn from you — and grateful for all you do.

On behalf of the TSS Group team (and our antlered friend), we wish you a peaceful holiday season filled with kindness and joy.

Warm wishes,

Anne 

P.S. Our offices will be closed December 24, 2018 through January 2, 2019. See you in 2019!

Victim Services Start in the Waiting Room

December 10, 2018

by Naomi Wright & Anne P. DePrince

Imagine you work in victim services. Following a sexual assault, a woman goes to your office building to meet with you. Maybe for an interview that is part of a criminal investigation. Maybe to access healthcare. Regardless of the reason, keep imagining those first few moments when your services start. You can probably call to mind the look and feel of the room where your trauma-informed, victim-centered exam or interview begins.

For the woman, though, victim services started when she walked into the waiting room. Whether you were there or not.

We asked more than 200 women who were sexually assaulted in the last year (the majority of whom had been raped) about their victim service experiences, including how to improve responses. The women with whom we spoke were diverse with respect to age, ethnic/racial background, sexual orientation, and socioeconomic status. In line with research nationally (Littel, 2001), many women told us that they spent time in public waiting rooms to seek health and police services after the sexual assault.

Across this diverse group of women, one thing was clear: Improving victim services begins in the waiting room.

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Seventy women — about one third of all the women with whom we spoke — went to a police station after the sexual assault, typically for a scheduled interview with the detective assigned to the case. When asked about the waiting area, the majority recalled negative experiences. Women described feeling intimated or as if they had done something wrong. Some women found themselves wondering if the offender might walk in. Others were uncomfortable sitting with men who might be sexual offenders (a concern reinforced by signs that gave information about sex offender registration). The physical features in the waiting rooms set a cold tone during the wait, exacerbating women’s feelings of stress as they were sometimes required to fill out forms or draft a written report in this public space.

I had to sit right next to [a] place for sex offenders, which was uncomfortable.

When women indicated positive experiences waiting in police stations, there was a welcoming, more private space for them, such as a “comfort room full of stuffed animals and puzzles.” Women especially appreciated not having to wait with other people, such as when they were met upon arrival by an officer or advocate and escorted to a private space.

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More than half of women with whom we spoke went to a hospital or health clinic after the sexual assault. Women described frequently waiting to be seen by medical staff in full or busy public waiting areas. While other patients may not have known why women were there, women described feeling embarrassed, self-conscious, and even claustrophobic. Sometimes the check-in procedures exacerbated embarrassment, such as when asking for a Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner (SANE) exam at the front desk, surrounded by a crowded room. For other women, the general commotion in the waiting area led to feeling unsafe, isolated (“no one was there for me”), and scared.

The room was big and open with lots of people and kids running around; I really didn’t want to be there because I was traumatized and embarrassed. I felt like all eyes were on me.

In contrast, women felt more positively toward their experience waiting for medical services when they were met by a sexual assault specialist immediately or allowed to wait in a private room away from the public waiting area. For example, one woman said “I sat in this room called a family room, it was fine, and they brought me snacks.” Other women waited in the general waiting room and felt positively toward their experience, describing a “clean and safe” environment, sometimes with a responding officer staying with them while they waited.

Take-Aways

Many women will find themselves in public waiting rooms while seeking victim services. Police station and medical waiting rooms may be women’s first encounters with formal support services. For some women, waiting room experiences are quick, organized, and welcoming; for other women, waiting rooms are cold, uncomfortable, or frightening.

Women’s observations of the waiting areas align with other things we’ve learned from the Women’s Health Project about factors — big and small — that can affect women’s engagement with victim services. For example, positive reactions from community-based victim service providers to women’s sexual assault disclosures predict whether or not women report to law enforcement (DePrince, Wright, Gagnon, Srinivas, & Labus, in press).

Women made clear that their experiences in hospital or police station waiting rooms set the tone for their interaction with that agency. While the kinds of changes that systems need to make to be responsive to sexual assault survivors are sometimes fundamental or expensive, here we have practical, actionable advice from women on how to better engage them in the aftermath of sexual assault. In particular, their observations point to revisiting waiting procedures to ensure:

  • welcoming, organized, and victim-centered waiting spaces without exposure to offenders;
  • privacy when possible;
  • fast connection to victim advocates or sexual assault specialists who can help them navigate through the appointment.

Modest changes to waiting procedures promise to improve victim services, facilitating women’s access to justice and healing.

 

This research was funded by the National Institute of Justice [Grant #2012-W9-BX-049]. The views expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views or the official position of the National Institute of Justice or any other organization.

Thank you to our community partners who made this research possible, particularly Denver’s Sexual Assault Interagency Council.

References
DePrince, A. P., Wright, N.M., Gagnon, K.L., Srinivas, T., Labus, J. (in press). Social reactions and women’s decisions to report sexual assault to law enforcement. Violence Against Women.
Littel, K. (2001). Sexual assault nurse examiner (SANE) programs: Improving the community response to sexual assault victims. Washington, DC: US Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Office for Victims of Crime.

 

 

Sexual Assault and Health: Trauma-Related Appraisals and Physical Health

October 22, 2018

Note: The following post, written by Dr. Kerry Gagnon (Ph.D. ’18), describes findings from her dissertation research. 

An estimated one in six women in America has been sexual assaulted[1]. In addition to the psychological costs of sexual assault, many survivors face physical health consequences that can last for weeks up to years. Physical health symptoms can include gynecological problems, gastrointestinal problems, chronic pain, headaches, high blood pressure to name a few; all of which can cause substantial distress and impairment in survivors’ day-to-day lives.

Survivors also vary a great deal in whether they have physical health problems as well as the kinds of physical health problems they experience. Because understanding the variables that affect health trajectories is imperative for providing effective services and treatment to survivors, we sought to identify factors that contribute to negative physical health trajectories following sexual assault.

We turned first to considering women’s perceptions of the sexual assault, because research has shown us that the way we think influences our health, and our health influences the way we think. We wanted to ask if the ways that women perceive the sexual assaults – with more fear or anger, for example – could change their physical health. Or, could a women’s physical health following sexual assault influence subsequent perceptions of the assault?

To address these questions, we drew on information gathered from women who were sexually assaulted in the last year in a study that was a collaboration with Denver’s Sexual Assault Interagency Council. We focused on information from 156 women whom we interviewed at three different time points across six months. To be interviewed, women had to have disclosed the sexual assault to a service provider (e.g., police, counselor, medical provider). At each interview, we asked women about their perceptions of the sexual assault – such as feelings and thoughts of alienation, anger, betrayal, fear, self-blame, shame – and physical health problems. Women interviewed for this study were socially and ethnically diverse, ranging in age from 18-62.

Women described a wide-range of physical health problems across the six-month time period. On average, women reported experiencing seven different physical health problems. Headaches were the most commonly endorsed physical health problem. Women also commonly reported having cold/flu, sore throat, diarrhea, abdominal pain, and allergies. The breadth of physical health problems endorsed by women highlights the importance of assessing for a large range of physical health concerns, ranging from minor symptoms and complaints to more severe health problems, following sexual assault.

We also discovered that physical health problems changed how women perceived their sexual assaults. Experiencing physical health problems caused women to feel greater anger and alienation (e.g., feeling lonely and isolated) three months later. This makes sense given that experiencing physical health problems after a sexual assault may reinforce the unfairness of the assault and its consequences and cause women to feel greater anger. Experiencing physical health problems following an assault, and potentially not getting the support and care they need, may cause women to feel isolated and alone. These findings highlight the importance of assessing for and treating physical health concerns following sexual assault, as alleviation of physical health problems can help to alter women’s perceptions of their assault and potentially reduce the likelihood of experiencing longer-term health concerns.

The current study leads the field in examining the interplay between physical health and perceptions of sexual assault. From this study, we learned that women experience a broad range of physical health problems following sexual assault and that these physical health problems impact the ways in which women perceive their sexual assault experiences. The findings from the current study, in conjunction with research on trauma-related health consequences, support an integrative framework in which biological, psychological, and social factors are considered when understanding health outcomes of sexual assault.

…women experience a broad range of physical health problems following sexual assault and that these physical health problems impact the ways in which women perceive their sexual assault experiences.

We also identified new questions that need to be addressed. Using an integrative approach, there may be factors that should be considered when understanding physical health outcomes of sexual assault. For example, trauma-related characteristics (e.g., relationship to the offender; type of sexual assault), psychological health (e.g., PTSD, depression, substance use), and social factors (e.g., social support; health-seeking behaviors) may impact women’s physical health and perceptions of sexual assault. The current study was also limited by the physical health information that was available (e.g., only having information about women’s physical health after the sexual assault). Future research examining physical health over time, including before and after sexual assault, would assist in our understanding of the development and trajectory of physical health problems following sexual assault. As we expand our knowledge of the impact of sexual assault on survivors’ health and well-being, we can further enhance our ability to treat and serve survivors of sexual assault.

This research was funded by the National Institute of Justice [Grant #2012-W9-BX-049]. The views expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views or the official position of the National Institute of Justice or any other organization.

Thank you to our community partners who made this research possible, particularly Denver’s Sexual Assault Interagency Council.

 

  1. National Institute of Justice & Centers for Disease Control & Prevention, Prevalence, Incidence and Consequences of Violence Against Women Survey (1998).

 

Campus Sexual Assault, Alcohol Use, and Attention

October 17, 2018

Note: The following post, written by Dr. Michelle Lee (Ph.D. ’18), describes findings from her dissertation research.  

Sexual assault and harmful alcohol use are significant problems among women attending college, with approximately 20% of women experiencing forced sexual contact, attempted rape, and/or rape as college students (Fisher et al., 2003; Krebs et al., 2007; SAMHSA, 2015). Sexual assault places women at risk for heavy alcohol use, and both sexual assault and heavy alcohol use are associated with negative physical and psychosocial outcomes, such as physical and mental health issues and impaired academic performance (NIAAA, 2002; Wechsler et al., 2002).

While research has established sexual assault as a risk factor for heavy alcohol use, the mechanisms underlying this association in college women continues to require research attention. For my dissertation study, I examined the relationship between sexual assault and later alcohol use across a four-month period and the role of executive function (EF; cognitive abilities such as attention, planning, and working memory) in this relationship.

Sexual assault has been shown to negatively impact cognitive functioning, including EF, which may increase risk of alcohol use following sexual assault due to associated difficulties monitoring and regulating behavior. For instance, college women who have difficulty blocking alcohol-related stimuli and executing healthy coping behaviors when encountering alcohol may be more at risk of heavy alcohol use compared to women who are better able to regulate emotions and psychological distress, skills associated with EF.

Participants were 176 women undergraduate students receiving course credit in psychology classes for research participation. Participation involved answering questions about previous sexual assault and alcohol use as well as a battery of EF tasks. Women who agreed to be contacted were emailed in four months with an invitation to complete an optional second survey asking about sexual assault and alcohol use within the last four months. Eighty-five women completed this second survey.

Results indicated that women experienced on average 2.13 experiences of forced sexual contact, attempted rape, and/or rape since the age of 18 and .42 experiences in the four months between the first and second research participation. Participants in this study demonstrated a low to moderate risk of alcohol problems as measured by a frequently used assessment of alcohol use (Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test; Saunders et al., 1993). Younger college students in their first and second years demonstrated more risky alcohol use behaviors than students in their third and fourth years. Sexual assault was positively associated with alcohol use and both the first and second interviews. Additionally, EF significantly predicted alcohol use four months later, even after controlling for previous alcohol use and age.

Given the negative consequences of heavy alcohol use and sexual assault among women in college, better understanding the relationship between alcohol use and sexual assault is needed to guide prevention and intervention efforts on campuses in the future.

Women may drink more heavily following sexual assault as a method to cope with negative emotions and regulate assault-related responses. As a mechanism of emotional and behavioral regulation, EF was shown to have additive effects in predicting alcohol use following sexual assault among college women. The results of this study may inform alcohol- and sexual assault-related intervention on college campuses. For instance, campus outreach programs may educate students on the risk of heavy alcohol use following sexual assault, but that cognitive skills such as information processing may mitigate such risks. Outreach programs may also specifically target younger students in their first or second years and those with known histories of heavy alcohol use. The relationship between alcohol use and sexual assault is complex and further work is needed to understand the individual and contextual factors that link this relationship. Given the negative consequences of heavy alcohol use and sexual assault among women in college, better understanding the relationship between alcohol use and sexual assault is needed to guide prevention and intervention efforts on campuses in the future.

References

Fisher, B. S., Daigle, L. E., Cullen, F. T., & Turner, M. G. (2003). Reporting sexual victimization to the police and others: Results from a national-level study of college women. Criminal Justice and Behavior, 30(1), 6-38. https://doi.org/10.1177/0093854802239161

Krebs, C. P., Lindquist, C. H., Warner, T. D., Fisher, B. S., & Martin, S. L. (2007). The campus sexual assault (CSA) study: Final report. Washington, DC: National Institute of Justice, US Department of Justice.

National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism College Task Force. (2002). A Call to Action: Changing the Culture of Drinking at U.S. Colleges. Retrieved from https://www.collegedrinkingprevention.gov/niaaacollegematerials/publications/calltoaction.aspx.

Saunders, J. B., Aasland, O. G., Babor, T. F., De la Fuente, J. R., & Grant, M. (1993). Development of the alcohol use disorders identification test (AUDIT): WHO collaborative project on early detection of persons with harmful alcohol consumption‐II. Addiction, 88(6), 791-804. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1360-0443.1993.tb02093.x

Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. (2015). Key Substance Use and Mental Health Indicators in the United States: Results from the 2015 National Survey on Drug Use and Health. Retrieved from https://www.samhsa.gov/data/sites/default/files/NSDUH-FFR1-2015/NSDUH-FFR1-2015/NSDUH-FFR1-2015.pdf.

Wechsler, H., Lee, J. E., Kuo, M., Seibring, M., Nelson, T. F., & Lee, H. (2002). Trends in college binge drinking during a period of increased prevention efforts: Findings from 4 Harvard School of Public Health College Alcohol Study surveys: 1993–2001. Journal of American College Health, 50(5), 203-217. https://doi.org/10.1080/07448480209595713