WARWICK – The Rhode Island Coalition Agaisnt Domestic Violence is working with professional research and evaluation firm McClanahan Associates Inc. to run an online survey gauging attitudes toward domestic violence this month.
The organizations are raffling off three Amazon gift cards, each worth $50, per week to Rhode Islanders who take the survey, and plan to give away a total of $600 in the month of August, said Kate Porter, RICADV communications manager.
The survey will take 15-20 minutes to complete and is anonymous (no link will be made between individuals’ names and responses). The survey is available via surveymonkey.com in English and in Spanish.
It’s been 12 years since the last time the organization ran a similar study. In 2005, RICADV partnered with Link Advertising Agency to assess community attitudes about domestic violence.
At the time, RICADV wanted to know if its public-awareness campaign strategies targeting bystanders were effective in decreasing victim-blaming attitudes and increasing bystander intervention.
“While the study showed positive changes in community members’ attitudes toward domestic violence, these attitudes did not lead to an increase in bystander intervention,” Porter said.
Since then, RICADV has continued to develop public-awareness campaigns targeting bystanders that model positive bystander behavior, and has developed tools to help community members learn how to safely intervene.
This study, Porter said, is primarily designed to help the RICADV understand how Rhode Islanders think about domestic violence so the organization can tailor their communication efforts better.
RICADV has worked for decades to shape the media landscape to empower domestic-violence survivors and to counter social acceptance of domestic violence in order to prevent it.
“The results of this study will help frame the ways we approach domestic violence and domestic-violence prevention, which will not only benefit the RICADV, but can also help journalists, police, social workers, the court system, researchers, legislators, and victims/survivors of domestic violence,” Porter said.
RICADV was formed in 1979 to support and assist the domestic-violence agencies in Rhode Island. The RICADV’s network of member agencies provides a wide array of services for victims, including emergency shelter, support groups, counseling services and assistance with the legal system. For more information about these organizations and services, call the statewide helpline at 800-494-8100.
Rob Borkowski is a PBN contributing writer.
