Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a serious problem in Indiana (IN). With a lifetime prevalence of sexual, physical and/or stalking related violence by an intimate partner of 42.5 percent among Hoosier women, IN is in the highest quartile for these forms of violence nationally (Smith, et al, 2017). The prevalence and impacts of IPV were a significant problem in IN prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, and state data collected since 2020 indicate that the problem is increasing. Surges in service requests have been reported by IN’s domestic violence agencies, law enforcement dispatch reports, and 211 call centers. Most alarmingly, the Indiana Coalition Against Domestic Violence (ICADV) documented a 181 percent increase in homicides related to IPV in the 2021 reporting period. Though IPV affects whole communities, inequities in the distribution of risk and protective factors result in disproportionate experiences of violence among traditionally marginalized identity groups including women, racial and ethnic minorities, sexual minorities, people with disabilities, people living in poverty, and residents of rural communities. The disparity in experiences of violence in rural communities is a particular concern in IN where 41 of the state’s 92 counties are designated as rural.
To address this problem, ICADV proposes to partner with the rural Grant County, Indiana community to implement approaches designed to modify social determinants of health (SDoH) including changes to the physical, economic and normative environments to reduce risk factors and to increase protective factors related to IPV. Priority risk and protective factors identified from state and community data include poverty, gender inequality, traditional gender roles, and community disconnectedness. The project’s primary beneficiaries will be poor people living in rural communities; and priority attention will be given to populations within this group that have been the least supported, including people with disabilities and communities of color. The proposed approaches include:
• Creating protective environments through urban greening through the development of three park projects located in high need communities,
• Engaging men and boys as allies in violence prevention through efforts to practice and normalize engaged fatherhood practices among Grant County fathers, and,
• Strengthening work/family supports and economic stability through the promotion of workplace paid family leave benefits.
Each of these project areas promote safety, stability and nurturance and align with ICADV’s theory of prevention that postulates that where people feel connected, supported and sufficient, they will have less motivation to behave in ways that are abusive, they will have more opportunities to observe models of safe and respectful relationships, and they will encounter increased community accountability in response to abusive behaviors.
In addition to implementing, evaluating and reporting on these approaches in collaboration with state and local partners, the state leadership team will update Indiana’s IPV prevention plan. The plan will maximize opportunities for alignment with Indiana’s sexual violence prevention plan, will create an inventory of IPV resources, and will include methods for promoting the adoption and sustainability of data-driven community and society-level prevention strategies. The team will disseminate project findings in Indiana and nationally through the use of trainings, technical assistance, communities of practice, communication platforms, resource distribution, and through the statewide youth council network.
