PFI-RP: Preventing Intimate Partner Violence Using Digital Technology: A Transdisciplinary Approach

这一创新-研究伙伴关系(PFI-RP)项目侧重于解决亲密伙伴暴力(IPV)现象。IPV影响到我们社会的所有阶层，无论成年年龄组、教育、就业、经济地位、种族、民族、性别和性偏好。这是一个多方面的公共卫生、刑事司法和人权问题，耗费了政府数十亿美元的医疗和刑事司法支出，特别是在调查与IPV有关的杀人案方面。该项目将侧重于开发一个一站式提高认识和赋权的数字技术平台，帮助打破受害者的沉默密码，帮助他们立即寻求和获得适当的帮助。这将有助于解决家庭暴力问题。目标客户群包括政府(特别是刑事司法机构和医院)、包括所有服务提供者(妇女组织、社会服务机构、医疗诊所、宗教组织)的非政府组织、教育机构和迫切需要预防IPV的企业组织。主要的重点将是提供家庭暴力服务的组织，受害者和幸存者向这些组织报告并寻求援助，以处理家庭暴力。拟议的项目将使用社会科学驱动的行动研究方法来设计一种数字工具，以解决亲密伴侣暴力问题，这是一个重要的社会挑战，最近的大流行大大加剧了这一挑战。这样的工具必须确保隐私、安全和保障，以满足用户需求，并帮助IPV受害者或处于风险中的个人，即使是以一种温和的方式，朝着积极的方向重塑他们的生活。因此，这是一种将技术的力量借给人类发展的努力。IPV也是一个敏感的个人问题，其多样化的生态系统和原型对该项目构成了独特的技术挑战，如数字隐私、安全、在低资源环境下的可及性和可用性。研究目标是开发一种以受害者为中心、对文化敏感的IPV预防数字工具，以应对上述技术挑战。帮助IPV受害者在情况失控之前挺身而出处理情况的社会和行为科学挑战加剧了这一点。这可能涉及IPV教育、赋权和与自我倡导目标相关的风险评估。因此，这是一项多学科的任务。用科学集成的数字工具打破这种所谓的沉默之墙是支撑该项目的核心创新。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This Partnerships for Innovation-Research Partnerships (PFI-RP) project focuses on addressing the phenomenon of Intimate Partner Violence (IPV). IPV affects all strata of our society irrespective of adult age groups, education, employment, economic status, race, ethnicity, gender, and sexual preferences. It is a multi-faceted- public health, criminal justice, and human rights issue costing billions of dollars of the government’s medical and criminal justice expenditures, especially in the investigation of IPV-related homicides. The project will focus on developing a one-stop awareness and empowerment digital technology platform that would help in breaking the victims' code of silence and help them seek and access appropriate help immediately. This would be instrumental in addressing at-home violence. The target customer segments include government (especially criminal justice agencies, and hospitals), non-government including all service providers (women’s organizations, social service agencies, medical clinics, faith-based organizations), educational institutions, and corporate organizations that are in dire need to prevent IPV. The primary focus will be on the domestic violence service-providing organizations to whom the victims and survivors report and resort to seeking assistance in dealing with the violence at home.The proposed project will use social science-driven action research methodology in designing a digital tool to address Intimate Partner Violence, an important societal challenge that is significantly exacerbated by the recent pandemic. Such a tool must ensure privacy, safety, and security to meet user needs and to help IPV victims or individuals at risk even in a modest way to reshape their lives in a positive direction. This is thus an effort to lend technology's power to human development. IPV is also a sensitive personal issue, and its varied ecosystems and archetypes pose unique technical challenges for this project such as digital privacy, safety, accessibility under low resources environments, and usability. The research objectives are to develop a victim-centered, culturally sensitive digital tool for IPV prevention that meets the above technical challenges. This is compounded by the social and behavioral science challenge of helping IPV victims to step forward to deal with the situation before it spirals out of control. This may involve IPV education, empowerment, and assessment of risks associated with self-advocacy goals. It is thus a multidisciplinary task. Breaking this so-called wall of silence with a science-integrated digital tool is the core innovation underpinning this project.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.