Understanding typologies of IPV and access to services among drug-involved Black women with criminal-legal involvement who have sex with women and men

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Project Summary/ Abstract: Background: The extremely high rates of intimate partner violence (IPV) experienced by Black women in community supervision programs (CSPs) who use drugs represents a major public health concern given the vast overrepresentation of Black women in the criminal legal system compared to non-Hispanic white women due to racialized drug laws and policies. National IPV surveillance data suggest that the rates of IPV in this population may be even higher among Black bisexual women in CSPs who use drugs. However, there remains a dearth of research that centers the experience of Black women who have sex with women and men (WSWM). Fear of experiencing police violence and experiences of racial and sexual discrimination pose additional challenges for Black WSMW in CSPs who use drugs to access both IPV and drug treatment services. No studies, to date, have examined typologies of IPV and its association to accessing IPV-related services among Black women with multiple intersecting minoritized identities including substance use, sexual behavior, and criminal-legal involvement. To address these gaps, this application has three research aim: 1) Identify typologies of IPV; 2) Examine how membership to latent classes are associated with accessing IPV- related services; and 3) Explore underlying mechanisms that may link IPV class, sexual behavior, and access to and utilization of IPV-related services. Methods: This dissertation study uses a sequential explanatory mixed methods approach with 1) secondary baseline survey data from Project eWORTH, a NIDA-funded HIV intervention study of 352 Black, drug-involved women mandated to CSPs and 2) primary qualitative follow-up data with participants to inform findings from the secondary data analysis. Analysis: Latent class analysis (LCA) will be used to identify underlying classes of IPV and association with sexual behavior (Aim 1) and association of membership in a class with receipt of IPV-related services, controlling for sexual orientation and gender of perpetrator with multinomial regression (Aim 2). LCA is an innovative “person-centered” approach to measure trauma that may identify the number of underlying groups using observed characteristics. Primary data collection and qualitative analysis (Aim 3) will enrich statistical findings from the LCA and multinomial logistic regression analysis. The 2-year research and training program proposed in this F31 Fellowship application will cultivate skills in mixed-methods research, essential to completing my dissertation research and training. It will provide critical academic skills for a career as an independently funded substance abuse and IPV prevention researcher.