Empowerment Self-Defense Training for the Prevention of Victimization of Transgender Women

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Transgender women (TW) are at the highest risk for exposure to interpersonal violence even compared to other sexual and gender minority individuals. Empowerment Self-Defense (ESD) training, a specific violence prevention approach that teaches participants strategies for actively resisting assault, holds tremendous promise for reducing risk of violent victimization. Indeed, research consistently shows that assertive and physical forms of resistance are effective in deterring rape. Moreover, in randomized controlled trials, ESD violence prevention training has been shown to reduce rates of victimization among college students by nearly half at 1-year follow-up. Unfortunately, diverse TW are rarely included in ESD violence prevention research and programming. This exclusion is problematic not only because TW comprise the highest need population for targeted violence prevention, but also because theoretical models of gender identity stigma hold that social and psychological stressors specific to gender-minority identity increase risk for interpersonal violence along multiple unique pathways. Standard ESD violence prevention programs do not incorporate content, materials, or strategies tailored to the specific pathways by which TW are impacted by interpersonal violence. This R21 fills this substantial gap in prevention science by developing and piloting an ESD violence prevention training specifically tailored to TW. The proposed project is a collaboration between researchers at Hunter College and the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Community Center of New York (The Center), to adapt an ESD personal safety and violence prevention program for TW. The first draft of the tailored curriculum will be developed in consultation with a community board comprised of TW and locally engaged service providers, organized around central themes generated from qualitative interviews with key community stakeholders and relevant theory (i.e., the Gender Minority Stress Model). The tailored ESD violence prevention curriculum will be further refined and pilot tested through delivery to 3 groups of up to 16 TW each in a 20-hour training program. Evaluation of the feasibility and acceptability of the intervention and study procedures will be informed by data gathered from program participants and facilitators. We will also conduct an exploratory assessment of the preliminary efficacy of the tailored intervention using a battery of validated questionnaires assessing use of resistance strategies, gender minority stress pathways, and exposure to victimization experiences prior to, 3- months, and 6-months post-completion of the training. This research will establish whether evidence-based ESD violence prevention principles can be adapted to address the unique needs of TW. The project is an important step in developing comprehensive and effective approaches to the prevention of interpersonal violence associated with a key vulnerable population.