Improving the community response to sexual assault: An empirical examination of the effectiveness of sexual assault response teams (SARTs).

2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 280-291 ◽  
Author(s):  
Megan R. Greeson ◽  
Rebecca Campbell ◽  
Deborah Bybee ◽  
Angie C. Kennedy
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Assault ◽  
Community Response ◽  
Empirical Examination ◽  
Sexual Assault Response Teams

The Influence of Community Sociocultural Context on Creating an Effective, Coordinated Response to Sexual Assault

2018 ◽  
Vol 42 (4) ◽  
pp. 445-460 ◽  
Author(s):  
Megan R. Greeson ◽  
Christina Soibatian ◽  
Jaclyn D. Houston-Kolnik
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Assault ◽  
Local Community ◽  
Rape Myths ◽  
Community Response ◽  
Victim Blame ◽  
Sociocultural Context ◽  
Community Members ◽  
Public Intervention ◽  
Values And Beliefs ◽  
Sexual Assault Response Teams

Members of Sexual Assault Response Teams (SARTs) coordinate and improve the community response to sexual assault. A SART’s effectiveness is likely influenced by its sociocultural context, or the norms, values, and beliefs of the local community. However, this has yet to be empirically examined. We conducted a qualitative study to explore how sociocultural context may influence effectiveness within a sample of 169 leaders of 169 U.S. SARTs. SART leaders believed that specific norms and beliefs held by the general public in their community (rape myths and victim blame, denial of sexual assault happening locally, taboos against discussing sexual assault, and a male-dominated environment) delegitimized sexual assault as a problem that deserved public intervention. Leaders believed these led community members to resist the team’s efforts, by decreasing the community’s support and buy-in to the SART, interfering with efforts to make services accessible to survivors, and obstructing the SART’s ability to effectively respond to cases. And some leaders believed highly interconnected communities compromised the accessibility and objectivity of systems that respond to sexual assault. SARTs need to carefully tailor their efforts to improve accessibility of systems, and the response to sexual assault cases, to their unique local sociocultural context.

scholarly journals Experiences of women who reported sexual assault at a provincial hospital, South Africa

Curationis ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeanette M. Sebaeng ◽  
Mashudu Davhana- Maselesele ◽  
Eva Manyedi
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Assault ◽  
Professional Education ◽  
Contextual Design ◽  
Psychological Harm ◽  
Field Notes ◽  
Psychological Assistance ◽  
Professional Practitioners ◽  
Sexual Assault Response Teams ◽  
Experiences Of Women ◽  
Depth Interviews

Background: Sexual assault poses a serious health problem to both the survivor and the health system. Experiencing sexual assault requires women to seek medical and psychological assistance as part of their journey towards recovery. This study examined the experiences of women who received post-sexual assault services from a specialised care centre within a provincial hospital.Methods: A qualitative, exploratory and contextual design was used to explore and describe experiences of women. Data were obtained through individual in-depth interviews from a total of 18 women aged between 18 and 55 years. Interviews were supplemented by the researcher’s field notes and audiotape recordings.Results: Findings yielded two main themes: Women expressed their lived experiences of sexual assault characterised by different forms of trauma. The second theme was an expression of a need for safety and support.Conclusion: Women who experience sexual assault are left with devastating effects such as physical and psychological harm and social victimisation. There is also a need for safety and support towards the recovery of these women. This study recommends that professional practitioners involved in the management of sexual assault be sensitised regarding the ordeal experienced by women and stop perceiving survivors as crime scene ‘clients’ from whom only medico-legal evidence has to be collected. Professional practitioners and family members must be supportive, non-judgemental and considerate of the dignity of survivors. The establishment of sexual assault response teams (SART) is also recommended. There should also be inter-professional education for better coordination of services rendered to sexually assaulted women.

Structural, Organizational, and Interpersonal Factors Influencing Interprofessional Collaboration on Sexual Assault Response Teams

2016 ◽  
Vol 33 (17) ◽  
pp. 2682-2703 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer Cole
Keyword(s):  
Conflict Resolution ◽  
Sexual Assault ◽  
Interprofessional Collaboration ◽  
Multidisciplinary Teams ◽  
Structural Factors ◽  
Multiple Systems ◽  
Victim Advocacy ◽  
Interpersonal Factors ◽  
Rape Crisis Center ◽  
Sexual Assault Response Teams

Sexual Assault Response Teams (SARTs) are multidisciplinary teams that coordinate multiple systems (e.g., medical, law enforcement, prosecutors, and rape crisis center advocates) to provide comprehensive care to victims and to collect high-quality forensic evidence to facilitate investigation and prosecution. Relatively little guidance is provided about effective teamwork strategies in resources on forming SARTs. Using in-depth surveys with the SART coordinators and telephone surveys (including close-ended and open-ended questions) with 79 professionals involved in three active, formal SARTs in one state, this study examined structural, organizational, and interpersonal factors that influence interprofessional collaboration on SART. Study findings indicate that perceived structural factors and interpersonal factors were significantly associated with SART members’/responders’ perceptions of the quality of interprofessional collaboration on their SART. Findings suggest that individuals’ perceptions of professionalization and power disparities between professions pose challenges to perceived interprofessional collaboration on SART. Compared with criminal justice and medical professionals, victim advocacy rated the level of collaboration on their SART significantly lower. The overall picture from the data was that SART professionals perceived mutual respect, trust, and commitment to collaboration to be pervasive on their SARTs, even though recognition of professional conflicts was also prevalent, suggesting that professionals understood that interpersonal conflict was distinct from professional conflict. Initial SART trainings should address the benefits of the team response, professional roles, and communication and conflict resolution skills, and ongoing training should provide professionals the opportunity to raise positive and negative examples of their collaborative efforts to explore existing tensions and constraints on the team for conflict resolution.

scholarly journals Sexual Assault Response Teams (SARTs)

2015 ◽  
Vol 21 (4) ◽  
pp. 516-534 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carrie A. Moylan ◽  
Taryn Lindhorst ◽  
Emiko A. Tajima
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Assault ◽  
Sexual Assault Response Teams

scholarly journals Contested Discourses in Multidisciplinary Sexual Assault Response Teams (SARTs)

2016 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-22 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carrie A. Moylan ◽  
Taryn Lindhorst ◽  
Emiko A. Tajima
Keyword(s):  
Law Enforcement ◽  
Sexual Assault ◽  
Medical Personnel ◽  
Best Interests ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Team Members ◽  
Rape Crisis Center ◽  
Sexual Assault Response Teams ◽  
Delivery Models ◽  
Rape Crisis

This qualitative study explored how law enforcement officers, forensic nurses, and rape crisis advocates who are members of coordinated service delivery models such as Sexual Assault Response Teams (SARTs) describe their process of engaging with one another and managing their differences in professional orientation, statutory obligations, and power. Using semi-structured interviews with 24 SART responders including rape crisis center advocates, law enforcement, and medical personnel, we examined the ways that SART members discursively construct one another’s role in the team and how this process points to unresolved tensions that can manifest in conflict. The findings in this study indicate that interdisciplinary power was negotiated through discursive processes of establishing and questioning the relative authority of team members to dictate the work of the team, expertise in terms of knowledge and experience working in the field of rape response, and the credibility of one another as qualified experts who reliably act in victims’ and society’s best interests. Implications of these findings for understanding and preventing the emergence of conflict in SARTs are discussed.

Using Social Network Analysis to Identify Successful Relationship Patterns Within Sexual Assault Response Teams (SARTs)

2018 ◽  
Vol 25 (8) ◽  
pp. 968-998 ◽  
Author(s):  
Megan R. Greeson ◽  
Jennifer Watling Neal ◽  
Rebecca Campbell
Keyword(s):  
Social Network ◽  
Social Network Analysis ◽  
Network Analysis ◽  
Sexual Assault ◽  
Advocacy Organizations ◽  
Relationship Patterns ◽  
Member Organization ◽  
Sexual Assault Response Teams

The current study used social network analysis (SNA) to examine relationships within three effective Sexual Assault Response Teams (SARTs) that coordinate the response of legal, medical, and advocacy organizations to sexual assault. Within each SART, organizations reported on each other member organization valuing their role, serving as a resource to their work, and communication outside of official meetings. Across the SARTs, there was high connectedness and reciprocity and low to moderate dependence on one organization to drive relationships. However, there was dependence on a subgroup of organizations to drive additional communication relationships. Implications for managing relationships in SARTs are discussed.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document