Scaling Up Trauma-Informed Outreach with People Affected by Violence - CLOE Intervention

This mixed methods, community-based study examines the implementation and outcomes of the Community-Led Outreach and Engagement Model (CLOE) for women and youth affected by violence. Outreach services are designed to mitigate the effects of gender-based violence, build trusting relationships with service providers, and improve safety, well-being and engagement with health and social care. Over a 2-year implementation period, we will test how outreach, combined with enhanced service integration, supports participants to identify priority needs and can bridge the gap in accessible and appropriate service with people affected by violence.

Using community-based participatory research approaches, we implement and test an empirically driven model of outreach with people affected by violence to determine the effectiveness of the model for participants' trust in service providers, safety, and access to appropriate health and social care. The study represents a community-academic partnership between the PI, co-applicants and the Central Okanagan Elizabeth Fry Society (COEFS) and the Welcome Centre Shelter for Women and Families.

There are 4 primary research questions:

1. How effective is the intervention to achieve participant trust in the outreach service program?
2. How effective is the outreach intervention in facilitating participant connection to (a) health services; (b) social services; and (c) legal services?
3. How effective is the outreach intervention in achieving participant safety plans for (a) material, (b) psychological and (c) physical safety?
4. What are the environmental factors that enable or confound the success of the outreach intervention to achieve effectiveness for (a) trust, (b) service connections and (c) safety?

Research Method:

This study is part of a broader program of research utilizing a case-based, intervention study design that employs mixed methods of both quantitative and qualitative data. The outreach intervention consists of 1-1 outreach service provided by trained outreach interventionists to enrolled and consented participants.

Participants will be assigned an outreach interventionist for a one year period. During this time, interventionists and participants will complete a strengths-based assessment to identify participants' current resources and the types of health and social support (e.g., housing, legal, health care access, financial assistance) required. The interventionist and participant will then co-develop a plan to prioritize needs and work collaboratively to address these needs. Plans and progress will be documented by the interventionist in a participant file. Surveys will be conducted at baseline and 4 month intervals by a trained research assistant to measure changes over time in core outcome measures associated with this study (e.g., trust, safety planning, attainment of priority needs). 1-1 qualitative interviews will be conducted at time point 12 months to enable richer understanding of the factors influencing intervention effectiveness.

Eligibility Criteria:
Inclusion Criteria:

* have been referred to community partner organization for services
* able to communicate in English
* age 12-18 (gender inclusive)
* 19 years or older (self-identifying women)

Exclusion Criteria:

* Self-identifying men 19 years or older who experience violence will be excluded as the study aims to address gender-based violence with self-identifying women and youth (as per the funded SSHRC grant objectives). Community partner organizations will enable referral for any men to appropriate services.
* People who do not have a referral for service delivery within the two community partner organizations.