Abstract
Sexual assault among university students is prevalent and has detrimental effects. Digital modes of communication are preferred by young adults, but there is limited data on digital crisis intervention. The purpose of this program evaluation is to utilize web-based crisis chat transcripts from a university service to ascertain the processes that hotline responders use. We reviewed 224 de-identified transcripts of chats that took place between November 2018 – June 2020. The coding framework included structural codes (chat characteristics), descriptive codes (conversation topics), and process codes (essential components of digital crisis intervention). Our findings have implications for the training of text- and web-based hotline responders.
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No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
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Notes on contributors
Michelle L. Munro-Kramer
Michelle L. Munro-Kramer, PhD, CNM, FNP-BC, is an assistant professor, the Suzanne Bellinger Feetham Professor of Nursing, and the Director of Global programs in the School of Nursing at the University of Michigan. Her research focuses on gender-based violence prevention and response, primarily among college-age youth, within domestic and international contexts. As part of the inaugural Johnson & Johnson Nurse Innovation Fellowship, she is interested in leveraging nurses’ creativity to develop innovative solutions to complex health and human rights issues.
Carrie A. Moylan
Carrie A. Moylan, PhD, is an associate professor in the School of Social Work at Michigan State University. Her research focuses on the promotion of effective, evidence-based, and trauma-informed interventions, policies, and services aimed at preventing sexual violence and responding to the needs of survivors, particularly in campus settings.
Melanie L. Carlson
Melanie L. Carlson, MSW, is a PhD candidate in the School of Social Work at Michigan State University. Her research focuses on the intersection of domestic violence and poverty with an emphasis on policy responses, survivors’ service usage and gaps in services. Fundamentality, the experience of domestic violence is understood to be intricately bound with other types of oppression.
Rebecca M. Campbell
Rebecca Campbell, PhD, is a professor of Psychology at Michigan State University. Her research examines how contact with the legal and medical systems affects sexual assault victims’ psychological and physical health. Most recently, she has studied the national problem of untested sexual assault kits (SAKs) and survivors’ decisions to reengage with the criminal justice system.
Tana Fedewa
Tana Fedewa, MSW, is the director of the Michigan State University Center for Survivors. She is a licensed clinical social worker. She advocates for trauma-informed services, response, and interventions at MSU and within the neighboring communities. In 2019, Fedewa was awarded a fellowship with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Clinical Scholars Leadership Program.