Design and Pilot Evaluation of a Cross-Training Curriculum for Intimate Partner Violence Advocates and Peer Recovery Coaches

ABSTRACT

Substance use and intimate partner violence (IPV) co-occur, and experts have called for cross-training of IPV and substance use disorder (SUD) professionals. The purpose of this pilot study was to evaluate a cross-training curriculum for IPV advocates and peer recovery coaches. We used a one group pre-posttest study design to evaluate the efficacy and participant experience of the cross-training. Among IPV advocates, the training was associated with improving skills related to working with individuals with SUD, and improving self-efficacy related to working with survivors of IPV. Among recovery coaches, the training was associated with positive changes in self-efficacy regarding working with survivors of IPV and individuals with SUD. Overall, participants reported high satisfaction with the training. Participants indicated that they most appreciated the opportunity to connect with professionals in the other sector, suggesting that such collaborations may help to increase community capacity to respond to individuals experiencing co-occurring IPV and SUD.

KEYWORDS:

• Domestic violence
• intimate partner violence
• substance use
• recovery coaching
• cross-training
• integrated service models

Acknowledgments

The authors acknowledge the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Interdisciplinary Research Leaders program for funding for this research. The authors also thank Peter Espenshade and Melissa Story for their contributions to the development and implementation of the cross-training event, and the staff of Circle, Inc., and members of our community advisory board for their helpful feedback on the training guide. Finally, thank you to Dr. James Popham and Dr. Maria João Lobo Antunes for their helpful comments on a revised draft of the manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Ethical approval

This research was approved by the Suffolk University Institutional Review Board, Protocol 1703610-1.

Notes

1. The current drug overdoses crisis is linked to illicit fentanyl, a synthetic opioid (National Institute on Drug Abuse [NIDA], 2021). As this is currently driving drug-related mortality in our research setting (Vermont Department of Health, 2020), our initial project focused on opioid use and opioid use disorder (OUD). However, we recognize that there is an increase in polysubstance-related morbidity and mortality (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2021; Vermont Department of Health, 2020) and that members of our research community may use substances other than opioids, and thus our cross-training focused generally on substance use and substance use disorder (SUD).

2. Our research focused specifically on intimate partner violence. However, the advocates and advocacy organizations in our community use the term “domestic violence,” so we use “domestic violence” or “DV” when directly referencing their work and, per advice from our community partners, in our survey questions.

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Interdisciplinary Research Leaders program.