Current Projects

Wondering what we’re working on in the Lab?

Check out some of the VVSRL’s current projects below. You’ll find brief descriptions and links to funding sources and project deliverables.

ENCOMPASS Omaha

Generous funding from the Bureau of Justice Assistance (15BJA-24-GG-03108-CVIP), supports the work of ENCOMPASS (Engaging Networks within the Community of Omaha to Maintain and Promote a Safe Society), a hospital-based violence intervention program located at Nebraska Medicine/University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC). It is 1 of 51 programs across the United States, that offers intensive case management to victims of violence (e.g., gunshot wound, stabbing, assault). Through ENCOMPASS, Violence Intervention Specialists serve as credible messengers who begin by building trust and relationships upon an eligible patient’s hospital admission for injuries; mental health specialists screen victims for post-traumatic distress and substance use disorder; and social workers begin long-term intensive case management services inpatient, which are extended into the outpatient environment.

The team includes Nebraska Medicine/UNMC’s Dr. Charity Evans, MD, MHCM, FACS, Jennifer Burt, Ph.D., Ashley Farrens, MSN, MBA, RN, and Ashley (Raposo) Campell, MPH with UNO SCCJ’s Tara Richards, Ph.D., Lane Gillespie, Ph.D., Mark Foxall, Ph.D., and Gaylene Armstrong, Ph.D.; SCCJ graduate students, Liz Mavis and Carisma Jano, also provide research assistance.

On-going research and evaluation efforts ensure that ENCOMPASS is meeting its goals and objectives including wholistically addressing patient’s needs, reducing reinjury, and decreasing criminal justice system contacts. Products from the Teams’ evaluation efforts can be found below.  

Medicaid Advocacy and Hospital-Based Violence Intervention A Mixed Methods AnalysisDownload
Examining a Hospital-based Violence Intervention Program in Omaha NE A Mixed-Methods ApproachDownload
Office of Violence Prevention (OVP) Evaluation

Through a competitive process administered by the Nebraska Commission on Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice (Crime Commission), the Office of Violence Prevention (OVP) awards nearly $600K annually in grant funding to organizations helping to reduce violent crime in Nebraska. OVP is committed to “leveraging its resources to innovate, develop, sustain, and expand programs that address violence so that Nebraska’s youth may realize their full potential and contribute to Nebraska’s Future”. Lane Gillespie, Ph.D. (PI), Tara Richards, Ph.D. (Co-I), and Scott Sasse, Ph.D. (Co-I), serve as the evaluation partners for funded organizations. Evaluation objectives include helping programs design logic models and evaluation plans, supporting data collection and analysis, and crafting recommendations for programs to improve and evolve over time. The TTA resources can be found here.

An Outcome Assessment of Seattle’s Domestic Violence Intervention Project (DVIP)

This Office on Violence Against Women funded project (15JOVW-24-GG-01527-MUMU) supports an outcome evaluation of a novel approach to domestic violence intervention in Seattle, Washington: The Domestic Violence Intervention Project (DVIP). The DVIP seeks to intervene on DV through court-ordered DV intervention programming rooted in evidence-based practices in treatment and supervision. The DVIP uses a research-informed assessment of offenders’ risks and needs, an individualized treatment plan, and supervision by a multi-disciplinary team that includes a treatment provider, probation officer, community-based victim-survivor advocate, court-based victim-survivor advocate, and other practitioners as needed (e.g., substance use or mental health providers). The project team includes Tara Richards, Ph.D. (PI), Avanti Adhia, Ph.D. (Co-I; University of Washington), and doctoral research assistant, Michaela Benson-Goldsmith. We are using a rigorous quasi-experimental design to examine whether DVIP is related to (1) (decreased) offender recidivism (measured using official data and victim-survivor partner reports) and (2) (increased) victim-survivor partner hopefulness and empowerment and (3) (increased) victim-survivor partner utilization of supportive services. (4) Among DVIP participants who do not complete treatment, we will also assess which treatment Areas of Change are associated with failure to complete DVIP. The results will provide actionable information for DVIP team members on whether and how the DVIP is affecting recidivism as well as survivor wellbeing and service utilization. In addition, project deliverables will be instructive for other DV intervention programs that are moving to integrate EBPs into their programming.

A National Review of Multidisciplinary Teams addressing Child Sexual Exploitation

This National Institute of Justice funded project (15PNIJ-24-GG-01653-MUMU) brings together an interdisciplinary team from the University of Nebraska Omaha (Teresa Kulig, Ph.D. and Tara Richards, Ph.D.), Northeastern University (Amy Farrell, Ph.D. and Kate Hazen, Ph.D.), and the University of South Florida (Joan Reid, Ph.D., Caralin Branscum, Ph.D., and Sarah Lockwood, Ph.D.) to provide a review of the national landscape of multidisciplinary teams (MDTs) in addressing the sexual exploitation of children. The study will be carried out over four years and will use a multi-method approach, with an Advisory Board of six subject matter experts providing feedback throughout the project. The project is organized into six tasks. Task 1 seeks to facilitate project management across the three universities to ensure timely completion of each project stage. Task 2 is a systematic review of extant research to describe the current landscape of knowledge on MDTs that address child sexual abuse and exploitation. Task 3 will administer a national survey to stakeholders and agencies across the United States that convene MDTs for addressing child sexual exploitation. Task 4 will conduct seven in-depth case study site visits of MDTs that address child sexual exploitation—three sites are based on existing partnerships with the study investigators; four sites will be identified from the national survey. Task 5 will synthesize the findings across all data sources (i.e., systematic review, national survey, case study sites) and provide recommendations on best practices in MDTs addressing child sexual exploitation, with lessons learned or considerations for implementation across diverse racial/ethnic and other marginalized populations. Task 6 prioritizes the creation and dissemination of deliverables, including but not limited to: (1) a systematic review, (2) a national survey instrument, (3) case study site data collection tools, (4) a final report summarizing the findings across all data sources, (5) an MDT Guidebook, and (6) an interactive website summarizing findings from case study site visits. Project findings will inform best practices in the conceptual development, planning, and implementation of MDTs that respond to child sexual exploitation.

Rape Prevention Education in Nebraska

Tara Richards, Ph.D. is serving as the program evaluator for Nebraska’s Rape Prevention Education Project with doctoral student, Emilie Whitehouse, supporting. This multi-year Centers for Disease Control and Prevention funded project draws on diverse partners including educational institutions, rape crisis centers, community organizations, and state agencies to guide the implementation and evaluation of the state’s sexual violence prevention efforts. Current interventions range from the implementation of the Safe Dates program in schools to the Safe Bars program in local restaurants/bars. Evaluation efforts include pre-post surveys with individual program participants as well as assessment of community-level indicators to track changes in attitudes and behaviors statewide.