Search

Sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) is a highly prevalent issue, both in North America and globally, with well-recognized adverse impact on survivors' physical, emotional, and economic well-being. The objective of this systematic review is to collect and synthesize empirical work on the effects of SGBV victimization on educational trajectories, goals, attainment, and outcomes. The review summarizes what is known about factors associated with victimization that affect survivors' educational trajectories and highlights gaps in the literature pertaining to the effects of victimization on education. Five databases were searched for this review: Web of Science, Sociological Abstracts, PubMed, APA PsycInfo, and ERIC. For inclusion, the articles must present research on the academic impact of any form of SGBV experienced in higher education and must have been conducted in the United States or Canada. The 68 studies that met these criteria presented research on six key areas of educational outcomes: impacts on academic performance and motivation; attendance, dropout, and avoidance; changes in major/field of study; academic disengagement; educational attitudes and satisfaction; and academic climate and institutional relationships. Research also revealed factors mediating the relationship between SGBV exposure and educational outcomes such as mental health, physical health, social support, socioeconomic status, and resiliency, which we summarize in a pathway model. The research reviewed had significant limitations, including weak study designs, limited generalizability, and diversity concerns. We offer recommendations for future research on this topic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background. Despite the high prevalence of intimate partner violence (IPV) against women in India (33%), there are persistently low rates of disclosure and help-seeking amongst survivors. The aim of this study was to explore both coping strategies employed by survivors and the perceived barriers and facilitators to seeking support from informal and formal resource networks. Methods. We conducted semistructured, in-depth qualitative interviews with thirty-five women survivors of IPV in Goa, India, in secure, private locations, utilizing flipcharts and vignettes to elicit deeper insights into efficacies of support resources. The data were transcribed, translated, and analyzed utilizing qualitative content analysis. Results. The most common coping mechanisms cited by survivors involved passive resistance, such as self-distraction, keeping quiet during violent outbursts, and leaving the home temporarily. Generally, survivors sought support from informal support networks (the natal family, in-laws, neighbors/community members, and close friends) before approaching formal support structures (medical/legal professionals, professors, police, and nongovernment organizations). In fact, informal structures were often facilitators of formal help-seeking. Survivors sought help at various stages of their marital relationship. Primary deterrents to help-seeking included the normalization of IPV by survivors and providers alike, resulting in the stigmatization of disclosing experiences of IPV and ostracism of survivors and close relatives; another barrier was a general lack of awareness of existing support resources. Conclusion. Our findings reveal that there are numerous barriers to help-seeking and shortcomings of support resources. Survivors' evaluations of support resources reveal that robust, community-level, and meso-level structural changes are required to promote help-seeking behaviors, including the destigmatization of IPV amongst providers and broader society and raising awareness of available support resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Qualitative research methods, while rising in popularity, are still a relatively underutilized tool in public health research. Usually reserved for small samples, qualitative research techniques have the potential to enhance insights gained from large questionnaires and cohort studies, both deepening the interpretation of quantitative data and generating novel hypotheses that might otherwise be missed by standard approaches; this is especially true where exposures and outcomes are new, understudied, or rapidly changing, as in a pandemic. However, methods for the conduct of qualitative research within large samples are underdeveloped. Here, we describe a novel method of applying qualitative research methods to free-text comments collected in a large epidemiologic questionnaire. Specifically, this method includes: 1) a hierarchical system of coding through content analysis; 2) a qualitative data management application; and 3) an adaptation of Cohen's κ and percent agreement statistics for use by a team of coders, applying multiple codes per record from a large codebook. The methods outlined in this paper may help direct future applications of qualitative and mixed methods within large cohort studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the impact of two 1943 lunch counter sit-ins in Chicago, Illinois on the course of the much larger African American Civil Rights movement of the 1950s and '60s. The author argues that the Civil Rights movement's origins lie within African Americans' struggles against de facto segregation in the Northern states, as opposed to the more traditional belief that the movement began in the Southern states. The important role played by the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) in the sit-ins is explained. The author notes that activists involved in these sit-ins, including James Farmer and James Peck, would later organize sit-ins in Southern establishments, including the 1960 Woolworth's sit-in in Greensboro, North Carolina.