Training needs among North Carolina (NC) domestic violence and sexual assault programs: Implications for secondary prevention and intervention

Many domestic violence and sexual assault survivors seeking help from domestic violence/sexual assault (DV/SA) programs have multiple health/social needs that may interfere with their ability to recover from violence experiences. Thus, DV/SA service providers should be well-trained in how to identify each survivor’s unique needs and resources so that an individualized plan of services/referrals can be delivered. Offering needed services in this wide range of topics will not only address survivors’ multiple concerns, but also will help survivors enhance their ability to recover from and prevent further violence.

Unfortunately, there is a dearth of empirical information to inform training curricula for DV/SA service providers. To address this knowledge gap, this research examines NC DV/SA agencies’ current training practices and needs.

We surveyed all NC DV/SA program directors (n=103) to assess staff training practices and needs (74% responded). Most directors reported that providers received at least some training in five areas: violence/safety (96%), emotional health (96%), disability (86%), physical health (79%), and substance use (77%). However, they also reported that many staff were not skillful in identifying and responding to multiple survivors’ needs, with 23% reporting that more than half of their program staff required additional training in violence/safety, 27% in physical health, 27% in emotional health, 33% in disability, and 42% in substance use.

This statewide study is among the first to identify training practices/needs of DV/SA programs, with findings suggesting that there is a need for standardized, comprehensive, skill-based training curricula that address the many needs of survivors.