Moving from Secondary to Primary Prevention of Sexual Violence: Attitudes, Perceptions, and Experiences of Rape Crisis Prevention Coordinators

Abstract

This exploratory qualitative multiple-case study examined attitudes, perceptions and experiences of rape crisis prevention coordinators in the first year of transition to a new way of addressing primary prevention of sexual violence. The main goal of this research study was to discover ways to improve the shift from secondary to primary prevention efforts by exploring and analyzing the lived experiences of prevention coordinators working in rape crisis centers in North Carolina, one of four states fully funded by the CDC to begin moving from secondary to primary prevention. Seven prevention coordinators ranging in age from 23-66 were interviewed with a semi-structured interview.

This research utilized a multiple case study design (Yin, 1984) to explore the factors that support or hinder the shift in focus from secondary to primary prevention of sexual violence. Due to the lack of research on this topic and population, this exploratory phenomenological approach was selected to gain insight into how prevention coordinators perceive their experience. This means that one should keep in mind that whatever information emerged from the data is what was discovered in this study. There were no preconceived notions about what type of data or answers to research questions would come about from the research investigation (Yin, 1984). Instead, what was discovered was that which the participants allowed us to discover.

The themes that emerged from the qualitative data included: training on feminist theory and sexual violence is a must in helping train prevention coordinators; the participants not only struggled with the concept of primary prevention itself, but also with the way the shift occurred or was imposed on agencies by the funders; prevention coordinators often felt that the old ways of conducting prevention programs were discounted; prevention coordinators wanted and needed networking with other prevention coordinators; and the training and implementation of the transition to primary prevention lacked logical order. Implications of these and other emergent themes, as well as, conclusions and future research directions, were presented.