Table 4 Description of Safety Apps in Included Studies
From: Women’s experiences of safety apps for sexualized violence: a narrative scoping review
Name | Founded By | Target Population | Purpose | Features | Connection to safety and sexualized violence |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Collaborative, multistate research team (Arizona, Maryland, Missouri, and Oregon) partnered with One Love Foundation | College women (age 18-24) | Safety decision aid for those experiencing dating violence, survivors of dating violence, and their friends who wish to learn more about how to help | - Inconspicuous name and logo - Safety information (e.g., myths and reality about dating violence; possible “red flags” to look out for; abuse and safety concerns such as physical violence, reproductive control, how alcohol and drugs affect safety, stalking) - Password protection and automatic locking - Allows you to enter information about relationship, including severity of violence and safety priorities to provide a personalized risk assessment and safety plan - Provides national and local resources (e.g., hotlines with skilled advocates; professionals, college administrators, women’s centers, campus/local police, healthcare providers) | Safety decision aid for individuals experiencing dating violence, as well as a resource for their friends | |
Circle of Six [10] | Nancy Schwartzman (CEO), Thomas Cabus (Creative director), and Nick Hargreaves (Tech consultant) – created in 2015, winner of Apps Against Abuse Challenge by White House Office of Science and Technology | College women (age 18-24) | Quick communication for safety and support when in a situation where sexualized violence is occurring; sends pre-programmed group text messages to the user’s circle (trusted contacts) | - Programming of six trusted individuals who are part of the user’s safety network (the user’s “circle”; e.g., friends, family, co-workers) - Pre-programmed group text messages to user’s circle, including user’s GPS location, for immediate help/support - Internet links to health and safety resources, national hotlines, and “I am safe” text messages to the user’s circle | Safety of the individual when experiencing sexual victimization or to avoid experiencing sexual violence |
Unnamed app, similar to MyPlan [11] | Collaborative multistate team (Oregon, Arizona, Missouri, and Maryland) | College aged women | Allow abused college-aged women and their friends to privately and safely assess violence severity in an abusive relationship by increasing their understanding of the situation to help with decision-making, clarify their areas of decisional conflict (e.g., advantages/ disadvantages of the relationship), identify safety priorities (e.g., privacy, feelings for partner, severity of violence and social support) and link to national resources (e.g., national hotline) | - Password-protected login - Homepage: introduction, identify if looking for information for own relationship or for a friend, and gender of the abusive partner - Healthy relationship information including: ○ warning signs of unsafe intimate same-sex relationships ○ dynamics of unsafe same-sex relationships ○ myths - Risk assessment tools (e.g., Danger Assessment and Danger Assessment-Revised to assess danger) - Priority-setting activity: “a series of pairwise comparisons of the relative importance of factors when making decisions about safety” - Safety plan with resources and information (e.g., national hotlines, trusted campus resources) | Safety decision aid for individuals experiencing same-sex dating violence, as well as a resource for their friends |
SC-Safe [32] | Amanda K Gilmore and Tatiana M Davidson (first and second author of article) | Individuals aged 18+ in South Carolina having experienced sexual assault | Address a gap in clinical services after recent sexual assault, such as the inclusion of mental health services related to their experience of sexualized violence | - Screening and brief intervention using evidence-based practices to model post-sexualized violence services delivered in clinical setting - Intervention modules meant to inform and educate regarding various topics and their relation to sexualized violence: 1) alcohol and substance use, 2) suicide prevention, 3) posttraumatic stress and depressive symptoms, 4) adaptive coming skills, 5) physical health - Referral to treatment through community resources (e.g., testing for sexually transmitted infections, mental health interventions, support after sexualized violence, as well as links to local, regional, and national treatment settings and organizations) - Personalized psychoeducation and coping skills module through brief descriptive text and interactive learning exercises | Provide clinical services to individuals having experienced sexual assault, including information on have to stay safe and avoid or minimize chances of further sexualized violence |
Thrive [52] | Multidisciplinary team of intimate partner violence experts (community-based IPV advocates and general pediatricians/IPV researchers) in partnership with software developers | Mothers who have experienced intimate partner violence | Trauma-informed health education app for intimate partner violence survivors and their children | - Information about local resources sensitive to intimate partner violence - Three education-based sections: Myself (maternal self-care, coping skills, and trauma-informed yoga); My Child (focused on childhood stress, promoting mother-child communication, and talking to children about IPV); My Life (resources about housing, education, childcare, IPV agencies, and national and state IPV and parenting hotlines) | Providing support, education, and information for mothers who are survivors of intimate partner violence and their children |