Violence Against Women Online Resources (VAWOR) is a web site that develops and disseminates state-of-the art resource materials for criminal justice professionals, state coalitions, tribal coalitions, and victim advocacy groups about effective interventions, services, and coordinated community responses to violence against women. It is a cooperative project between the Minnesota Center Against Violence and Abuse (MINCAVA) within the School of Social Work at the University of Minnesota and the Office on Violence Against Women, Office of Justice Programs, United States Department of Justice. The project, begun with OVW in 1997, was developed to ensure that VAWA funded products are widely available via the World Wide Web and thereby accessible to OVW grantees, sub-grantees, and the general public.

Violence Against Women Online Resources offers over 275 full-text documents related to sexual assault, domestic violence, and stalking from national and international organizations. Content includes reports, research summaries, curricula, presentations, manuals, and multi-media training tools. The site integrates stratified resources into one comprehensive, user-friendly site - www.vaw.umn.edu. Between October 1, 2003 to September 30, 2004, VAWOR added 15 new items to the site's Document Library.

Since the site was launched in 1997, users have increasingly accessed VAWOR resources to meet their research and training needs, with site usage tripling in the past five years. Today, the site averages 1,371 user sessions per day, a 20% increase from the previous year. Site users primarily came from the United States; however, usage statistics reveal that VAWOR also has an international presence in Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, Japan, Italy, Germany, and many other countries.

VAWOR also provides individualized technical assistance through its automated web form. More than 480 requests for information were sent to VAWOR staff between October 1, 2003 and September 30, 2004. A variety of people submitted requests for information. Victims, professionals, students, and concerned citizens were all represented in our requestor data. In the past year, the largest percentage (41%) of users requested technical assistance, such as research and networking, followed by requests for crisis support/advocacy (34%).

This document highlights the activities and achievements of the Violence Against Women Online Resources website during the Federal fiscal year, October 1, 2003 through September 30, 2004. This report describes the project's funding, staffing structure, usage statistics, new content acquisitions during the report period, and upcoming initiatives planned for the 2005-2006 fiscal year. It also describes VAWOR's technical assistance activities and highlights the top search terms and referring websites that have directed users to VAWOR.

VAWOR is supported by grant number 2004-X2140-MN-WT awarded by the Office on Violence Against Women within the U.S. Department of Justice. VAWOR'S primary purpose is to ensure that products developed with funds from the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) are made widely available via the World Wide Web and thereby accessible to OVW grantees, subgrantees, and the general public.

Funding for the VAWOR project was recently renewed through 2006. This renewal includes funding for the continuing expansion of the online library and the development of two new areas: an online learning module to train criminal justice professionals and advocates on issues related to culturally competence practice in the African-American community, and an online peer review system that enables individuals and organizations to conduct online reviews of new resources and training materials under development by TA providers.

Over the past year VAWOR has made a software switch from WebTrends to Webalizer to analyze site usage. Each program has a slightly different methodology for computing the number of "user sessions" or "visits" to the site. As a result, our statistics from this year are slightly different from last year's, though the difference is not large. This is important to note, as it has a slight, though not significant, effect on the total reported number of users that visit VAWOR site each year.

Violence Against Women Online Resources has experienced tremendous growth in site usage. The graph below illustrates the growth in the average number of user sessions per day over the past four years. Since 1999 the number of user sessions per day has increased 179 % from 491 sessions in 1999 to 1,371 sessions in 2004. This data provides insight about how many times per day users conduct a session on the site. A "user" is considered a unique person accessing the site. A user commits "hits" on the site when visiting various pages on the website. Therefore, one user may commit several hits during a single user session. However, because a single person can also perform multiple sessions in a given day, this table does not inform us about the number of unique people accessing the site per day.

1user_sessions04.gif Multi-Year Glance at Average Daily User Sessions 1999-2004 581 291

The following charts and tables provide detailed information on the site usage for the 2003-2004 reporting period. The average number of user sessions and average number of hits per day are broken down by month. A "hit"can be thought of the number of times the entire site was accessed by users. Information on what countries most utilize the website are provided along with what documents are the most utilized.

The table below illustrates the number of user sessions per day. The average number of sessions per day during this reporting period ranged between 1,145 sessions per day in January 2004 to 1,674 sessions per day in April of 2004. On average, the site experienced approximately 1,371 user sessions per day between October 1, 2003 - September 30, 2004, a 20% increase from the previous year when the average number of sessions per day was approximately 1,138.

2usersessions_perday.png Average Number of User Sessions per Day October 1, 2003 - September 30, 2004 662 241

As illustrated in the chart below, the average number of hits per day ranged from 13,876 in December 2003 to 24,463 in July 2004. On average, the site received approximately 19,493 hits per day, an increase of 46% from the previous year. During the previous year, the average number of hits per day was 13,356.

3hits_per_day.gif Average Number of Hits per Day October 1, 2003 - September 30, 2004 744 221

Violence Against Women Online Resources provides over 275 full-text documents related to sexual assault, domestic violence, and stalking. Each year, staff members solicit content for the site from national and international organizations. These documents are then reviewed by the National Advisory Board using VAWOR's online review tool. Documents that are approved through the online review mechanism are added to the VAWOR Document Library, which offers papers, reports, research findings, curricula, presentations, training manuals, and multi-media resources related to violence against women.

Between October 1, 2003 - September 30, 2004, VAWOR's National Advisory Board considered 39 documents using the online review process; 15 of these new documents were added to the site. The documents, all of which were previously published elsewhere, are listed below:

1. Family Violence Nursing Curriculum
   Added: 08/04/2004
   Authors: Marlene Jezierski, Maura Lynch, Margaret Dexheimer Pharris, Judi Sateren
   Description: While nurses must be able to respond skillfully to victims of all types of violence, responding to victims of family violence requires sensitivity rooted in understanding how it differs from other types of violence. The content of this curriculum, which grew out of the 1999 American Association of Colleges of Nursing competencies, was developed in response to those findings to provide Minnesota nursing faculty essential curricular information to develop student competence in preventing, assessing, and responding to family violence across the lifespan.

2. Task Force Report on Care for Victims of Sexual Assault
   Added: 08/04/2004
   Author: US Department of Defense
   Description: This report presents the findings of a 90-day review of all sexual assault policies and programs among the Services and Department of Defense. The report identifies 35 key findings relevant to current sexual assault policies and proposes nine broad recommendations for immediate, near-term and long-term corrective action. It recommends changes to increase prevention, promote reporting, enhance the quality and support provided to victims, especially within combat, and improve accountability for offender actions.

3. Medical Provider's Guide to Managing the Care of Domestic Violence Patients within a Cultural Context
   Added: 05/24/2004
   Author: Mayor's Office to Combat Domestic Violence, New York
   Description: Office to Combat Domestic Violence and the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene developed a training and reference guide for healthcare providers as part of a campaign to reduce cultural, linguistic and systemic barriers preventing domestic violence victims, particularly immigrant women and women of color, from reporting abuse to their healthcare providers.

4. Collaborating for Woman and Child Safety
   Added: 05/24/2004
   Author: Annelies K. Hagemeister, PhD, MSW
   Description: This training curriculum, designed for multidisciplinary teams, is intended to enhance practice and policy when domestic violence and child maltreatment co-occur.

5. Family Team Conferences in Domestic Violence Cases: Guidelines for Practice (2nd Edition)
   Added: 05/24/2004
   Author: Lucy Salcido Carter, M.A., J.D.
   Description: These guidelines lay out steps to decide whether a family with a history of domestic violence is a good candidate for a Family Team Conference, and to prepare and conduct a conference that results in the best possible child welfare decision and safety for all. Case scenarios offer examples of different circumstances involving domestic violence and describe how an FTC, if planned and structured properly, can safely address case goals.

6. It's in Our Hands: Stop Violence Against Women
   Added: 05/24/2004
   Author: Amnesty International
   Description: This report investigates causes, forms, and remedies of violence against women, and highlights the responsibility of the state, community and individuals for taking action to end it.

7. Not a Minute More: Ending Violence Against Women
   Added: 05/24/2004
   Author: United Nations Development Fund for Women
   Description: This report highlights many of the achievements towards the empowerment of women and indicates what must be done to build on them. It provides examples of practices as well as efforts that did not meet the goals set out for them - and explores why. It looks at the challenges ahead and asks what the most fruitful next steps might be.

8. Building Comprehensive Solutions to Domestic Violence: Outreach to Underserved Communities
   Added: 03/18/2004
   Author: Sujata Warrier
   Description: This curriculum is designed to help domestic violence programs reach out to underserved communities in order to address the issues of diversity and of the limited access to quality services for battered women from those communities. Its appendices include handouts and worksheets for participants and overheads and readings for trainers. It is structured as a two-day training and is designed for a program rather than individuals.

9. Child Welfare Practices for Cases with Domestic Violence
   Added: 03/18/2004
   Author: Oregon Department of Human Services
   Description: This is the third edition of Child Welfare Practice for Cases with Domestic Violence, developed as part of an overall effort to increase the safety of adults and children through collaboration of domestic violence services and child protective services.

10. Community Survey Project: Factors That Influence Disclosure of Domestic Abuse to Providers
    Added: 03/18/2004
    Author: Bellingham-Whatcom County Commission Against Domestic Violence
    Description: The Whatcom County Domestic Violence Comprehensive Plan, completed by the Bellingham-Whatcom County Commission Against Domestic Violence in June 2000, identified the need for increased knowledge about experiences of victims and survivors of domestic violence, as they interface with Whatcom County community and health care providers. To find out more about how victims experience the prospect of disclosing domestic violence to providers, the commission surveyed 1081 women in the county.

11. Forging New Collaborations Between Domestic Violence Programs, Child Welfare Services and Communities of Color
    Added: 12/19/2003
    Author: Nita Carter
    Description: This report summarizes the dialogues from the Women of Color Network (WOCN) focus groups on domestic violence and child welfare. Over one hundred (100) domestic violence and sexual assault activists of color participated in these focus groups. The report includes a set of recommendations and highlights from their conversations regarding issues and barriers for battered women with children from communities of color.

12. Recruitment and Retention in Intimate Partner Violence Research
    Added: 12/19/2003
    Author: Mary Ann Dutton, Amy Holtzworth-Munroe, Ernest Jouriles, Renee McDonald, Satya Krishnan, Judith McFarlane, and Cris Sullivan
    Description: This report focuses on methods of recruitment and retention in intimate partner violence research with particular attention to attrition in batterer treatment programs and retention in longitudinal studies. Case studies highlighting recruitment and retention methods in five different intimate partner violence research programs are described by their respective investigators. A set of guidelines is offered for recruitment and retention in intimate partner violence research, which is intended to help guide the field by offering suggestions that can lead to successful recruitment and retention efforts in a way that maintains the safety of participants and researchers alike.

13. The Military Response to Victims of Domestic Violence: Tools for Civilian Advocates
    Added: 12/19/2003
    Author: Judith E. Beals
    Description: This handbook is designed for civilian advocates working with military victims of domestic violence - both active duty victims and partners of active duty service members-to help advocates respond to the uniquely challenging needs of this population of survivors.

14. The Role of Restorative Justice in the Battered Women's Movement
    Added: 12/19/2003
    Author: Loretta Frederick and Kristine C. Lizdas
    Description: This article provides a comparison of the principles and practices of the restorative justice and battered women's movements. It provides an analysis and critique of each movement's response to domestic violence, and proposes an interpretation of what is effective, redemptive and liberating about the practices of each. Ultimately the paper provides suggested directions for future work within both fields.

15. World Report on Violence and Health
    Added: 12/19/2003
    Author: World Health Organization
    Description: This report examines the types of violence that are present worldwide and which constitute the bulk of the health burden imposed by violence. Topics include violence as a global health problem, youth violence, child abuse and neglect, intimate partner violence, elder abuse, sexual violence, self-directed violence, collective violence and recommendations for action.

Violence Against Women Online Resources also commissions authors to develop original documents that are published exclusively on VAWOR. These short, user-friendly, research manuscripts address topics where a lack of information exists. These documents have become a valuable resource to those working in the criminal justice and violence against women fields. Below is a listing of the eight documents, along with the document's author and a short synopsis of each, that are currently being commissioned by VAWOR under our 03-05 cooperative agreement with United States Department of Justice.

• Violence Against Women with Disabilities: Perpetrators as Caregivers
  By Beverly Frantz
  This paper addresses the definitional ambiguity regarding the terms disability, caretaker/care provider/caregiver, and intimate partner, and reviews the prevalence of violence directed towards persons with disabilities, environmental factors that affect caregiver abuse, and archetypes of abusive caregivers.

• Stalking and Technology
  By Cindy Southworth
  The explosion of technology use across the population is providing stalkers with numerous and sophisticated tools. This paper focuses on abusers' use of technology in intimate partner stalking and how advocates can address safety risks with survivors. It presents new stalking methods, safety planning information, and action steps for local advocates working to end violence against women.

• Dual Arrest and Probation: Implications for Women
  By Sherry Frohman and Connie Neal
  This paper looks at the need for probation officers to understand: 1) The tactics that abusers use to engage the criminal justice system in their abuse of women, 2) The significant number of women who are convicted of crimes who are victims of domestic violence, 3) The context and reasons why women who are abused plead guilty to domestic violence crimes, and 4) The critical need to implement a probation supervision response that actively supports the safety of all women who are convicted of crimes.

• Co-Parenting with a Perpetrator of Domestic Violence
  By Peter Jaffe and Claire Crooks
  This article identifies central themes in the research that underline the challenges that abused women face as mothers. In addition, the implications for providing effective service to these women in the community and the justice system are discussed. Seven central themes are highlighted regarding the intersection between woman abuse and parenting. Specific implications and recommendations for community and court service providers are offered.

• Expert Witnesses in Sexual Assault Cases
  By Kim Lonsway
  This paper summarizes the existing knowledge on the use of expert witnesses in cases involving sexual assault. The focus is primarily on expert testimony that is provided for the prosecution in a criminal case discussing the general dynamics of sexual assault and common reactions of victims. This paper reviews current research and experts in the field to insure that expert testimony is used in a responsible way.

• Domestic Violence and Police Officers: Officers as Victims and Perpetrators
  By Diane Wetendorf
  This article examines how abusive officers in intimate relationships can use police authority, police training, and police culture to bolster power and control over their victims. In addition, this article discusses how professional credibility and training uniquely position officers who batter to explain, defend, and summon institutional support and assistance from the very systems to which victims are theoretically supposed to turn to for protection.

• Domestic Violence Prevention Strategies in the LGBT Community
  By Janice Ristock in consultation with Norma Timbang
  This forthcoming paper will cover the research on what is known about domestic violence in the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender communities and will discuss ways to work effectively on prevention strategies within these communities.

• Ensuring Economic Autonomy for Battered Women
  By Lynnie Meyer and Cathe Dykstra
  This paper provides an introduction to strategies for integration of economic services into domestic violence programming and reviews the current approaches in practice at The Center for Women and Families in Louisville, Kentucky, which encompasses several initiatives that focus on employment, economic literacy, savings opportunities promoting asset ownership, and linkage to a network of community resources to provide free-tax preparation and financial empowerment education.

Violence Against Women Online Resources provides individualized technical assistance to site users who submit requests electronically through the site's automated web form. Steps are taken to protect the user's safety and to ensure that the user understands the type of service VAWOR provides. Users are educated about the technical assistance VAWOR provides and are encouraged to use the resources listed if they are in need of emergency or direct service. They are also educated about Internet safety and privacy and are given questions to think about before proceeding with the web form. In the past year VAWOR received 480 information requests from people in search of technical assistance, crisis support, advocacy, and other types of information.

The graph below illustrates a steady decrease in information requests over the past three years. In 2001, 696 requests were processed by VAWOR, in 2002 the number of requests received dropped 6% to 655, and in 2003 VAWOR experienced a 30% decrease in information requests. The decline in information requests was generally viewed as a positive indicator that users were able to successfully navigate the site and readily obtain information. However, in the past year, VAWOR experienced a slight (4.8%) increase in requests. This small increase was anticipated, given the large increase in site usage over the past year. Responding to information requests continues to be a key component of VAWOR's commitment to provide technical assistance.

4yearly_info_requests.gif Multi-Year Glance at Information Requests 1999-2004 578 278

The following charts show detailed information about the 480 information requests received this reporting period from October 1, 2003 through September 30, 2004. Data is recorded on each information request received and the charts below provide information regarding the number of requests per month, type of requests, topic of technical assistance and the identity of the requestor.

The average number of information requests received on a monthly basis in this reporting period was 40. The chart below illustrates the range in the frequency of requests. The fewest requests for information in one month were 25 in September 2004 and the most requests received in a month were 65 in October 2003.

5monthly_info_requests.gif Number of Information Requests per Month October 1, 2004 - September 30, 2004 596 263

VAWOR identifies the type of request received as either a (1) solicitation/ad, (2) technical assistance, (3) crisis support, (4) other/or (5) undisclosed. These five categories are defined by VAWOR as:

1. Solicitation/Ad: Advertisements, chain letters, press releases, mass (listserv) messages, and announcements.
2. Technical Assistance: Request for information/resources such as article permission, article information, site navigation, grants/funding, organizational information, action alerts, events/training, and other inquiries regarding locating services/information to related to violence against women.
3. Crisis Support/Advocacy: Request for information about supportive/emergency resources for victim/survivor of domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking.
4. Other: Requests that do not adequately meet the definition of 1-3 as stated above.
5. Undisclosed: Email that does not clearly state a specific request and does not adequately meet the definition of 1-4 stated above.

As the pie chart below depicts, the majority (41%) of requests were identified as technical assistance in this past year. Requests for crisis support/advocacy, typically sent by primary and secondary victims, represented 34% of the requests received.

6type_of_requests.gif Type of Request Received 470 274

The category Technical Assistance is further broken down into descriptive types of technical assistance. VAWOR defines these types as:

1. Training: Requests that indicate/reflect interest in locating training, training manuals, creating training manuals/opportunities, or other activities that are associated with training related to violence against women.
2. Research: Requests that are looking for research material, statistics, data, charts, stories, photos, etc. that are to be used for the purposes of publications, research papers, journals, briefs, articles, presentations, seminars, etc.
3. Networking: Requests that indicate interest in becoming connected with other people/organizations with similar interests related to violence against women.
4. Article Information: Requests that indicate they are looking for a particular author of a document, publishing company, organizational publications, additional materials or other inquiries related to articles/documents.
5. Other: Requests that do not adequately meet the definition of 1-4.

As seen in this chart, the majority (65%) of requests for technical assistance are regarding research.

7type_oftech_assis.gif Type of Technical Assistance October 1, 2003 - September 30, 2004 461 244

For each email request that is received, VAWOR gleans demographic information about the requestor.

1. Concerned Citizen: Requestor does not identify as a primary or secondary victim. Is interested in helping/volunteering/gathering information to work towards ending violence against women.
2. Social Service Professional: Advocates, social workers, day care personnel, counselors.
3. Criminal Justice Professional: Police officers and other members of a police department, judges, attorneys, probation officers, juvenile and adult court administrators, corrections officers, legal advocates.
4. Health Care Professional: Nurses, doctors, paramedics, mental health professionals, health care aides, and therapists.
5. Student: Requestor identifies being a student and/or requesting materials for the purpose of a school paper/project/presentation.
6. Other: Requestor does not adequately meet the definition of the above stated categories (1-7). Including teachers, media and other professions that do not fit into the categories noted above.
7. Undisclosed: The identity of the requestor cannot be determined.

As illustrated by the graph below a variety of people utilized VAWOR technical assistance. The largest category of requestors (28%) is comprised of primary victims (those who experience violence), followed by those consumers who did not disclose their identity (22%), students (12%), and social services professionals (11%).

8identity_requester.png Identity of Requestor October 1, 2003 - September 30, 2004 466 324

Violence Against Women Online Resources strives to maintain its position as one of the foremost online resources about intimate partner violence, sexual assault, and stalking. In the coming year, VAWOR will continue to expand its document library, commission authors to write research summaries exclusively for VAWOR, respond to online technical assistance requests, and will begin new areas of development including an expanded site marketing campaign, the development of an online learning module to train criminal justice professionals on issues related to culturally competent practice in the African-American community, and the moderation of online peer reviews of new products under development by other Office on Violence Against Women (OVW) Technical Assistance (TA) providers.