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In Their Own Words: Challenges and Successes for Victim Service Providers During Covid-19

NCJ Number
308808
Author(s)
Hannah Feeney; Rebecca Pfeffer; Leanne McCallum Desselle; Lauren Vollinger; Ruthie Grossman
Date Published
2023
Length
7 pages
Annotation

This brief provides an overview of responses to a web-based survey requesting victim service providers to share their biggest challenges and greatest successes during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Abstract

This document complements a research study that explored the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic on victims of crime and community-based victim service provider (VSP) agencies by investigating the following: the challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic, including related societal changes; how agencies pivoted to address those challenges; and which innovations were successful in ways that called for lasting changes in practice. This brief specifically provides an overview of the second part of the researchers’ assessment in which they conducted a web-based survey of the biggest challenges and successes of all VSPs in each project county. Findings revealed that VSPs adapted their services to federal, state, and local mandates as well as critical infrastructure closures while adapting their services in order to be able to continue supporting survivors throughout the pandemic.