Binghamton University researcher, colleague share $1.2 million grant to study sexual-violence screening on college campuses

VESTAL, N.Y. — A researcher at Binghamton University’s Decker College of Nursing and Health Sciences will use a four-year, $1.2 million federal grant to study how to “effectively implement intimate partner and sexual violence screenings” in college health centers across the U.S., the university announced.

Melissa Sutherland, a professor in the Decker College, and her colleague, Katherine Hutchinson, a professor and associate dean of research and graduate programs at the University of Rhode Island’s College of Nursing, are the grant recipients and co-principal investigators.

The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) awarded the funding. AHRQ is an agency within the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services.

Funding purpose

The Atlanta, Georgia–based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says one in four women experience some form of violence in a college setting. The Washington, D.C.–based National Academy of Medicine and other national organizations recommend that health-care providers screen and counsel all women for current and past experiences of intimate partner and sexual violence, Binghamton University said in a release.

College health centers therefore represent “unique opportunities” to screen college women and “mitigate their risk for further violence and adverse outcomes,” the school added.

To promote an increase in routine intimate partner and sexual-violence screening in college health centers, Sutherland and Hutchinson contend it is “necessary” to investigate and identify factors that act as “facilitators and barriers” of screening.

“Screening can facilitate timely treatment for injuries, crisis intervention, counseling, safety planning and referral for services,” said Sutherland, who is also the director of Decker College’s Kresge Center for Nursing Research. “We are hopeful that this study will provide answers and a thorough understanding of the patient characteristics and provider-, organization- and state-level factors that promote or inhibit intimate partner and sexual violence screening in college health centers.”

The study, “Multi-level Influences of Violence Screening in College Health Centers,” builds upon Sutherland’s research on the consequences of interpersonal violence, as well as previous successful research collaborations between Sutherland and Hutchinson, Binghamton said.

The project will be conducted across the U.S. and takes an “interdisciplinary, systems science” approach to improve health outcomes and advance clinical practice, Binghamton said. Bing Si, assistant professor in the Systems Science and Industrial Engineering Department at Binghamton’s Watson College of Engineering and Applied Science, is among the co-investigators lending their expertise, the school added.