4 research outputs found
Recommended from our members
Resources for Texas Sexual Assault Survivors: Inventory and Survey Findings on Services, Gaps, and Accessibility
Texas is a leader among states on the issue of sexual assault, and has promoted and funded
the study of sexual violence as well as created the Sexual Assault Survivors’ Task Force
(SASTF) through the Office of the Texas Governor (OOG). Sexual assault is clearly
established as a public health problem affecting 6.3 million women and men in the state, or
33.2% of adult Texans over their lifetime.1 This statistic comes from thorough research by
the Institute on Domestic Violence & Sexual Assault (IDVSA) at The University of Texas at
Austin on the prevalence and impact of sexual assault on Texans, service providers, and the
social and economic system at large.
The bipartisan passage of HB 1590 (86R)
B
signifies a continued commitment by Texas
lawmakers to serve sexual assault survivors. Lawmakers and Texans alike acknowledge the
seriousness of sexual assault crimes. With the research findings derived from this project,
survivors and their families, professionals supporting survivors, and lawmakers can better
see the landscape of resources, service provision gaps, and unmet needs across our state.
The specific project aims were to:
• Inventory the sexual assault services available in Texas.
• Assess sexual assault survivors’ needs by region for the 11 Texas regions.
• Develop a sexual assault services resource inventory.
IDVSA accomplished those aims by:
• Developing and implementing a statewide survey to a broad and diverse set of
providers who serve survivors of sexual violence.
• Conducting a collaborative analysis of the survey findings with a specific focus on
service availability and service gaps, and presenting those in this report to the OOG.
• Developing an HB 1590 Inventory List of the resources available to survivors across
the state and delivering it to the OOG to inform the creation of a comprehensive
statewide service directory in the futureInstitute on Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault (IDVSA
Recommended from our members
A Framework to Develop Interventions to Address Labor Exploitation and Trafficking: Integration of Behavioral and Decision Science within a Case Study of Day Laborers
This paper describes a process that integrates behavioral and decision science methods to design and evaluate interventions to disrupt illicit behaviors. We developed this process by extending a framework used to study systems with uncertain outcomes, where only partial information is observable, and wherein there are multiple participating parties with competing goals. The extended framework that we propose builds from artefactual data collection, thematic analysis, and descriptive analysis, toward predictive modeling and agent-based modeling. We use agent-based modeling to characterize and predict interactions between system participants for the purpose of improving our understanding of interventional targets in a virtual environment before piloting them in the field. We apply our extended framework to an exploratory case study that examines the potential of worker centers as a venue for deploying interventions to address labor exploitation and human trafficking. This case study focuses on reducing wage theft, the most prevalent form of exploitation experienced by day laborers and applies the first three steps of the extended framework. Specifically, the case study makes a preliminary assessment of two types of social interventions designed to disrupt exploitative processes and improve the experiences of day laborers, namely: (1) advocates training day laborers about their workers’ rights and options that they have for addressing wage theft and (2) media campaigns designed to disseminate similar educational messages about workers’ rights and options to address wage theft through broadcast channels. Applying the extended framework to this case study of day laborers at a worker center demonstrates how digital technology could be used to monitor, evaluate, and support collaborations between worker center staff and day laborers. Ideally, these collaborations could be improved to mitigate the risks and costs of wage theft, build trust between worker center stakeholders, and address communication challenges between day laborers and employers, in the context of temporary work. Based on the application of the extended framework to this case study of worker center day laborers, we discuss how next steps in the research framework should prioritize understanding how and why employers make decisions to participate in wage theft and the potential for restorative justice and equity matching as a relationship model for employers and laborers in a well-being economy.Bureau of Business Researc
Opportunities for Transdisciplinary Science to Mitigate Biosecurity Risks From the Intersectionality of Illegal Wildlife Trade With Emerging Zoonotic Pathogens
Existing collaborations among public health practitioners, veterinarians, and ecologists do not sufficiently consider illegal wildlife trade in their surveillance, biosafety, and security (SB&S) efforts even though the risks to health and biodiversity from these threats are significant. We highlight multiple cases to illustrate the risks posed by existing gaps in understanding the intersectionality of the illegal wildlife trade and zoonotic disease transmission. We argue for more integrative science in support of decision-making using the One Health approach. Opportunities abound to apply transdisciplinary science to sustainable wildlife trade policy and programming, such as combining on-the-ground monitoring of health, environmental, and social conditions with an understanding of the operational and spatial dynamics of illicit wildlife trade. We advocate for (1) a surveillance sample management system for enhanced diagnostic efficiency in collaboration with diverse and local partners that can help establish new or link existing surveillance networks, outbreak analysis, and risk mitigation strategies; (2) novel analytical tools and decision support models that can enhance self-directed local livelihoods by addressing monitoring, detection, prevention, interdiction, and remediation; (3) enhanced capacity to promote joint SB&S efforts that can encourage improved human and animal health, timely reporting, emerging disease detection, and outbreak response; and, (4) enhanced monitoring of illicit wildlife trade and supply chains across the heterogeneous context within which they occur. By integrating more diverse scientific disciplines, and their respective scientists with indigenous people and local community insight and risk assessment data, we can help promote a more sustainable and equitable wildlife trade.peerReviewe