Grant Awarded to Develop Technology to Abate Intimate Partner Violence

September 30, 2011

The Social Intervention Group (SIG) of the Columbia School of Social Work and the Columbia Center for New Media Teaching and Learning (CCNMTL) have received a $659,000 grant from the National Institute on Drug Addiction (NIDA) to develop and test a computer screening tool to help identify and abate intimate partner violence (IPV). This project, known as WINGS, is led by Dr. Louisa Gilbert at SIG. WINGS will be tested in drug-court waiting rooms beginning in February 2012. CCNMTL will receive about $125,000 of the grant over two years ending July 2013.

Women Initiating New Goals for Safety (WINGS, is a self-paced suite of computer activities that screen for IPV, help participants develop a safety plan and set goals, and introduce them to available social services that meet their individual needs. Based on research conducted in emergency rooms that shows that women are more likely to disclose IPV in the anonymous setting provided by a computer, the WINGS study will test whether more at-risk women can be reached through a computerized intervention rather than through a standard case-worker interview. Portions of WINGS are based on elements of the SIG and CCNMTL collaboration Women on the Road to Health (WORTH). Both WINGS and WORTH are projects in CCNMTL's Triangle Initiative, which seeks to develop work that furthers faculty research and classroom learning, and benefits communities outside the university.

"This terrific opportunity, which builds on a previous collaboration with SIG, provides evidence supporting CCNMTL's theory that new media tools built for one research project can be re-purposed and re-assembled for newly emerging contexts," said Frank Moretti, CCNMTL's executive director.

For more information, please contact Moya Thompson at mt2795@columbia.edu.