Short-Term Health and Safety Outcomes Associated With Digital Hotline Use at Interpersonal Violence-Focused Agencies

Community organizations strive to help survivors of intimate partner violence (IPV), stalking, sexual assault and human trafficking address health and safety needs. Hotline, offered by local agencies, is the first line of support for survivors to address needs. Increasingly, hotline is offered in digital formats (chat and text) to meet the emergent needs of survivors. Despite the growing use of digital hotline, little is known about short-term health and safety changes associated with use. Partnering with 2 local agencies in a Southern state, we recruited first-time digital hotline participants to an online baseline and follow-up (6 weeks later) assessment (n = 237) to examine changes in health (e.g. physical health, depression, PTSD) and safety (tools related to safety, perception of safety). Descriptive statistics, paired sample t-tests, chi-square, and regression modeling were used for data analysis. At 6 weeks post-digital hotline use, depression and PTSD symptoms had significantly decreased, and hope and feelings of safety had significantly increased. No changes were observed for physical health. Repeated hotline use after baseline was associated with revictimization, sustained health needs, and reduced perception of internal tools related to safety. Longer-term and expanded study are needed of digital hotline to further examine potential impacts, however these findings suggest that hotline is not merely a conduit to other services, but a potentially impactful intervention into itself.