You Deserve to be Safe: Approaches to Safety Planning on Digital Interpersonal Violence Hotlines

Local interpersonal violence service agencies are increasingly turning to digital crisis hotline platforms to enhance their reach. However, limited data describes the impact of digital approaches on survivors' help-seeking experiences, or the role of digital hotline in survivor safety planning. The study employs a concurrent mixed-methods evaluation design drawing on four streams of data: (a) qualitative and (b) quantitative review of digital hotline transcripts (n = 328), (c) semi-structure staff interviews (n = 17), and (d) quantitative fidelity assessments completed by program staff after digital hotline service interactions (n = 99). Thematic analysis and descriptive statistics were used to analyze data separately, before mixed methods data integration procedures were employed to synthesize data across streams and draw conclusions. Transcript data revealed a predictable phased process employed by digital hotline advocates, which begins with the identification of immediate safety risks and continues with an assessment of participant safety needs and goals via open-ended questions and building a supportive connection, and a joint effort to pursue individualized safety planning strategies based on participant expressed wishes. Together, these data demonstrate that digital hotlines are a viable method for survivors of violence to begin to include formal services in their safety planning processes. Ensuring that hotline advocates have access to key safety supports can facilitate digital hotline as a venue for increasing survivor and family safety and well-being.