UAMS, City of Little Rock Conducting Assessment of Sexual Violence Prevention Efforts in Community
| The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) and the City of Little Rock are assessing current sexual violence prevention efforts in the community.
UAMS received nearly $65,000 from the Arkansas Department of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Rape Prevention and Education (RPE) Program. The completed needs assessment will inform the best ways to use this funding.
The Protective Environment & Community Empowerment (PEACE) Initiative for Rape Prevention is led by Ashley Connors, RN, SANE-A, a sexual assault nurse educator with the UAMS Institute for Digital Health & Innovation TeleSANE program, and Jocelyn Anderson, Ph.D., RN, SANE-A, an associate professor in the UAMS College of Nursing.
The group aims to gather valuable insights from community members to enhance current sexual violence prevention efforts in Little Rock. They are collaborating with the City of Little Rock to better understand the patterns of sexual violence in the city. They also are conducting focus groups with populations who experience higher rates of sexual violence than the community around them.
“We’re excited to launch this important work and hear directly from our community,” said Anderson. “Their input is crucial in shaping effective strategies to prevent sexual violence and create a safer environment.”
The project also includes an online survey, open to all Little Rock residents age 18 and older, that seeks to understand community perspectives on existing sexual violence prevention work and gather ideas for potential improvements. The online survey can be accessed at bit.ly/LittleRockFeedback.
For more information or to participate, please contact the team at healthstudy@uams.edu.
UAMS is the state’s only health sciences university, with colleges of Medicine, Nursing, Pharmacy, Health Professions and Public Health; a graduate school; a hospital; a main campus in Little Rock; a Northwest Arkansas regional campus in Fayetteville; a statewide network of regional campuses; and eight institutes: the Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute, Jackson T. Stephens Spine & Neurosciences Institute, Harvey & Bernice Jones Eye Institute, Psychiatric Research Institute, Donald W. Reynolds Institute on Aging, Translational Research Institute, Institute for Digital Health & Innovation and the Institute for Community Health Innovation. UAMS includes UAMS Health, a statewide health system that encompasses all of UAMS’ clinical enterprise. UAMS is the only adult Level 1 trauma center in the state. UAMS has 3,485 students, 915 medical residents and fellows, and seven dental residents. It is the state’s largest public employer with more than 11,000 employees, including 1,200 physicians who provide care to patients at UAMS, its regional campuses, Arkansas Children’s, the VA Medical Center and Baptist Health. Visit www.uams.edu or uamshealth.com. Find us on Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), YouTube or Instagram.###