A&S Professor Receives Seed Funding for Project Addressing Violence Against Women

By Alicia Landon and Jenny Wells-Hosley

LEXINGTON, Ky. — Two University of Kentucky research projects have been selected to receive funding from the UK Center for Research on Violence Against Women (CRVAW).

The minigrant program, “Advancing Research Regarding Violence Against Women,” is designed to stimulate innovative research with the potential to improve the lives of those affected by violence against women, or to prevent such violence.

One project is “Firearm Regulations and Gun Violence against Women in the U.S.,” led by Janet Stamatel, associate professor in the UK Department of Sociology in the College of Arts and Sciences. This project will analyze public data to examine the use of firearms in the perpetration of violence against women across four different crime types to provide a comprehensive picture of the conditions under which firearm violence against women occurs.

“Women in the U.S. are 25 times more likely than women in other highly developed countries to be killed with firearms and the majority of gun violence against women, both lethal and non-lethal, is perpetrated by someone known to the victims,” Stamatel said. “The U.S. has firearm regulations specifically designed to protect women against gun violence in their private lives, but we know very little about how well these laws or other gun control measures work to reduce violence against women. I’m grateful to the CRVAW and my mentor on this project, Dr. Claire Renzetti, for supporting  research on this important public safety issue."

UK assistant or early associate-level faculty were eligible to apply for the funding, with preference given to projects well-positioned to increase research productivity in the form of grant or manuscript submissions. The CRVAW executive committee selected these two projects for funding at $10,000 each, beginning Oct. 15, 2020, for 18 months. The minigrant project is an outgrowth of the support the UK Office of the President has provided for researching this issue on campus.

“We were pleased at the quality of the proposals we received but two proposals stood out that had strong methodology, existing expertise and potential to grow into larger research projects that were ultimately selected for funding,” said Diane Follingstad, director of the program. “We hope that the ability to fund other UK faculty who are also working in the field of violence against women will extend the impact of the center and increase campus interest in investigating this topic.”
 
The other project is  “Abuse-related Workplace Disruptions among Healthcare Professionals: The Effect of Intimate Partner Violence on Mental Health Outcomes and Employment Instability,” led by Kathryn Showalter, assistant professor in the UK College of Social Work. This project will examine the negative impact intimate partner violence (IPV) can have on workplace performance and mental health.
 
“In addition to examining the impact of workplace disruptions on the experiences of health care providers, the study also intends to make recommendations based on findings to health care partners for supporting IPV survivors in the workplace and building future policies and practice responses to incidents of IPV abuse in health care settings,” Showalter said.  

For more information, go to www.uky.edu/crvaw/.

The University of Kentucky is increasingly the first choice for students, faculty and staff to pursue their passions and their professional goals. In the last two years, Forbes has named UK among the best employers for diversity, and INSIGHT into Diversity recognized us as a Diversity Champion three years running. UK is ranked among the top 30 campuses in the nation for LGBTQ* inclusion and safety. UK has been judged a “Great College to Work for" three years in a row, and UK is among only 22 universities in the country on Forbes' list of "America's Best Employers."  We are ranked among the top 10 percent of public institutions for research expenditures — a tangible symbol of our breadth and depth as a university focused on discovery that changes lives and communities. And our patients know and appreciate the fact that UK HealthCare has been named the state’s top hospital for four straight years. Accolades and honors are great. But they are more important for what they represent: the idea that creating a community of belonging and commitment to excellence is how we honor our mission to be not simply the University of Kentucky, but the University for Kentucky.