Promising Futures National Scan for Evidence Based and Promising Programs
About the Database:
This section of the website is designed to provide up-to-date information on interventions and program models for children experiencing family violence. The information provided has been collected through over a decade-long national scan and review of programs and interventions for children experiencing family violence and other forms of trauma. Several programs have been specifically developed for children who have experienced domestic violence or have been adapted to work with children impacted by DV. Other program profiles on this website describe programs for fathers, parents, and children who have experienced other types of trauma including child maltreatment and exposure to community violence that have relevance for families impacted by DV.
Within the Database users can view all interventions, or search for and view programs by numerous categories. Each program profile includes an overview of the evaluation of the program. The program profiles featured represent a wide array of interventions ranging from evidence-based programs that have been proven to be effective in reducing trauma symptoms and behavioral issues in children who have experienced DV to innovative programs that have limited or no formal evaluation. Some of programs that are not supported by evaluation data are well-established interventions that are informed by decades of experience while others are emerging practices that may provide new ideas and insights for working with families who have been impacted by DV. There is increasing emphasis on implementing evidence-based programming to ensure continued funding and maximize potential effectiveness with limited resources. There are also ongoing opportunities to lift up and learn from practice wisdom, and community driven and designed programs. Also important is to highlight how programs are adapting services to be culturally relevant and meet families’ need. This website is updated periodically to provide the latest information on new programming and evaluation as the field advances. To recommend a program model for inclusion, contact Leiana Kinnicutt at lkinnicutt@futureswithoutviolence.org.
Program Selection Methodology
Phase I: FUTURES conducted an initial national scan in 2010 and another one in 2018 in partnership with Dr. Linda Chamberlain PhD MPH to collect information about interventions for children who have experienced domestic violence. Searches were conducted in Entrez PubMed and Academic Search Premier and online evidence-based registries to identify publications about programs, interventions, and treatment for children exposed to violence and other trauma. Articles and programs identified through these searches yielded additional references to other relevant programs.
Experts in the field of domestic violence and child trauma throughout the United States and Canada were contacted to ask their input about best practices. Conversations with domestic violence advocates, researchers, policy makers, educators, and other experts often led to additional contacts who are working with emerging and innovative programs. Read the Updated Comprehensive Review of Interventions for more information about many of the models found in Phase I.
Phase II: In 2021, we shifted strategies to prioritize identifying programs developed by and with community that may not be listed on national registries or represented in academic literature reviews and may not have access to undertaking rigorous research studies. One of our goals is to identify and lift up more culturally specific models and programs developed by and for BIPOC communities. In partnership with Collective Capacity Consulting we have shifted to utilize a community-centered evidence-based practice (CCEBP) approach to identify knowledge in the following areas: documented evidence (e.g., academic and non-academic), community practitioner expertise, and community experts. We are also reviewing the grey literature and conducting additional key informant interviews to identify additional models and approaches. The process will consist of a multi-year geographical phased approach to searching for programs in five national regions. We have invited a group of national, state and local expert advisors from a variety of fields to be partners in co-creating new inclusion criteria and to assist in identifying and reviewing possible programs.
In both phases, once a program is identified the team will review and vet the model based on our inclusion criteria and the program developers and researchers are contacted to provide additional information to be included in the online program profiles. In some cases, program staff do not respond to requests for information. If there is insufficient information available to develop or complete a program profile, then the intervention will not be profiled on this website. As work in the field continues, it is anticipated that additional programs will be added to this database to provide up-to-date and comprehensive information on the impressive range of interventions for children exposed to violence.
Program Profiles should be viewed as one important piece of information to consider, but their inclusion in this database does not necessarily reflect an endorsement of it by either Futures Without Violence, Promising Futures, nor the Family Violence Prevention & Services Administration within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, which provided funding for this project.