College of Science and Health Theses and Dissertations

Date of Award

Spring 6-14-2024

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Department

Psychology

First Advisor

Megan Greeson, PhD

Second Advisor

Ansuk Jeong, PhD

Abstract

Civil protective orders (CPOs) are one of the most utilized legal remedies that exist for sexual assault survivors. While they are available for every survivor in Illinois, a survivor’s community context can impact their experience petitioning for a CPO. Prior research with domestic violence survivors suggests that the rurality and urbanicity of a community may impact a sexual assault survivors experiences seeking a CPO, but little research has been conducted with sexual assault survivors specifically. The purpose of this study was to examine the perceptions of rape crisis center advocates from rural and urban counties across the state of Illinois to determine how community context (i.e., rurality and urbanicity) impacts a sexual assault survivor's experiences seeking a CPO. As part of a mixed methods participatory evaluation of survivors’ needs and experiences relating to the civil legal system nine focus group were conducted with 45 total rape crisis center (RCC) advocates to understand their perceptions of survivors’ experiences with the civil legal system. Utilizing analytic induction, this study found that advocates perceived that rural and urban survivors’ experiences attempting to obtain a CPO differed. Advocates described a variety of consequences rurality had on survivors’ experiences such as rural RCCs and advocates being stretched thin and unable to do as much advocacy at the courthouse as urban advocates, rural counties being slower at adopting and implementing laws related to CPOs and sexual assault, and rural courthouses not having CPO specific courts like their urban counterparts. Advocates also discussed the differences in barriers and facilitators for rural and urban survivors obtaining a CPO Advocates perceived urban RCC’s ability to assist clients with transportation and provide them with referrals to lawyers outside of legal aid as facilitating survivor’s ability to connect with the civil legal system and obtain a CPO. On the other hand, rural advocates felt that confidentiality concerns served as a barrier for survivors’ engagement with the civil legal system. Finally, both urban and rural advocates emphasized the importance of community outreach as a facilitator, but they describe different behaviors and goals for their outreach. The findings of this study suggest that rurality has a significant impact on sexual assault survivors’ experiences, and rural survivors may experience unique challenges to obtaining a CPO that urban survivors do not. These findings emphasize a need for continued research on the influence of community context on survivor’s help seeking experiences and a need for greater standardization of systems across community contexts.

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