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Domestic violence resource organizations are crucial to assist IPV victims. One group that experiences extremely high levels of abuse is the transgender community. Unfortunately, transgender individuals have difficulty in accessing shelter services, especially those rural communities in the “Deep South” (e.g., Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, and South Carolina). The goal for this study was to examine how domestic violence organizations worked with transgender individuals trying to access these services and to see if these organizations conducted active outreach to the transgender community.
Methods: This qualitative study was comprised of three components: 1) 21 interviews with individuals working in 17 domestic violence organizations in the Deep South; 2) an analysis of social media postings from domestic violence organizations from 1/1/2023 – 12/31/2023; 3) an analysis of domestic violence awareness during Domestic Violence Awareness month in October 2023. All interview transcripts, field notes, and social media postings were then analyzed using thematic analysis.
Results: Despite being in rural/conservative communities, many of the shelters had previous encounters with the transgender community and reported this abuse was encountered. However, there is some concern as to how to reach this community to let them know that shelters are there to assist them.