Maya Azar
Research Mentor: Katie Edwards
Mentor Department: Social Work, Social Work
Author(s): Maya Azar, Cassandra D. Saucedo, Thalia Wilson, Skyler Hopfauf, Katie Edwards
Session: Session 1 (9:00 AM – 9:50 AM)
Presentation Type: Poster 33
Abstract
Sexual violence rates among Indigenous peoples are some of the highest in the country; however, Indigenous peoples are some of the most underrepresented in research in sexual violence prevention within their communities. One method to prevent sexual violence among Indigenous girls and women as well as Two Spirit Indigenous peoples is through Empowerment Self-defense (ESD). ESD is a sexual violence prevention program that empowers rather than restricts women/girls as they resist violence. Moreover, ESD transforms girls’ understanding of their bodies/ autonomy, holds perpetrators responsible, and provides comprehensive self-defense strategies and techniques. Participants were middle school and high school youth- mainly assigned female at birth who participated in ESD and over a six-week period, and completed a pretest, immediate post test, and post-test surveys several weeks following the last sessions. Then, the Interpersonal Violence Research Laboratory researchers used thematic analysis of the post-session surveys to analyze how factors of the programming impacted student life and program preferences. I hypothesize that students will report feeling seen, empowered, and valued and that many students would share what they learned with others, fostering a shared community. These findings will highlight a need culturally adapted prevention efforts that align with Indigenous values and female empowerment in combating sexual violence among Indigenous populations.
