Program for Reduction of Rural Family Violence Receives Funding

The Texas A&M University System Health Science Center School of Rural Public Health (SRPH) received start-up funding for a Program for the Reduction of Rural Family Violence from the RGK Foundation. The funding amount is $61,541, and the program will be part of the School of Rural Public Health (SRPH). Dr. Nikki Van Hightower, assistant professor in the department of Social and Behavioral Health at SRPH, will direct the program.

Faculty at the SRPH have identified family violence as a major public health problem in Texas. In 1996, the 196 rural counties in Texas reported 19,500 incidents of domestic violence, but only 20 of those counties have family violence shelters. Most counties rely on law enforcement and prosecutors for assistance, and many of these professionals have limited training for handling the problem. Likewise, health care providers often do not provide critical diagnostic and intervention services.

"Given the lack of rural family violence services and obstacles to providing those services," Dr. Van Hightower says, "the program will work with rural communities to identify service needs to reduce the causes and consequences of family violence." The program's goals include engaging rural Texas community systems in collaborative efforts to overcome the many barriers faced by rural battered women; provide knowledgeable assistance, access to data, and evaluation services to develop and measure progress; assist in bringing more financial resources into the development of family violence services; add to the knowledge base on rural family violence; and promote multidisciplinary approaches to community problem solving.

The RGK Foundation is an independent foundation begun in 1966 by Ronya and George Kozmetsky. The focus of the foundation is on three main components: educational, medical and community. The foundation has supported many programs for the prevention of family violence. Additionally, the foundation has sponsored studies in several areas of national and international concern including health, corporate governance, energy, economic analysis, and technology transfer.

For information about the program, contact Dr. Nikki Van Hightower at (979) 845-0554 or email nikki@polisci.tamu.edu.

The SRPH is an institution of The Texas A&M University System Health Science Center. Also included in the A&M System HSC are Baylor College of Dentistry, the College of Medicine, the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences and the Institute of Biosciences and Technology.

- ANDREA POOL

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©2006 Texas Medical Center

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