Report on the communication and dissemination of findings of a research study - Exploring the links: family violence, firearms and animal abuse in rural communities

Description

The purpose of this report is to document the dissemination and communication efforts undertaken to share the findings of the research study entitled “Exploring the Links: Family Violence, Firearms, and Animal Abuse in Rural Communities”. The co-principal investigators, Dr. Deborah Doherty and Dr. Jennie Hornosty, have jointly and individually, shared and publicised both the preliminary research findings over the course of the research, as well as widely communicated the findings of the final report with a variety of stakeholders, the general public, policy-makers and the academic community. This has entailed distributing an "Executive Summary" of the research to participants and others, writing and publishing papers about the research, presenting the research at academic conferences of provincial, national and international scope, sharing the findings at "community" conferences and workshops, and finally, creating exposure in the media and making special presentations to stakeholders and policy-makers. The current report presents a detailed overview of our communication efforts for the period of the research which commenced in the winter of 2006, through until May 30, 2008. It should be noted that initiatives to disseminate the findings, and to promote evidence-based change to policies, programs and laws intended to promote safety for rural women experiencing firearms victimization, is on-going.