Survey for Survivors on Sexual Assault in Peace Corps

Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Nicholas Hack is a Doctorate of Psychology student at The Wright Institute. His research is focused on sexual assault in Peace Corps. He is seeking to collect information through an online survey from survivors about their experience in Peace Corps to help contextualize the issue. NO questions will be asked about the assault itself to minimize any triggering.

Here is Nick's introduction of the survey:

In 2005, I served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Zambia. During my service I both saw and heard about a number of traumatic events taking place. As a current Doctorate of Psychology student I’m studying the topic of trauma in the Peace Corps to bring these experiences to light.

In this study I hope to begin addressing the gap in the research about the experiences of female Peace Corps Volunteers who experienced sexual assault during their service. While it is clear that male Volunteers are also victims of sexual assault, I'm currently limiting the study to females given the greater prevalence of assaults among female Volunteers. Please note that no questions will be asked about the assault itself.

Your participation in this study can help future survivors of assault. Having additional data that is not normally collected may help contextualize the issue of sexual assault in the Peace Corps, challenging misconceptions and confronting myths. Your participation will help highlight what services and supports are most helpful, what may be missing, and many of the challenges involved in moving forward after the assault. Questions, comments, and concerns may be addressed with me directly at: nhack@wi.edu.

Take the survey here. Thank you for your advocacy and support of survivors in Peace Corps!

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