{"id":237603,"date":"2024-02-29T11:59:00","date_gmt":"2024-02-29T16:59:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/?post_type=bu-article&#038;p=237603"},"modified":"2026-02-27T15:50:41","modified_gmt":"2026-02-27T20:50:41","slug":"red-dot-to-disclose-students-inform-intervention-to-help-victims-of-abuse","status":"publish","type":"bu-article","link":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/news\/articles\/2024\/red-dot-to-disclose-students-inform-intervention-to-help-victims-of-abuse\/","title":{"rendered":"Red Dot to Disclose: Students Inform Intervention to Help Victims of Abuse"},"content":{"rendered":"\t<div class=\"wp-block-editorial-leadin sphnews-block-editorial-leadin is-style-side-by-side has-media has-wider has-media-focus-center-middle\">\n\t\t<div class=\"container-lockup\">\n\n\t\t\t<div class=\"wp-block-leadin-media\">\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t<img width=\"1920\" height=\"2560\" src=\"\/sph\/files\/2024\/02\/Red-dot-to-disclose1-scaled-e1709136248362.jpeg\" class=\"\" alt=\"A roll of red circle stickers hangs from a box on a bathroom wall. One sticker is missing.\" loading=\"lazy\" \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"wp-block-editorial-leadin-caption wp-prepress-component-caption\">A roll of red circle stickers hangs from a box on a bathroom wall. On the wall beside the stickers are two signs, one in English and one in Spanish, describing to patients how to apply the sticker to a urine sample cup if they have experienced abuse. Photo courtesy of Ami Mitchell.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"container-words-outer\">\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"container-words-inner\">\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"wp-prepress-tag\">public health consulting<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<h1 class=\"head\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRed Dot to Disclose: Students Inform Intervention to Help Victims of Abuse\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/h1>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<h4 class=\"deck\">Students in Jacey Greece&#8217;s communications strategies course collaborated with the Tennessee Department of Health on an initiative to encourage victims of abuse to disclose their circumstances to healthcare providers.<\/h4>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\n\t<\/div>\n\n\t\n<div class=\"wp-prepress-component-metabar sphnews-prepress-layout-metabar\">\n\t<div class=\"wp-prepress-component-metabar-wrapper\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"wp-prepress-component-metabar-date\">February 29, 2024<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"wp-prepress-component-metabar-credits\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<ul data-credit-type=\"By\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/news\/authors\/megan-jones\/\">Megan Jones<\/a><\/li>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/ul>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"wp-prepress-component-metabar-share js-bu-prepress-share-tools\">\n\t\t\t<span class=\"icon-twitter\"><span>Twitter<\/span><\/span>\n\t\t\t<span class=\"icon-facebook\"><span>Facebook<\/span><\/span>\n\t\t\t<span class=\"icon-action\"><\/span>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\t\n\n\n<p>Society harbors many myths about human trafficking, including a perception that, when in public, victims will actively seek help. Instead, <a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/22772961\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">studies show<\/a> that even in healthcare settings, where providers are well-positioned to connect victims with services and may have specialized training to recognize signs of abuse, both disclosure and detection of human trafficking are rare. The <a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/16431233\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">same is true<\/a> for victims of domestic violence and intimate partner violence (DV\/IPV). Victims of abuse are often trapped in a vicious cycle of fear, shame, and distrust that prevents them from revealing their true circumstances.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Last spring, students enrolled in the course <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/academics\/sph\/courses\/sph-sb-806\/#:~:text=Communications%20Strategies%20for%20Public%20Health&amp;text=This%20core%20communications%20course%20focuses,responsible%20for%20the%20intervention%20developed.\">Communication Strategies for Public Health<\/a> (SB806) at the School of Public Health collaborated with the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tn.gov\/health.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Tennessee Department of Health<\/a> (TDH) to address this problem. At the invitation of the course instructor <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/profile\/jacey-greece\/\">Jacey Greece<\/a>,&nbsp;clinical associate professor of community health sciences, Ami Mitchell, South Central regional director at TDH, challenged the students to develop strategies to encourage individuals who might be experiencing abuse to confide in health department staff.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Over the course of the 14-week semester, the students assumed the role of real-world public health consultants, says Greece. They spoke with clinic staff to better understand clinic operations, attended educational seminars on human trafficking in Tennessee, and conducted interviews with key stakeholders. The students\u2019 efforts culminated in proposals so promising that Mitchell adopted some of their ideas and implemented them at all the local health departments in her 12-county region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"alignright size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" src=\"\/sph\/files\/2024\/02\/Red-dot-to-disclose4.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-237656\" width=\"357\" height=\"268\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/files\/2024\/02\/Red-dot-to-disclose4.jpg 640w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/files\/2024\/02\/Red-dot-to-disclose4-636x477.jpg 636w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 357px) 100vw, 357px\" \/><figcaption>Another student intervention recommended renovating a space that victims of abuse would find more calming and less clinical, such as this room the Tennessee Department of Health recently renovated based on the students&#8217; suggestions.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>One particularly notable intervention is a simple, new disclosure process that TDH calls Red Dot to Disclose (RDD). Signs hung in specimen collection restrooms explain that patients can place a red dot sticker on their specimen cup before placing it in the collection window. The sticker will indicate to healthcare providers that the patient: a) does not feel safe in their current relationship, b) is being hurt or threatened, and\/or c) is being forced to do something sexual. Providers then ensure the patient is escorted to the exam room alone and receives the appropriate assessments and referrals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The process leverages an already private space and a common clinical procedure to give patients the utmost discretion in their decision to disclose, says Aubree McMahon (SPH\u201823), who together with classmates Carly Batt (CAMED&#8217;23,&#8217;27, SPH&#8217;23), Annesta Batuwangala (SPH\u201823), Hannah Knapp-Broas (SPH\u201824), and Kira Levenson (SPH\u201824) proposed the idea underlying RDD. The students originally titled their project DISCLOSE to stand for \u201cdiscrete information sharing,\u201d McMahon says. DISCLOSE also called for patients to write their initials in red marker to initiate the disclosure process, however, when TDH translated the intervention into practice, the marker became a sticker.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cBut I like Red Dot to Disclose,\u201d says McMahon. \u201cIt is a little catchier.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This past summer, Mitchell rolled out RDD across the South Central Region, a mainly rural area that also encompasses the city of Chattanooga. If a year-long pilot there proves successful, she says, TDH plans to expand the initiative state-wide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"alignleft size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" src=\"\/sph\/files\/2024\/02\/Red-dot-to-disclose-TDH-posters-1024x723.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-237653\" width=\"385\" height=\"272\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/files\/2024\/02\/Red-dot-to-disclose-TDH-posters-1024x723.jpeg 1024w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/files\/2024\/02\/Red-dot-to-disclose-TDH-posters-636x449.jpeg 636w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/files\/2024\/02\/Red-dot-to-disclose-TDH-posters-768x542.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/files\/2024\/02\/Red-dot-to-disclose-TDH-posters-755x533.jpeg 755w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/files\/2024\/02\/Red-dot-to-disclose-TDH-posters-1416x1000.jpeg 1416w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/files\/2024\/02\/Red-dot-to-disclose-TDH-posters-900x635.jpeg 900w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/files\/2024\/02\/Red-dot-to-disclose-TDH-posters-1200x847.jpeg 1200w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/files\/2024\/02\/Red-dot-to-disclose-TDH-posters.jpeg 1439w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 385px) 100vw, 385px\" \/><figcaption>Signs hung in specimen collection restrooms explain the Red Dot to Disclose process to patients in English and in Spanish. Photo courtesy of Ami Mitchell.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI have been fortunate to be able to collaborate with students in [Greece\u2019s] SB806 class several times over the years,\u201d says Mitchell, who first met Greece at a workshop Greece held on practice-based teaching at the American Public Health Association Annual Meeting in 2019. \u201cIt has been a real asset to the local health departments I work with to apply the ingenuity of her students to real-world problems. Having the students as consultants on the challenges facing rural Tennessee [and] in our work to implement public health programs has proven incredibly powerful.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Greece, who worked as a public health consultant herself before transitioning to academia, has long been a major proponent of practice-based teaching. She recalls a moment 10 to 11 years ago when she was reading her students\u2019 assignments and the thought occurred to her, \u2018These are phenomenally written\u2014they are really innovative\u2014but they are all theoretical and they are sitting on my computer for a grade for a class. Wouldn\u2019t it be amazing if I could take the classroom, turn it into a consulting firm and allow organizations and communities the benefit of receiving these products, the deliverable to these assignments, that the students have to do for class?\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"alignright size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" src=\"\/sph\/files\/2024\/02\/Instructional-Poster-768x1024.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-237649\" width=\"296\" height=\"394\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/files\/2024\/02\/Instructional-Poster-768x1024.png 768w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/files\/2024\/02\/Instructional-Poster-477x636.png 477w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/files\/2024\/02\/Instructional-Poster-1152x1536.png 1152w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/files\/2024\/02\/Instructional-Poster-1536x2048.png 1536w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/files\/2024\/02\/Instructional-Poster-500x667.png 500w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/files\/2024\/02\/Instructional-Poster-1000x1334.png 1000w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/files\/2024\/02\/Instructional-Poster-755x1007.png 755w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/files\/2024\/02\/Instructional-Poster-750x1000.png 750w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/files\/2024\/02\/Instructional-Poster-600x800.png 600w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/files\/2024\/02\/Instructional-Poster-675x900.png 675w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/files\/2024\/02\/Instructional-Poster-1200x1600.png 1200w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/files\/2024\/02\/Instructional-Poster.png 1728w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 296px) 100vw, 296px\" \/><figcaption>The original sign SPH students designed as part of their SB806 assignment on behalf of the Tennessee Department of Health. Image courtesy of Hannah Knapp-Broas.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>In 2020, Greece and&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/profile\/james-wolff\/\">James Wolff<\/a>, associate professor of global health, created <a href=\"https:\/\/collaborate.health.bu.edu\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Collaborate.Health<\/a> to facilitate and showcase partnerships between community organizations and classrooms that tackle pressing real-word public health problems, such as the collaboration between SB806 students and TDH.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cHaving that experience in this class was really formative,\u201d says McMahon, who is now a doctoral student in public health at the University of Pittsburgh. As part of her coursework this spring, she says she plans to use the materials that she and her classmates developed in SB806 to conduct a comprehensive evaluation plan for RDD. She hopes to continue collaborating with Mitchell to look at the fidelity of RDD\u2019s implementation and changes in the attitudes and knowledge among patients and clinic providers exposed to the intervention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>McMahon says that while experiential learning can sometimes feel chaotic\u2014she notes SB806 was one of the most challenging courses she has ever taken\u2014she aims to include it in her own teaching practices as future faculty at a school of public health.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe passion and ideas that we had are going to do something, and as a student, that is something we do not always necessarily think about\u2014the idea of something that we contributed to theoretically and conceptually ever touching someone&#8217;s life,\u201d says McMahon. \u201cIt has definitely changed the energy with which I approach my work.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Society harbors many myths about human trafficking, including a perception that, when in public, victims will actively seek help. Instead, studies show that even in healthcare settings, where providers are well-positioned to connect victims with services and may have specialized training to recognize signs of abuse, both disclosure and detection of human trafficking are rare. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22210,"featured_media":237608,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"bu_prepress_billboard":"","_bu_prepress_primary_term":"","_bu_prepress_primary_term_manual":""},"tags":[2728,2411,1265,4553,3214,3335],"bu-publication":[3516],"sphnews-article-category":[3519,3525,3528,3531,3538,3541,4084],"sphnews-topic":[],"bu_edition":[],"media_type":[],"profile_tax":[282],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article\/237603"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/bu-article"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22210"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=237603"}],"version-history":[{"count":29,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article\/237603\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":262300,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article\/237603\/revisions\/262300"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/237608"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=237603"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=237603"},{"taxonomy":"bu-publication","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-publication?post=237603"},{"taxonomy":"sphnews-article-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sphnews-article-category?post=237603"},{"taxonomy":"sphnews-topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sphnews-topic?post=237603"},{"taxonomy":"bu_edition","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu_edition?post=237603"},{"taxonomy":"media_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media_type?post=237603"},{"taxonomy":"profile_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/profile_tax?post=237603"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}