- Aha! Moment
Can digital platforms safely support hard-to-reach IPV survivors at scale?
Emiliano Díaz, Isabella Pileggi, Daniel Mellow, and Joaquín Blanco.
- September 15, 2026
- 11:20 am
SECTOR
PROJECT TYPE
Location
BEHAVIORAL THEME
OVERVIEW
This Aha! Moment examines whether digital platforms can safely and effectively support hard-to-reach survivors of intimate partner violence (IPV) at scale. Led by Busara in partnership with Mapa do Acolhimento, the study embedded a randomized trial within Brazil’s national volunteer-run digital support platform to assess the feasibility of delivering and evaluating remote psychological and social work services. The findings show that digital platforms can reach vulnerable women nationwide, but recruitment, retention, privacy, digital inequality, and platform operations are critical determinants of whether these services can be evaluated and scaled.
Research Questions
- Can digital platforms safely support hard-to-reach IPV survivors at scale?
- Can a volunteer-run digital platform feasibly recruit, randomize, retain, and support survivors receiving remote psychological and social work services?
- What implementation barriers affect the delivery and evaluation of digital IPV services?
- How do privacy, digital access, and platform operations influence continued participation?
Methods
Researchers embedded a randomized feasibility trial within Mapa do Acolhimento’s existing digital support platform. Women who registered for support but had not yet been matched with volunteers were randomly assigned to receive online psychological counselling, online social work navigation, or standard referrals. Following major operational changes within the platform that reduced recruitment, the project pivoted from an effectiveness trial to a feasibility study examining recruitment, randomization, retention, implementation, and measurement performance. The study ran from January to July 2024, included 316 participants, and covered Brazil nationally.
THEMATIC AREAS
Key Findings
- Digital recruitment is scalable but not equally accessible. The platform successfully recruited hundreds of survivors from across Brazil, but participants were overwhelmingly concentrated in areas with reliable internet access, highlighting persistent digital inequalities.
- Retention, not recruitment, became the critical bottleneck. Follow-up completion reached only 14%, with attrition highest among women experiencing greater anxiety and those using shared devices.
- Safety concerns, privacy constraints, and digital insecurity strongly influenced continued participation.
- Implementation systems matter as much as interventions. Volunteer reporting burden, changing platform algorithms, and communication design substantially affected the study’s feasibility.
- Simple behavioral improvements, including shorter survivor communications and streamlined reporting workflows, showed immediate operational benefits.
Implications for Policy or Development
- For digital service providers: Digital platforms should prioritize privacy-sensitive follow-up, adaptive communication strategies, and mobile-first service design. Operational systems, including volunteer reporting and platform management, are central to successful implementation.
- For policymakers: Expanding digital IPV services requires addressing digital exclusion alongside service availability. Hybrid recruitment strategies and investments in connectivity remain essential for equitable access.
- For researchers: Future digital IPV evaluations should plan for substantial attrition, monitor implementation changes continuously, and treat platform operations as an important part of study design rather than background conditions.
- Future research should identify which implementation strategies most effectively improve survivor retention while maintaining safety, with more evidence needed from low- and middle-income countries.
How to Cite: Busara. 2026. Can digital platforms safely support hard-to-reach IPV survivors at scale? (The aha! moment No. 35). Nairobi: Busara. DOI: doi.org/10.62372/ENFQ8263.