My Plan Canada/iCAN Plan 4 Safety

Background:

  • Intimate partner violence (IPV) affects 1 in 4 Canadian women and is linked to increased risk of injury, and physical and mental health problems, including depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder.
  • How a woman deals with IPV is complex: she must decide how to improve her physical and emotional safety and that of her family.
  • Safety planning is an important way to reduce the impact of IPV, but fewer than 1 in 5 Canadian women are able to access support from violence services; rural women, Aboriginal women, and women with same-sex partners find it even harder to access services.
  • Effective, accessible, personalized tools can enhance decision-making and support women’s healing.
  • These projects aim to develop accessible, culturally appropriate, personalized interventions that limit IPV for Canadian women. There are multiple international but linked versions of this resource around the world, tailored to different contexts.
    • The first interactive, online resource for women experiencing IPV was developed and tested in the USA. That tool was then adapted to apply to diverse groups of Canadian women. The first Canadian tool was called “iCAN Plan 4 Safety".
Publications
Ford-Gilboe, M., Varcoe, C., Scott-Storey, K., Wuest, J., Case, J., Currie, L.M., Glass, N., Hodgins, M. MacMillan, H., Perrin, N., & Wathen, C.N. (2017). A tailored online safety and health intervention for women experiencing intimate partner violence: the iCAN Plan 4 Safety randomized controlled trial protocol. BMC Public Health, 17:273. DOI 10.1186/s12889-017-4143-9.

IF YOU ARE EXPERIENCING VIOLENCE AND WOULD LIKE TO ACCESS MY PLAN CANADA, PLEASE CLICK HERE.

Canadian Research: iCAN Plan for Safety Trial

Our team, with funding from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) adapted and tested the iCan Plan 4 Safety online safety planning decision tool with xxx women in three provinces.

Click here to learn more about the iCAN trial

Canadian Implementation Study

One of the key finding of the [insert link] iCAN trial was that women used the tool in combination with other services and supports in their communities. In the next phase of My Plan Canada, we are working with existing agencies and organizations to explore how they offer or integrate the My Plan Canada App into their ongoing service delivery.

Click here to learn more about the My Plan Canada implementation study.

Canadian Scale-up

We are grateful to the Federal Department of Women and Gender Equality for supporting scale-up of the My Plan Canada platform, and providing access via their Knowledge Hub. This can be accessed at:

International Studies

My Plan Canada is one of several studies that have looked at this kind of online safety planning platform. You can see what our colleagues in the US, New Zealand and Australia have found by clicking the links below.