Using Technology to Make A Difference for Women
How RAINN Built an Online Hotline
RAINN’s National Sexual Assault Online Hotline (“Online Hotline”) is revolutionizing the way crisis services are provided and harnessing technology to help thousands more victims of sexual assault take steps toward recovery. For the first time ever, survivors of sexual assault are able to have a secure, real-time conversation with a trained rape crisis volunteer over the internet.
“I did the Online Hotline and it was so good to get my questions answered and know recovery is possible. I was really having a hard time with what happened to me and I am still unable to verbalize it . . . They helped a lot. I’m starting the road of recovery.”
The words above - feedback from an anonymous user of the Online Hotline - illustrate why secure online support services are such a significant advancement in the evolution of crisis services. Many people affected by sexual assault are not comfortable contacting a telephone hotline or going in person to a crisis center. They suffer in silence and isolation, unable to speak about their experience and access critical services. But with the availability of a secure online alternative, people who would not otherwise reach out are finally able to access the help they so desperately need.
The Online Hotline functions in much the same way that RAINN’s telephone rape crisis hotline does. Survivors of sexual violence can access the service for free and are connected to trained rape crisis volunteers who can help them take steps to recovery. However, instead of using a telephone to be connected to a volunteer, they can now get help online over RAINN’s website.
As we developed the Online Hotline, we were faced with a number of challenges and had to find the right technology solution to address each one. First and foremost, we had to vigorously protect the privacy and confidentiality of sessions. Additionally, we needed a solution that could provide real-time support and allow the user to get help anonymously, with minimal barriers to entry.
Evaluating our options for real-time services, we looked at many different technologies, including AJAX and COMET. While AJAX seemed like a valid solution at the time (and still is for smaller volume services), we quickly realized that it would necessitate polling the server multiple times every minute to check for new messages, send messages, and update status fields. If we utilized this option to provide our Online Hotline services, server resources would have to grow exponentially to accommodate traffic.
Instead, we chose to use a COMET style implementation which utilized KnowNow’s Live Server. With COMET, the connection to the server is held open and data is sent back and forth without closing the HTTP tunnel. Thus each server can handle many more users and allow us to have a large number of ongoing real-time conversations without increasing server resources. Live Server’s implementation of COMET offered us a production tested solution that provided the security, liveliness, and performance we were looking for.
As for the application itself, we took an innovate approach and modeled the software after the functionality that a telephone switchboard offers. Much like an operator fields calls and routes them to the appropriate party, our software controls all of the interaction between our volunteers and the survivors. It accomplishes this using a Javascript API and a Live Server connector written for .NET.
The user interface itself is entirely web-based, utilizing SQL Server and .NET. The volunteer’s interface functions as a control panel, from which the volunteer can field calls, schedule shifts, browse resources and even see which other volunteers are online. From the survivor or user’s standpoint, the only interface you interact with once you are in session is a small pop up, which is easily minimized if the survivor needs to hide their online activity quickly. The beauty of this design is that the user does not need to download anything in order to get help. All that is needed by the user, or by the volunteer, is a web-browser with Javascript enabled.
Our final, and most critical, hurdle was to ensure the user’s privacy, confidentiality and anonymity while using our service. While many websites are designed to collect as much information as possible about the user, we did just the opposite. All IP logging has been turned off at the web server level, and we have disabled persistence at the Live Server level. Thus we do not permanently log any transcripts and do not write any temporary transcript data to disk, ensuring anonymity in the case of an audit. Additionally, all transmissions are encrypted and application servers are stored securely in AOL’s Data Centers in Virginia where they are fully monitored 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
The results of our use of technology to enhance crisis services have been very promising so far. Feedback scores are high (4 out of 5 users are satisfied or very satisfied) and we are reaching survivors of sexual assault whom we would never have reached before because of their reluctance to use a phone. Additionally, we are reaching more young people than ever by meeting them where they are, which is online, and offering services in a format with which they are familiar. By providing a secure, anonymous online option for getting help, RAINN is making it easier for thousands more victims of sexual violence to receive the critical support they need to recover.
Through the innovative use of technology, RAINN has developed an exciting new service that is not only enabling us to reach more victims of sexual assault, but is also transforming crisis services. However, in order to continue utilizing technology effectively to provide the best possible services, we need the ongoing support of the technology community. If you would like to get involved or learn more about this award winning service, please contact Penelope Hughes at penelopeh@rainn.org.