Victim Researcher Profile

BIO

Dana DeHart is Assistant Dean for Research and a Research Professor at the University of South Carolina's College of Social Work. Dr. DeHart's work on violence and victimization has spanned multiple disciplines including social work, psychology, criminal justice, and public health. She has been Principal Investigator on over $8 million in grants and contracts addressing issues such as victimization and survivor services, impact of incarceration on families, gendered pathways to adult and juvenile offending, mental health and substance abuse, and predatory sexual behavior. Dr. DeHart has expertise in a range of qualitative and quantitative methods and has conducted hundreds of interviews with adult and juvenile offenders, crime victims, justice professionals, and human-service providers. Dr. DeHart is experienced in needs assessment, program evaluation, scale design, and ethical research design. She routinely serves as a reviewer for funded research and scholarly journals, and has published in peer-reviewed journals such as Psychology of Women Quarterly, Psychiatric Services, Violence Against Women, Violence & Victims, Journal of Interpersonal Violence, Journal of Family Violence, Journal of Child & Adolescent Trauma, Journal of Correctional Health Care, Journal of Offender Rehabilitation, and Journal of Elder Abuse & Neglect.

VICTIMIZATION FOCUS

Child Abuse and Sexual Abuse, Child Trafficking and Exploitation, Dating Violence (Teen), Domestic and Family Violence, Elder Abuse/Mistreatment, Sexual Abuse or Violence (other than campus sexual assault), Trafficking in Persons

SPECIAL POPULATIONS

Child victims, Formerly incarcerated victims

RESEARCH EXPERTISE

Data collection, Descriptive studies, Needs assessment, Program evaluation, Qualitative studies, Quantitative studies, Training and/or technical assistance, mixed-methods research

VICTIM RESEARCH EXPERIENCE

Data collection, Descriptive studies, Needs assessment, Program evaluation, Qualitative studies, Quantitative studies, Training and/or technical assistance