RAINN
Phase 2

Focus Groups

Focus Groups

Focus groups are conducted with volunteers and supervisors. These sessions provide qualitative data, from the volunteer/supervisor perspective, about their perceived usefulness and the difficulties encountered during sessions. The questions are also used in a telephone sample of volunteers who cannot attend a focus group.

  1. In general, how well did the training prepare you to work with people on the online hotline?
    • What other topics would you like to see covered in the training?
  2. Overall, how are things going with the online hotline?
    • From your experience, what do you think could be improved to make the online hotline more useful to users?
    • Describe any technical problems you may have had?
    • Have you ever had a session “drop?” If so, can you describe what happened?
  3. Did an NVS ever “intervene” in a session either after you contacted them or they contacted you?
    • Did you find this helpful? Why or why not?
  4. If you encountered a 'difficult user' during sessions. What kinds of difficult users have you experienced during sessions?
    • Did you feel prepared to respond to these “difficult users?” Why or why not?
    • How did the training and resources provided by RAINN help you, or not help you, in dealing with those sessions?
    • What else would help you feel more comfortable or prepared to deal with difficult users?
  5. In the feedback questionnaire, we ask if 'family relationships' was one of the other issues discussed during a session. Could you talk about what type of “family relationship” issues have been discussed in your sessions? (incest, domestic violence, etc.)
    • Did you feel prepared to assist users with these issues? Why or why not?
    • What else would helped you feel more comfortable or prepared to deal with these issues?
    • Again, in reference to the feedback questionnaire can you elaborate on the calls that involved 'anger' and/or 'depression?'
  6. Have you ever had a session dealing with suicide or selfTharm? If so, how well do you believe you handled these issues?
    • Did you feel prepared to assist users who were dealing with selfTharm or suicidal issues? Why or why not?
    • How did the training and resources provided by RAINN help you, or not help you, in dealing with sessions involving suicide or self-harm?
    • What else would help you feel more comfortable or more prepared to deal with sessions involving suicide or self-harm?
  7. How helpful do you think your sessions have been for users? Please explain.
  8. Have you had a case involving mandatory reporting? If yes, please describe the situation.
    • How well do you feel prepared to handle a case involving mandatory reporting of child abuse?
  9. What changes to the Online Hotline would you like to see?
  10. Do you have any other comments about your experience volunteering with the online hotline?
  1. Get your marketers to throw out those 30-question customer surveys, and focus on one question:
    Would you recommend this product or service to a friend or colleague?
    In the book, The Ultimate Question, Fred Reichheld states that only this one question is needed to assess consumer satisfaction. Do you believe that RAINN can be evaluated through this one question? Why or why not?
  2. What information can be gathered in a focus group that cannot be obtained from a written survey?
  3. What additional questions would you like to add to the focus group questions? Why? What questions might you remove? Why?

Volunteer Survey

View Rainn's visitor survey resources.

View the Survey