Paula Barata

Associate Dean Academic

College of Social and Applied Human Sciences, Guelph Institute of Development Studies, Psychology

Field

Applied Social Psychology

Research Areas

Justice
Health and well-being
Feminist psychology
Applied Social Psychology
Aggression

My research is explicitly feminist, has largely focused on violence against women, and has always had an applied bend. I’ve examined various issues related to gender-based violence including having worked on the evaluation of a sexual assault resistance education program (Enhanced Access, Acknowledge, Act), and the wider implementation of that program.

I’ve worked on a number of community-engaged and arts-based projects examining intimate partner violence survivors’ experiences. Currently I’m working on a project to bring together the violence against women and the homelessness sectors to collect longitudinal data about survivors’ experiences of homelessness and housing instability in Canada.

Education

PhD Applied Social Psychology, University of Windsor, 2004
MA Applied Social Psychology, University of Windsor, 1999
BA (Honours) Psychology, University of British Columbia, 1994

Publications

* Indicates a student under my supervision

Barata, P. C., *Samardzic, T., Eliasziw, M., Senn, C. Y., Radtke, H. L., Hobden, K. L., & Thurston, W. E. (2024). A Successful Sexual Assault Resistance Program Also Reduced Intimate Partner Violence. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 0(0). https://doi.org/10.1177/08862605241270057

*Samardzic, T., *Barclay, O., Barata, P.C. (2024). They Want a Porn Star That Has Never Watched Porn": Double Binds and Standards in Young Women's Talk About Heterosex. Sex Roles,0(0). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-024-01498-7

*Samardzic, T., Barata, P.C., Morton, M., & Yen, J. (2024). Young Women’s Silencing Type Behaviours in Heterosexual Relationships. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 0(0). https://doi.org/10.1177/08862605241265417

Collaton, J., Barata, P., Morton, M., Baron, K. & Lewis, S. (2024). Justice for women after sexual assault: a critical interpretive synthesis. Trauma, Violence, and Abuse. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1177/15248380241248411

*Samardzic, T., Barata, P.C., Morton, M., & Yen, J. (2024). Young Women’s Silence and Voice in the Context of Male-Perpetrated Violence. Violence Against Women, Online First. https://doi.org/10.1177/10778012241236673

*Wilson, B., *Zawitkowski, S., *Weiss, S., Docherty, L., Barata, P. (2023). How the Invisible becomes Visible: The Lived Experience of Economic Abuse in Heterosexual Relationships. Violence Against Women. On-line first. 1-26. https://doi.org/10.1177/10778012231185540

Senn, C. Y., Hobden, K, L., Eliasziw, M., Barata, P. C., Radtke, H. L., McVey, G. L. & Thurston, W. E. (2023). Testing the effectiveness of a sexual assault resistance programme in ‘real-world’ implementation. European Journal of Psychotraumatology, 14(2). https://doi.org/10.1080/20008066.2023.2290859

*Erb, S., Barata, P., Yi, S., McLachlan, K. & Powell, D. (2023). The Shame and Guilt Distinction: Addressing the (Mal)Adaptive Nature of Guilt, Traumatology, 29(2), 233-248. https://doi-rg.subzero.lib.uoguelph.ca/10.1037/trm0000388

Collaton, J., Barata, P.C., Lewis, S.P. (2022). Understanding Discussions of Sexual Assault in Young Women on a Peer Support Mental Health App: A Content Analysis. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 37(23-24), NP22811-NP22833. https://doi.org/10.1177/08862605211073112

*Jeffrey, N. K., & Barata, P. C. (2021). Intimate partner sexual violence among Canadian university students: Incidence, context, and perpetrators’ perceptions. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 50(5), 2123–2138. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-021-02006-8

Senn, C.Y., Barata, P.C., Eliasziw, M., Hobden, K.L., Radtke, H. L., Thurston, W. & Newby-Clark, I.R., (2021). Sexual Assault Resistance Education’s Benefits for Survivors of Attempted and Completed Rape. Women and Therapy, 45(1), 41-67. https://doi.org/10.1080/02703149.2021.1971425

Senn, C.Y., Eliasziw, M., Hobden, K.L., Barata, P.B., Radtke, H.L., Thurston, W.E., & Newby Clark, I.R. (2020). Testing a model of how a sexual assault resistance education program for women reduces sexual assaults, Psychology of Women Quarterly, 45(1), 20-36. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0361684320962561

*Jeffrey, N.K. & Barata, P.C. (2020). The Intersections of Normative Heterosexuality and Sexual Violence: University Men’s Talk about Sexual Behavior in Intimate Relationships. Sex Roles, 83, 353-369. https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007%2Fs11199-019-01110-3.pdf

Radtke, H.L., Barata, P.C., Senn, C.Y., Thurston, W.E., Hobden, K.L., Newby-Clark, I.R., and Eliasziw, M. (2020). Countering Rape Culture with Resistance Education. In D. Crocker, J. Minaker, & A. Nelund (Eds.), Violence Interrupted: Confronting Sexual Violence on University Campuses (pp. 349-370, chapter 16). Montreal & Kingston: McGill-Queen’s University Press.

*Jeffrey, N. K., *Crann, S. E., *Erb, S. R., & Barata, P. C. (2020). “Strangers are unsafe”: Institutionalized rape culture and the complexity of addressing university women’s safety concerns. In D. Crocker, J. Minaker, & A. Nelund (Eds.), Violence Interrupted: Confronting Sexual Violence on University Campuses (pp.141-187, chapter 6). Montreal & Kingston: McGill-Queen’s University Press.

Barata, P.C. & Senn, C.Y. (2019). Interventions to Reduce Violence Against Women: The Contribution of Applied Social Psychology. In K. O’Doherty & D. Hodgetts (Eds.). The SAGE Handbook of Applied Social Psychology (pp. 60-84, chapter 4). London. SAGE Publications.

*Jeffrey, N. K., & Barata, P. C. (2019). “She didn’t want to…and I’d obviously insist”: Men’s normalization of their sexual violence against intimate partners. Journal of Aggression, Maltreatment & Trauma, 28(1), 85-105. URL: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10926771.2018.1500406

*Crann, S. & Barata, P.C. (2019). “We can be oppressed but that does not mean we cannot fight oppression”: Narratives of resilience and advocacy from survivors of intimate partner violence. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 33, 1-23. Advance online May 13, 2019 URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0886260519848779

*Furman, E. Barata, P. Wilson, C., & Fante-Coleman, T. (2017). “It’s a gap in awareness”: Service provision for LGBTQ2S survivors of intimate partner violence. Journal of Gay and Lesbian Social Services, 29(4), 362-377. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10538720.2017.1365672

*Jeffrey, N. & Barata, P.C. (2017). When social assistance reproduces social inequality: intimate partner violence survivors’ adverse experiences with subsidized housing. Housing Studies, 32(7), 912-930.http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02673037.2017.1291912

Senn, C.Y., Eliasziw, M. Hobden, K.L., Newby-Clark, I.R., Barata, P.C., Radtke, H. L., &Thurston, W. (2017). Secondary and 2-year outcomes of a sexual assault resistance program for university women. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 41(2), 147-162. https://doi.org/10.1177/0361684317690119

*Jeffrey, N. & Barata, P.C. (2017). “He didn’t necessarily force himself upon me, but…”: Women’s lived experiences of sexual coercion in intimate relationships with men. Violence Against Women, 23(8), 911-933. https://doi.org/10.1177/10778012166525

Senn, C.Y., Eliasziw, M., Barata, P.C., Thurston, W.E., Newby-Clark, I.R., Radtke, H.L., Hobden, K.L. (2015). Efficacy of a sexual assault resistance program for university women. New England Journal of Medicine, 372 (24), 2326-2335. http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMsa1411131

*Crann, S.E., & Barata, P.C. (2015). The experience of resilience for adult female survivors of intimate partner violence: A phenomenological inquiry. Violence Against Women, 22(7), 853-87523. https://doi.org/10.1177/107780121561259