Summary: 948 first year students of two New England college campuses (one small/rural and one urban/commuter) participated in the Bringing in the Bystander violence prevention program. This study was conducted to help measure the effectiveness of the program on previously untested college campuses. The participants completed a pretest, a posttest, and a 12 month follow up test. The Bringing in the Bystander program consisted of two sessions that were a total of four and a half hours. In addition, the Know Your Power Bystander media campaign was tailored to each individual campus and implemented to reinforce the lessons presented in the Bringing in the Bystander program. The evaluation measures included a social desirability scale, the Illinois Rape Myth Acceptance Scale, and various bystander efficacy scales. The authors found that participants across both college campuses experienced attitude change regarding sexual violence and the roles individuals may play in ending sexual violence. This study also found that the effectiveness of the program was still documented 12 months after the program was implemented.
Application/Evaluation: This article might be useful for professionals who are interested in violence prevention programs on college campuses, particularly those that focus on bystander intervention behaviors. A pretest, posttest and follow up evaluation of the program was conducted.
Limitations: The study was limited to first year students only and the effectiveness of the program on other student populations is not yet known.