Bystander sexual violence prevention program outcomes for high-and low-risk university men

This study sought to measure the effectiveness of a bystander violence program administered to a high-risk University population.

 

Summary: 142 male fraternity members at a large University in the central United States participated in the study.  Based on pretest data, the participants were either labeled as low-risk or high-risk for engaging in sexually coercive behavior. Six peer-educators taught the Bringing in the Bystander violence prevention program during a single afternoon.  The intervention was 90 minutes long.  The researchers found that there was significant decrease of rape myth acceptance at post test and at 5-week follow-up for the high- and low- risk male participants. Participants from both groups reported decreased rates of sexually coercive behaviors at post-test and follow- up testing.  The high risk participants’ sexually coercive behaviors at post-test of the intervention were equal to the low risk participant’s measures at pre-test, indicating that the prevention program was successful overall in decreasing the likeliness of males to engage in sexually coercive behaviors.

Application/Evaluation: This article is useful for professionals who work in violence prevention on college campuses.  A pre-test, post-test and follow-up evaluation of the program was conducted.  However, the follow-up testing did not measure long term results.

Limitations: The majority of the study participants (98%) identified as heterosexual. It is not known what the effectiveness of the prevention programming is on male LGBT populations.  

Author: 
Elias-Lambert, N., & Black, B. M.
Reprint Status: 
notinfile
Start Page: 
1
End Page: 
25
Journal/Periodical Name: 
Journal of Interpersonal Violence
Volume: 
Advanced Online Publication