Sexual assault resource availability on Texas higher education campuses: A web site content analysis.

A content analysis was conducted of higher education website information in Texas to assess sexual assault prevention efforts across 35 different categories.

Summary: Colleges and Universities throughout the state of Texas that reported crime statistics to the 2012 Uniform Crime Reports (UCR) and who had a working website were included in the study (n=74).  A modified College Resources and Sexual Health (CRaSH) inventory was used to measure sexual health, resources, violence prevention strategies, prevention programs, male violence education efforts, and bystander intervention programs.  75 percent (n=55) of the Texas colleges and Universities included in the study provided prevention programming that addressed the negative consequences of over consumption of alcohol, yet only 7 of the schools required students to participate in sexual violence prevention programming.  These prevention programs and the manner in which they were taught varied greatly across campuses and schools.  14 schools not only did not require students to participate in any sexual assault prevention programs, but they did not offer any form of sexual assault prevention programming.  The authors found that the majority of schools relied on risk reduction strategies such as providing self defense classes, emergency phones, and “safe walks” and escorts while on campus as a primary prevention strategy and the authors suggest that offering and/or mandating sexual violence prevention programs may be more effective in creating behavior change and prevention violence.

Application/Evaluation: This article may be useful for those that work in violence prevention programs that target University/college populations.  The CRaSH inventory that was utilized was empirically tested and an appendix with rating codes and categories is included in the study.

Limitations: 41 (55 percent) of the schools included in the study had an undergraduate population of 10,000 or less and results may not be generalizable to schools with a larger undergraduate population. 

Author: 
Franklin, C. A., Jin, H. R., Ashworth, L. M., & Viada, J. H.
Reprint Status: 
notinfile
Start Page: 
1
End Page: 
27
Journal/Periodical Name: 
Women & Criminal Justice
Volume: 
Advance Online Publication
Publication Date: 
2016