Conveying campus sexual misconduct policy information to college and university students: Results from a seven campus study.

Summary: A total of 1,195 undergraduate student participants from seven colleges and Universities took part in the study.  The colleges and Universities were located across the US.  The participants at each college/University were divided into three groups: a control group, a read only group, and a read and discuss group.  The study found that only 21 percent of the study participants reported viewing the video that was sent to the participants via email.  The researchers recommend active viewing to increase sexual misconduct policy dissemination.  The researchers also found that the read and discuss group had the highest rate of increased knowledge regarding what constitutes sexual misconduct compared to the other two  groups.  Although there were increases in  knowledge related to schools’ sexual misconduct policies, there were no changes in confidence related to where to seek help or other resources among all  three groups. The researchers recommended that a discussion regarding campus administrators, students, and community resources should be included in dissemination plan for the misconduct policy.

Application/Evaluation: A control group and pre- and post-test measures were used by the researchers.

Limitations: Eleven participants identified as non-gender conforming and they were excluded from the study.  Therefore, the findings are not generalizable to that population.

Key Point: This study explored the effectiveness of disseminating campus misconduct policies to students.
Author
Potter, S. J., Edwards, K. M., Banyard, V. L., Stapleton, J., Demers, J. M., & Moynihan, M. M.
Start Page
1
End Page
10
Journal/Periodical Name
Journal of American College Health
Volume
Advanced Online Publication
Publication Date
2016
Keywords
college
consent
policy
students