Secondary and 2-Year Outcomes of a Sexual Assault Resistance Program for University Women.

Charlene Y Senn,Ian R Newby-Clark,Misha Eliasziw,Paula C Barata,H Lorraine Radtke,Wilfreda E Thurston,Karen L Hobden

doi:10.1177/0361684317690119

Abstract

We report the secondary outcomes and longevity of efficacy from a randomized controlled trial that evaluated a novel sexual assault resistance program designed for first-year women university students. Participants (N = 893) were randomly assigned to receive the Enhanced Assess, Acknowledge, Act (EAAA) program or a selection of brochures (control). Perception of personal risk, self-defense self-efficacy, and rape myth acceptance was assessed at baseline; 1-week postintervention; and 6-, 12-, 18-, and 24-month postrandomization. Risk detection was assessed at 1 week, 6 months, and 12 months. Sexual assault experience and knowledge of effective resistance strategies were assessed at all follow-ups. The EAAA program produced significant increases in women’s perception of personal risk, self-defense self-efficacy, and knowledge of effective (forceful verbal and physical) resistance strategies; the program also produced decreases in general rape myth acceptance and woman blaming over the entire 24-month follow-up period. Risk detection was significantly improved for the intervention group at post-test. The program significantly reduced the risk of completed and attempted rape, attempted coercion, and nonconsensual sexual contact over the entire follow-up period, yielding reductions between 30% and 64% at 2 years. The EAAA program produces long-lasting changes in secondary outcomes and in the incidence of sexual assault experienced by women students. Universities can reduce the harm and the negative health consequences that young women experience as a result of campus sexual assault by implementing this program. Online slides for instructors who want to use this article for teaching are available on PWQ’s website at http://journals.sagepub.com/page/pwq/suppl/index.

Highlights

We report the secondary outcomes and longevity of efficacy from a randomized controlled trial that evaluated a novel sexual assault resistance program designed for first-year women university students
We report the findings for all five prespecified secondary outcomes as well as the long-term efficacy of the primary sexual assault outcome
The results reported here indicate that women who take the EAAA program develop a “tool box” of effective strategies they are willing to use

Summary

Introduction

We report the secondary outcomes and longevity of efficacy from a randomized controlled trial that evaluated a novel sexual assault resistance program designed for first-year women university students. The EAAA program produced significant increases in women’s perception of personal risk, self-defense self-efficacy, and knowledge of effective (forceful verbal and physical) resistance strategies; the program produced decreases in general rape myth acceptance and woman blaming over the entire 24-month follow-up period. There have been attempts to address the issue of sexual assault on North American campuses by changing perpetrator behavior, few interventions with men have been rigorously evaluated. Those that are effective usually show attitudinal changes for a few months, with no effect on the occurrence of rape or other forms of sexual assault; two recent exceptions combine bystander and social norms approaches (Gidycz, Orchowski, & Berkowitz, 2011; Salazar, Vivolo-Kantor, Hardin, & Berkowitz, 2014). Most studies showed no impact for women with prior victimization, impact was observed for only a short time, and most interventions had no significant effects (Gidycz & Dardis, 2014)

Results

Discussion

Conclusion