Short- and Long-Term Effects of an Intervention to Act against Sexual Violence in Sports

Abstract

In recent years, an increasing number of cases of sexual violence (SV) in organized sports have received worldwide attention. To counteract the emergence of SV, various preventive measures have been developed and implemented. However, the effectiveness of these preventive measures has not been adequately tested. To close this gap, the purpose of the present study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a workshop intervention that was conducted within the context of organized sports in Germany. The one-day workshop intervention was conducted with 137 stakeholders in organized sports (coaches, athletes, board members, and parents). The intervention was evaluated by measuring the short-term (immediately before and after the workshop) and long-term effects (six months after the workshop). The analyses showed positive short-term (such as on attitudes toward SV and the intention to act against SV) and positive long-term effects (on knowledge about SV and a culture of prevention in the sports club and club behavior) of the workshop. The workshop was effective in the short term and the long term regarding the most relevant indicators (i.e., taking measures against SV). Therefore, it can be concluded that more workshops should be held in clubs in order to sensitize stakeholders and foster measures against SV in sports.