Practice Profile: Sexual Assault Education Programs on College Campuses

Evidence Rating for Outcomes

Attitudes & Beliefs | Rape-related Attitudes

Attitudes & Beliefs | Rape Attitudes

Date: This profile was posted on August 27, 2018

This practice comprises programs that are designed to reduce the prevalence of sexual assaults on college campuses by reducing the rape-supportive ideology for those who may potentially perpetrate a crime, while increasing potential victims’ knowledge and awareness of risky situations, and thereby their safety. The practice is rated Effective for reducing rape attitudes (such as acceptance of rape myths and victim blaming) and rape-related attitudes (such as sex-role stereotyping and adversarial

Practice Goals

Sexual assault education programs on college campuses were designed in response to the high incidences of sexual assaults experienced by college-aged women each year (Anderson and Whiston 2005). Although there are a variety of sexual assault education programs, all programs aim to reduce the prevalence of sexual assaults on college campuses by reducing the rape-supportive ideology for those who may potentially perpetrate a crime, while increasing potential victims’ knowledge and awareness of risky situations, and thereby their safety.

Practice Components

Sexual assault education programs are facilitated by trained peers, graduate students, professionals, or a combination of the three. While the programs vary, common components include, but are not limited to, educating participants about the occurrence of sexual assault and the behaviors and attitudes that are typically exhibited by rapists; how to communicate their sexual desires more clearly; how to distinguish between myths and facts about sexual assault; how to increase personal safety and avoid risky situations; and how to support a victim who is recovering from a sexual assault.

Programs vary in length, with some lasting approximately an hour, and others lasting 3 to 4 months. The program format could include role-play scenarios, classroom curricula, or videos depicting a sexual assault situation. The programs are typically interactive. For example, in programs that require participants to view a videotape that described a sexual assault scenario, participants are asked to discuss what happened and are taught ways they could avoid such a situation. In some programs, participants are invited to share experiences from their own lives (Lonsway et al. 1998)

Target Population

While the target population is college men and women, some programs vary further. For example, some programs may include college students in general, while others target fraternity/sorority members or high-risk students. Programs may include both men and women or single-sex groups (Foubert 2000; Breitenbecher and Scarce 1999; Gidycz et al. 2001; Heppner et al. 1995; Lonsway et al. 1998).

Meta-Analysis Snapshot
	Literature Coverage Dates	Number of Studies	Number of Study Participants
Meta Analysis 1	1978-2002	69	18172

Meta Analysis 1

Anderson and Whiston (2005) evaluated the effectiveness of sexual assault education programs on reducing sexual assault on college campuses. Specifically, the meta-analysis looked at the impact of sexual assault education programs on the following seven outcomes: rape attitudes, rape empathy, rape-related attitudes, rape knowledge, behavioral intentions, rape awareness behaviors, and incidence of sexual assault. Rape attitudes focused on rape myths, victim blaming, and attitudes toward rape. Rape-related attitudes focused on attitudes that were thought to promote sexual assault, such as sex-role stereotyping and negative attitudes toward women.

To identify studies for their meta-analysis, the authors used keywords related to sexual assault (e.g., rape, prevention, intervention) to search the following databases: PsycINFO, ERIC, MEDLINE, Dissertation Abstracts Online, Criminal Justice Abstracts, Sociological Abstracts, and the Social Science Citation Index. References of relevant articles found through the initial database search were also examined. Studies were also located by examining the past 5 years of all relevant sexual assault journals and by contacting authors who were well-versed in the sexual assault literature. To be eligible for inclusion in the meta-analysis, studies had to examine an intervention designed to decrease sexual assault behaviors and rape-related attitudes. The study sample had to include North American college students who participated in a sexual assault education program. The study also had to measure the effectiveness of sexual assault education on at least one of the seven outcomes of interest. Data on these outcome variables had to be gathered at pretest and posttest, and the study had to compare one or more interventions with a control group. Eligible control groups included placebo, wait-list, minimal treatment, or no-treatment. Finally, each study had to provide the necessary information to calculate effect sizes.

The search yielded 120 potential studies. Of these, 69 studies met the inclusion criteria and were included in the meta-analysis. The 69 studies represented 102 treatment interventions, because some studies included more than one intervention. The included studies had a total sample size of 18,172, of which 48.7 percent were women. Sixty-eight percent of the included studies used random assignment, and the remaining studies used quasi-experimental designs. The average age of the sample was approximately 20. In studies where race/ethnicity could be determined, the following groups were represented: African American, Asian American, Latino, white, and other. Finally, regarding the control group used in the included studies, 59.4 percent used a no-treatment control, 10.1 percent used a wait-list control, 24.6 percent used a placebo intervention as a control, and 5.8 percent used minimal treatment as the control group.

The meta-analysis investigated seven outcomes representing 262 effect sizes; however, for the purpose of this CrimeSolutions review, only rape attitudes and rape-related attitudes were analyzed, representing 115 effect sizes and 56 effect sizes, respectively. To analyze the impact of sexual assault education programs on sexual assault, each study outcome was weighted by an inverse variance weight and then combined to create a summary effect size, also known as the standardized mean difference.

Anderson and Whiston (2005) conducted moderator analyses to see if the impact of sexual assault education programs on rape attitudes and rape-related attitudes varied in terms of the population that received the intervention (e.g., general students, Greek members, high-risk students), the gender of the audience that received the intervention (e.g., females/female group, females/mixed group, males/male group, males/mixed group, females/males combined), the facilitator who led the intervention (e.g., peer, graduate student, professional, combination of the three), and content of the intervention (e.g., information, empathy, socialization, risk reduction, more than one type). Regarding the rape attitudes outcome, Anderson and Whiston (2005) found statistically significant differences in terms of the gender of the audience that received the intervention. Although women who received the intervention in an all-female group had the largest effect size (0.287), this effect size was not statistically significant. The largest statistically significant effect size was found for female/male combined groups (0.273), suggesting that being in mixed gender groups had the greatest impact on participants’ rape attitudes. Regarding the rape-related attitudes outcome, Anderson and Whiston (2005) found that the average effect size differed significantly in terms of the population that received the intervention and the type of facilitator who delivered the intervention. The moderator analysis revealed that fraternity/sorority members who received the intervention had a statistically significant effect size of 0.242. This finding suggested that fraternity/sorority members benefited more from the intervention, compared with students who were not in fraternities/sororities. Further, when professionals or peers facilitated the intervention, statistically significant effect sizes were found (0.209 and 0.157, respectively). This finding suggested that peers and professionals were more effective at implementing the program, compared with graduate students or a combination of peers, professionals, and graduate students.

Date Created: July 17, 2024

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Practice Snapshot

Age: 18 - 21

Gender: Male, Female

Race/Ethnicity: White, Black, Hispanic, American Indians/Alaska Native, Asian/Pacific Islander, Other

Setting (Delivery): Campus

Practice Type: Classroom Curricula, Community Awareness/Mobilization, Situational Crime Prevention, Specific deterrence, Victim Programs, Violence Prevention

Unit of Analysis: Persons

Practice Profile: Sexual Assault Education Programs on College Campuses

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Practice Summary

Practice Description

Practice Goals

Practice Components

Target Population

Meta-Analysis Outcomes

Meta-Analysis Methodology

Cost

Other Information

Evidence-Base (Meta-Analyses Reviewed)

Additional References

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