Sexual Violence

Sexual and partner violence are widespread problems on college campuses. By changing attitudes, beliefs, and behavior, bystander education programs have been found to prevent sexual and partner violence and improve the responses of peers to survivors. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness and feasibility of a bystander education program that was adapted to a specific university setting.

Sexual violence is a significant problem on many college campuses. Bystander education programs have been found to train individuals to act to prevent sexual and partner violence and improve the responses of peers to survivors. Limited evidence suggests that gender differences exist between males and females regarding both attitudes toward, and use of, bystander behavior, with females reporting more supportive attitudes and greater use of bystander behavior.

BACKGROUND: Sexual assault disproportionately affects college students. Because most survivors do not report sexual assault, research has explored individual factors related to the reporting, with limited research exploring institutional-level factors related to victims' decisions to report their experiences.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this research was to describe three key areas: (a) campus assault adjudication, (b) protocols and campus responses to assault, and (c) provision of student prevention education regarding sexual violence.

Dating violence is a significant problem for older adolescents with implications for the survivor's health. Survivors disclose the violence to friends who are often ill equipped to help them manage the consequences. The purpose of this pilot study was to evaluate the effectiveness and feasibility of Friends Helping Friends, a community-level education program to teach older adolescents to recognize and intervene in dating violence.

CONTEXT: It is unclear whether young adult men who have ever been forced to have sex are at increased risk for sexual risk-taking, and whether their risk differs according to the gender of the perpetrator.

Violence against women is a major public health concern. This paper describes an educational strategy to increase nursing students’ understanding of the experience of violence and to foster recognition and intervention with victims of violence. Students in an elective course were asked to critically reflect on the personal stories of victims/survivors of violence.