Acquaintance Rape Prevention Program

An Effective Practice

Description

The Acquaintance Rape Prevention Program is a group education intervention to reduce the incidence of sexual assault. The program educates female university students on the facts and myths of rape to help them alter their dating behavior to reduce risk for assault. The program provides participants with statistics about the pervasiveness of sexual assault on college campuses. A video presentation educates women about situational variables that are related to acquaintance rape such as alcohol consumption, nonassertive behavior, isolation of incident site, and ineffective sexual communication. Participants brainstorm preventive strategies, and then view a second video modeling protective behaviors. Women are also provided with contact information for local agencies that provide sexual assault education, advocacy, and assistance.

Goal / Mission

The goals of this program are to increase awareness of risk factors for sexual assault, provide women with practical strategies to prevent rape, and reduce the incidence of sexual assault among participants.

Results / Accomplishments

Surveys showed that women who participated in the program increased knowledge about sexual assault when compared to a control group. Participants also decreased dating risk behaviors that are associated with acquaintance rape. Women in the program without a sexual assault history were less likely to be sexually assaulted in the quarter following the program (6%) than those in the control group (14%).

About this Promising Practice

Organization(s)
Ohio University Department of Psychology
Primary Contact
Christine Gidycz
318B RTEC Building
Department of Psychology
Ohio University
Athens, Ohio 45701
(740) 593-1092
gidycz@ohio.edu
http://www.ohio.edu/
Topics
Health / Prevention & Safety
Health / Women's Health
Community / Crime & Crime Prevention
Organization(s)
Ohio University Department of Psychology
Source
Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology
Date of publication
1993
Date of implementation
1992
Location
Athens, OH
For more details
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8113482?ordinal...
Target Audience
Women

Related Promising Practices

  1. San Francisco Women Against Rape (SFWAR) Counseling Programs
  2. Student Talking About Non-violent Dating (STAND)
  3. Violence Intervention Program (VIP)
  4. Brief Alcohol Screening and Intervention of College Students (BASICS)
  5. CDC COMMUNITY GUIDE: Reducing Psychological Harm from Traumatic Events: Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy for Children and Adolescents (Individual & Group)
  6. Appalachian Violence Outreach Network (AVON)

More

Related Content for: Acquaintance Rape Prevention Program

An Effective Practice meets the following HCI criteria:

  1. The program description includes at a minimum: the sponsoring organization, program goals, program implementation steps, and outcomes that have demonstrated program success and/or promise in achieving the program goal in one or more localities.
  2. The results from an evaluation of the program include quantitative measures of improvement in outcome of interest (i.e. increase in voter registration, not just delivery of voter registration drive) and/ or the outcome measure is increased or improved compared to the baseline measurement or the control group but the difference is not statistically significant.