Chatham University, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
Lehigh University, Bethlehem, PA, USA.
J Interpers Violence. 2021 Oct;36(19-20):NP10156-NP10177. doi: 10.1177/0886260519872981. Epub 2019 Sep 3.
Sexual violence is considered a public health crisis and is particularly a problem on college campuses. Efforts for rape prevention at the collegiate level have included decreasing rape myth acceptance and increasing prosocial bystander behaviors. Although bystander models vary in regard to format and target population (e.g., male, female, or combined programs), they hold the same goals and underlying principles: to teach individuals how to effectively, and safely, intervene before, during, and after potential rape scenarios. In line with this research, the current study examined the efficacy of a bystander plus program, that goes beyond single session bystander focused programs to include a stronger focus on culture change and consciousness-raising across two sessions. The program was offered to undergraduate students ( = 23), the intervention group, over two sequential weeks. The first session was based on a modified version of Bringing in the Bystander, called Empowering the Bystander (ETB). ETB is a 60-min interactive session in which presenters provide information and lead discussions and activities aimed to address rape myths, to increase sexual assault survivor empathy, to learn prosocial bystander behaviors, and to increase awareness of rape culture at large. We followed this with a consciousness-raising group called Define It! that asked participants to define and operationalize concepts such as sexual assault and rape culture in their own lives. Students in an introductory psychology course served as a control group ( = 58) and did not receive the intervention. Both students within the intervention and control groups completed demographics and the Rape Culture Inventory (RCI) at pre-, post-, and 1-month postintervention. Results revealed a decrease in personal and perceived college endorsement of rape culture beliefs among intervention versus control participants. We discuss the implications of these results with concern to bystander programming and future directions for bystander plus program development.
性暴力被认为是公共卫生危机，尤其是大学校园里的一个问题。在大学层面上，预防强奸的努力包括减少强奸神话的接受度和增加亲社会的旁观者行为。尽管旁观者模型在格式和目标人群（例如男性、女性或混合项目）上有所不同，但它们具有相同的目标和基本原则：教导个人如何在潜在的强奸场景之前、期间和之后有效地、安全地进行干预。根据这项研究，目前的研究检验了一种超越单一旁观者焦点项目的旁观者加项目的效果，该项目更加强调文化变革和意识提升，共分为两个阶段。该项目提供给本科生（n=23），即干预组，在连续两周内完成。第一阶段基于修改后的“引入旁观者”版本，称为“赋权旁观者”（ETB）。ETB 是一个 60 分钟的互动课程，演讲者提供信息并领导讨论和活动，旨在解决强奸神话、增加性侵犯幸存者的同理心、学习亲社会的旁观者行为，并提高对整个强奸文化的认识。我们接着进行了一个名为“定义它！”的意识提升小组，要求参与者在自己的生活中定义和操作化诸如性侵犯和强奸文化等概念。参加入门心理学课程的学生作为对照组（n=58），未接受干预。干预组和对照组的学生都在干预前、干预后和 1 个月后完成了人口统计学和强奸文化量表（RCI）的填写。结果显示，与对照组相比，干预组中个人和感知到的大学对强奸文化信仰的支持有所减少。我们讨论了这些结果对旁观者计划的影响以及对旁观者加项目发展的未来方向。
