An Experimental Evaluation of Peer versus Professional Educators of a Bystander Program for the Prevention of Sexual and Dating Violence among College Students

Abstract

Some argue that bystander intervention programs for sexual violence (SV) and dating violence (DV) prevention should be facilitated by peer educators. However, there is no evidence that peer educators are more effective than professionals at delivering program material. This study experimentally evaluated a bystander prevention program; half of participants were assigned to peer educators and half to professionals. Multilevel modeling showed that peer educators had a significantly better effect at reducing some SVand DV-supportive attitudes and at increasing bystander efficacy. There were no differences in educators' effectiveness at reducing other SV-and DV-related attitudes or at increasing bystander behaviors.

Effectiveness of a Prevention Program for Gender-Based Intimate Partner Violence at a Colombian Primary School

“…The program was effective for the variables of general physical violence and physical violence against women, as the participants of the experimental group reduced their mean approval in these variables. When comparing these findings to those obtained in other programs for the prevention of partner violence in youth and adolescents, several programs were identified that have also reduced the mean in relation to attitudes and beliefs that justify partner violence in their experimental groups (i.e., Muñoz-Rivas, 2010; Póo and Vizcarra, 2011;Fernández, 2013;Hines and Palm Reed, 2015;McLeod et al, 2015;Velasco, 2015). It is important to note, however, that in the analysis of the scales used, most of these programs made no distinction between attitudes regarding physical and verbal violence or the gender of the victim.…”

“…Interestingly, addressing attitudes toward violence, gender roles and stereotypes, and socio-emotional competencies has been central to previous programs for the prevention of intimate partner violence in adolescence and youth. Programs addressing (1) attitudes toward partner violence can be seen in Jaffe et al (1992), Lavoie et al (1995), Avery-Leaf et al (1997), Weisz and Black (2001), Schwartz et al (2006), Alexander et al (2014), Miller et al (2014), Hines andPalm Reed (2015), McLeod et al (2015), and Velasco (2015), as well as other programs developed by Díaz-Aguado and Martínez-Arias (2001), Hernando-Gómez (2007), Muñoz-Rivas (2010), Póo and Vizcarra (2011), and Fernández (2013); (2) gender stereotypes, sexist beliefs and attitudes and negative gender attitudes in adolescence and young adulthood in Foshee et al (1998), Foshee et al (2000), Foshee et al (2004), Rainey and Rust (1999), Díaz-Aguado and Martínez-Arias (2001), Schwartz et al (2006), Miller et al (2014, and Velasco (2015); and (3) socioemotional competences such as self-esteem in Josephson and Proulx (1999) and Mateos-Inchaurrondo (2013), empathy in Hines and Palm Reed (2015), emotional intelligence in Murta et al (2013), and emotional skills in Wolfe et al (2009). Although all these programs have been implemented from adolescence onwards, the promotion of negative attitudes toward violence and gender inequality, and socioemotional learning are all aspects of paramount importance for children in primary education (Durlak, 1997;Durlak et al, 2010Durlak et al, , 2011Rimm-Kaufman and Hulleman, 2015).…”

Building Master Trainers to Facilitate Sexual Violence Prevention: A Pilot Study in Ghana

“…In one peer education course among college fraternity members, students reported understanding sexual violence material in a contextual manner that helped them to have more emotional connections to what they were learning [8]. Other studies have found that peer-led programs focused on sexual violence are most effective at reducing rape myth acceptance [9], decreasing violence among men [10], and may have effects on bystander attitudes and efficacy [11] (although a meta-analysis by Jouriles et al, 2018 did not support this [12]). At the University of Michigan (UM), a peer-led primary prevention program for first-year students, aimed at reducing sexual violence, began in 2011.…”

Measures of Performance and Effectiveness for the Marine Corps' Sexual Assault Prevention Programs

“…Many studies that did not report specific MOPs summarized the steps that the research team had taken to improve program performance, such as feedback or refresher courses for instructors (e.g., "All facilitators received a 1-day training on how to deliver the program, were then able to practice their skills on a group of orientation leaders prior to delivering the program, and received feedback on their presentation skills and adherence to the program from the codirectors of the program. Facilitators who had received training in previous years received a 3-hour refresher course on how to deliver the program" [Hines and Reed, 2015]). Thus, more than 20-25 percent of the studies were addressing program performance issues, even if they did not assess them with a standardized MOP in the published article.…”