Southern African Social Work Students’ Acceptance of Rape Myths

Abstract

Despite numerous interventions to promote gender equality, sub-Saharan Africa has one of the highest prevalence rates of non-partner sexual assault in the world, thus constituting a major social and public health issue in the region. As social workers frequently provide services to this population, an exploratory cross-sectional study was conducted to explore rape myth acceptance among undergraduate social work students studying in Namibia. Findings revealed the positive influence of social work education in reducing rape myth acceptance, as well as highlighting the influence of age, gender, country of origin, self-identification as a feminist, and religiosity on rape myth acceptance among this population.