How Helpful Is Bystander Intervention? Perspectives of Dating and Sexual Violence Survivors

Abstract

While bystander intervention education has demonstrated promise as a strategy to reduce dating and sexual violence (DSV) on campus, little is known about whether survivors on whose behalf the interventions take place find these helpful. This paper uses qualitative, in-depth interviews with 33 DSV survivors to explore their perspectives on bystander intervention. Results indicate that while some interventions were identified as helpful, especially those that provided support to the survivor, many were not helpful enough or even harmful. Further work is needed to understand the consequences of bystander action.

Victim Centered, Aggressor Focused, and Bystander Friendly: A Qualitative Analysis of Bystander Intervention Strategies and Outcomes for Sexual Harassment or Assault

“…The frequency of interventions that occurred at different time points (i.e., pre-assault, low risk, pre-assault, high risk, and mid-assault) with examples is provided in Table 2. A sample size of 25 is among the most common sample sizes in qualitative research (Mason, 2010) and is comparable to a recent study (McMahon, 2022) with similar methodology and variables as this one ( N = 33).…”

“…This seemed to validate participants’ perceptions of events, and at times, encouraged advocacy for oneself. Considering the importance of emotional validation for victims (McMahon, 2022), this identification of help from a bystander may be important to confirm one’s perceptions that SHA is problematic. Relatedly, future research could examine how these different outcomes of bystander intervention impact mental health outcomes among victims.…”

“…Like previous research examining bystander intervention from the perspective of bystanders (e.g., McMahon, 2022), interviews were conducted at the incident-specific level while focusing on the victims’ experiences of SHA. The data collection started shortly after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic (August 2020 to March 2022), when many public spaces were restricted and there was less social contact.…”

“…Second, bystander presence alone may not be enough to influence mental health outcomes (Hamby et al, 2016). Third, the helpfulness of bystander intervention strategies is largely dependent on the context of the situation (McMahon, 2022). Thus, these lines of research converge to indicate that victim perspectives are needed to understand bystander intervention across a range of sexual violence risks to prevent further harm from occurring.…”

“…Due to limited research on effective bystander actions, subsequent aggressor behavior, and safety of the bystander, aggressor, and self from the perspective of the individuals helped during SHA, the present study was treated as exploratory. Consistent with McMahon (2022), victim perspectives are centered as they are the individuals who are at-risk of harm and may be most impacted by whether bystander interventions can thwart aggressors' behavior and consequences of actions. Moreover, a qualitative approach was utilized to understand the lived experiences of survivors in their own words and allow additional inquiry into the experience they shared.…”