Preventing Sexual Violence in Adolescence: Comparison of a Scientist-Practitioner Program and a Practitioner Program Using a Cluster-Randomized Design

Abstract

Numerous school-based prevention programs have been developed by scientists and practitioners to address sexual violence in adolescence. However, such programs struggle with two major challenges. First, the effectiveness of many well-established practitioner programs has not been rigorously evaluated. Second, effective scientific programs may be hard to implement into everyday school practice. Combining the knowledge of scientists and practitioners in a scientist-practitioner program could be a helpful compromise. The aim of the present study is to evaluate the effects of a scientist-practitioner program and a practitioner program using a cluster-randomized experimental design. Twenty-seven school classes were randomly assigned to either one of two programs or a control group. Outcome variables (knowledge, attitudes, behavior, and iatrogenic effects) were assessed at pretest, posttest, and a 6-month follow-up for 453 adolescents (55% female, Mage = 14.18). Short-term effects were found in both programs regarding general knowledge, knowledge of professional help, and victim-blaming attitudes. Long-term effects were found in both programs regarding general knowledge and knowledge of professional help and, in the practitioner program, in a reduction of victimization. No other effects were found on attitudes and behavior. No iatrogenic effects in the form of increased anxiety were found. Both the scientist-practitioner and the practitioner program show promise for the prevention of sexual violence in adolescence; in particular, the practitioner program may be a more cost-effective method.

Assessment of Psychosocial Programs to Prevent Sexual Violence During Adolescence

“…Selected characteristics of the included programs are presented in Table 1 . Eleven studies (55%) were conducted in North America, 24 , 28 , 29 , 32 , 33 , 34 , 38 , 39 , 40 , 42 , 43 2 (10%) in Europe, 27 , 35 and 7 (35%) in sub-Saharan Africa. 25 , 26 , 30 , 31 , 36 , 37 , 41 The mean age of participants ranged from 11 to 17.6 years old.…”

School‐based interventions for preventing dating and relationship violence and gender‐based violence: A systematic review and synthesis of theories of change

“…(Whitaker et al, 2003, p. 330;reviewer's emphasis) Many of the interventions involved training teachers to be able to deliver curriculum content (Figure 2, light blue box), while others did not require teacher input as the curriculum was delivered by external facilitators. External facilitators were often very experienced in prevention of GBV and DRV (Muck et al, 2018) and could also receive extensive training: for example, the rape crisis educators who delivered the Green Dot curriculum had a 4-day in-depth training and received individualised feedback throughout the trial (Coker et al, 2019). In another example, the 'instructors' delivering the curriculum for the IMPower and 50:50 intervention were recruited through an 'intensive process' that ensured that they were passionate about preventing sexual violence and were respected members of their communities.…”

Résultats de l’évaluation des effets d’un programme de prévention des agressions à caractère sexuel auprès d’élèves de secondaire III au cours de sa phase pilot

“…À ce jour, le sentiment d'autoefficacité est peu examiné dans les études évaluatives dans le domaine de la violence sexuelle, alors qu'il s'agit d'un indicateur reconnu pour prédire les comportements (Bandura, 2007 ;CIÉSCAN, 2019) (Banyard, 2008 ;Banyard et Moynihan, 2011 ;Hines et Palm Reed, 2015 ;Hoxmeier et al, 2018 ;Jouriles et al, 2016) (Daigneault et al, 2015 ;Muck et al, 2018), alors que d'autres ont noté que le genre avait agi comme variable modératrice des effets (Topping et Barron, 2009).…”