The Effects of Bystander Programs on the Prevention of Sexual Assault across the College Years: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

Kettrey, Heather Hensman; Marx, Robert

doi:10.1007/s10964-018-0927-1

Cited by 98 publications

(95 citation statements)

References 57 publications

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“…That the single most common response to witnessing mistreatment was no action (27%) is also concerning. However, it is consistent with what is known as the 'bystander effect' which is well documented in other areas such as sexual harassment [36], sexual assault [37], and shoplifting [38]. These findings raise significant questions about what influences whether and how a witness will act, specifically whether they will report.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 81%

Animal Cruelty and Neglect: Prevalence and Community Actions in Victoria, Australia

Glanville

Ford²,

Coleman

2019

Animals

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Simple Summary: Preventing animal cruelty and neglect is the goal of animal protection. But it is hard to effectively address a problem without a good understanding of its prevalence and nature. While 55,000-60,000 reports of mistreatment are made to the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) in Australia each year, we do not know how well these data reflect what is actually happening in the community. After all, these data are reliant on people reporting what they see and therefore, probably only represent a fraction of what is actually occurring. To better understand this problem, we conducted the first extensive community survey to find out what people had seen in their communities and what they did about it. We found that animal mistreatment was (1) common, with 25.7% of people surveyed witnessing mistreatment, (2) mostly neglect with perceived underweight animals being the most common issue and (3) underreported to authorities with only 9% of witnesses reporting to RSPCA Victoria. While sobering, these findings are the first step to developing and resourcing well-informed strategies to prevent the mistreatment of animals.Abstract: While animal mistreatment is common worldwide, its true scale is largely unknown. Currently, organisations rely on community reporting (case data) and trends found therein to inform prevention activities. To investigate the prevalence, types, and responses to animal mistreatment in Victoria, we conducted a representative telephone survey (n = 1801) across six Local Government Areas (LGAs); three with high numbers of RSPCA reported cases and three demographically similar areas with low numbers of such cases. Overall, 25.7% of people surveyed had witnessed at least one incident of mistreatment in the last 12 months, with those relating to neglect or poor management predominating. No differences in prevalence were found between LGAs when socio-economic index and local government comparator group were controlled for. However, participants in regional cities recalled witnessing more separate incidents than those in metropolitan or interface areas. Actions taken after witnessing mistreatment were varied, yet many participants did nothing (27%) and only 9% reported to RSPCA Victoria. Attitudes to reporting were positive but did not predict reporting behaviour. Together, these results demonstrate that case data are not reliable indicators of the true prevalence of animal mistreatment; it is common and grossly underreported, highlighting the need for effective, evidence-based prevention programs.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 81%

Animal Cruelty and Neglect: Prevalence and Community Actions in Victoria, Australia

Glanville

Ford²,

Coleman

2019

Animals

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“…Second, one could ask whether the intervention was appropriate for the developmental stage of the adolescents. Evidence from a recent systematic review and meta-analysis indicates that bystander interventions in cases of sexual abuse have more impact on youths in their first years of college than in the final years, possibly because this period provides more opportunities for affective-sexual interactions between peers and, additionally, more opportunities for bystander intervention (Kettrey & Marx, 2018). Even though these data are not derived from studies of the experience of dating, they could be considered as hypotheses for future analysis.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The literature recommends peer-based interventions that have several types of violence present in the peers' world and dating in scope (Jenkins & Nickerson, 2017;Kettrey & Marx, 2018;McMahon & Banyard, 2012;Ramirez, Paik, Sanchagrin, & Heimer, 2012). The peers, while the primary source of normative influence and help for adolescents (Foshee et al, 2005), play a crucial role in the formation of romantic relationships, in their development and maintenance, and in protection during violent situations (Adams & Williams, 2011).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Efficacy of a bystander intervention for preventing dating violence in Brazilian adolescents: short-term evaluation

Santos¹,

Murta

Vinha

et al. 2019

Psicol. Refl. Crít.

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Peers are the preferred source of help for Brazilian adolescents who experience dating violence. However, they are not always the best informants for effective responses for dealing with situations of violence in romantic relationships among peers. This experimental study aimed to evaluate the short-term efficacy of three aspects of a peer-and bystander approach-based intervention: the intent to offer help, empathy, and bystander attitudes in response to dating violence in a Brazilian sample of adolescents. The study's participants were 33 adolescents randomized in two groups: experimental group (EG, n = 14) and control group (CG, n = 19). The EG underwent three weekly intervention sessions of 90 min each on the healthy versus violent romantic relationships, the quality of friendship in the peer network, and the role of the bystander, while the CG received no intervention. Evaluations were performed 1 week before and two and half months after the intervention. Statistically significant differences between EG and CG at post-test were not found in intention to help, empathy, and bystander attitudes. Future studies should include evaluations of larger samples and mid-and long-term follow-ups to identify patterns of change over the long term as well as examine barriers to utilization of bystander behaviors by adolescents in Brazilian culture.

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“…The UK is not alone in this situation. There are initiatives to understand the student experience, and reduce the incidence of sexual assault and harassment in Australia, New Zealand, and the USA universities, using whole campus approaches (Australian Human Rights Commission, AHRC, 2017; Kania and Cale, 2018;Snowden, 2018;Beres et al, 2019;Kettrey and Marx, 2019), UK universities have attempted to address students' lack of knowledge by running workshops.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…There is evidence that university bystander training on US campuses reduces victimisation and perpetration as compared to no-training campuses, and post-training feedback indicates increased knowledge and intention to intervene in sexual violence (Fenton and Mott, 2017;Kettrey and Marx, 2019). There is, however, a lack of evidence for their transference to a UK context (Labhardt et al, 2017).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

University student attitudes to prosocial bystander behaviours

Hennelly

Hussain

Hale

et al. 2019

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Purpose Half of British university students experience assault and harassment behaviours; few report them. Bystander intervention training has been recommended as a means of reducing these behaviours, but there is little evidence about their potential effectiveness in UK contexts. The purpose of this paper is to understand UK students’ attitudes towards reporting and intervening in sexual assault, harassment and hate crimes. Design/methodology/approach A mixed methods cross-sectional survey (n=201; 75.6 per cent women) was conducted in one British university. Open text data were analysed using thematic analysis. Findings Students considered harassment and assault unacceptable, and were confident to intervene in and likely to report incidents. However, fear of backlash was a barrier to intervening and reporting, and they felt that victims should decide whether to report incidents. Students perceived perpetrators as being ignorant about what constitutes consent, harassment and assault. They identified a need for university community education about this and how to report incidents and support peers. Research limitations/implications This cross-sectional survey was conducted at one UK University. The data might not reflect other students’ attitudes, and may be subject to response bias. University community bystander training should be acceptable, report and support systems might be utilised by students. This may have potential to reduce prevalence and increase reporting. Practical implications University community bystander training should be acceptable, report and support systems might be utilised by students. This may have potential to reduce prevalence and increase reporting. Originality/value This is the first study to investigate UK student attitudes to prosocial bystander behaviours.

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The Effects of Bystander Programs on the Prevention of Sexual Assault across the College Years: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

Cited by 98 publications

References 57 publications

Animal Cruelty and Neglect: Prevalence and Community Actions in Victoria, Australia

Animal Cruelty and Neglect: Prevalence and Community Actions in Victoria, Australia

Efficacy of a bystander intervention for preventing dating violence in Brazilian adolescents: short-term evaluation

University student attitudes to prosocial bystander behaviours

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