Preventing Sexual Assault and Intimate Partner Violence on Campuses Christine A' Gidycz, Ph'D'

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Preventing Sexual Assault and Intimate Partner
Violence on CampusesChristine A. Gidycz, Ph.D.

• Laboratory for the Study and Prevention of Sexual
  Assault http//www.psych.ohiou.edu/labs/gidycz.htm
  l

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Koss and Oros (1982) Koss Gidycz (1985)

• Designed and validated the Sexual Experiences
  Survey
• Consisted of 10 behaviorally-specific items that
  assessed a wide range of sexual experiences
• Unwanted sex play
• Sexual coercion
• Attempted rape
• Completed rape
• Both a male (sexual perpetration) and female
  version (sexual victimization)

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Sample Items Completed Rape

• Male Version
• Have you had sexual intercourse with a woman when
  she didnt want to because you threatened to use
  some degree of physical force (e.g., twisting her
  arm, holding her down, etc.) to make her?
• Female Version
• Have you had sexual intercourse when you didnt
  want to because a man threatened or used some
  degree of physical force (e.g., twisting your
  arm, hold you down, etc.) to make you?

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Koss, Gidycz, Wisniewski (1987)

• Administered the survey to a random sample of
  6,159 women (n 3,187) and men (n 2,972) at 32
  institutions of higher education on college
  campuses across the nation
• The sample was largely young (mean age21),
  single (gt85), and Caucasian (86)

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Prevalence Rates(from Koss, Gidycz,
Wisniewski, 1987)
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Prevalence Rates (Gidycz, Rich, Orchowski et
al., 2006 Gidycz, Orchowski, Warkentin, 2006)
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Assault Characteristics
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Conclusions

• Many women continue to be sexually assaulted on
  college campuses, despite increased efforts
  towards prevention/education
• Recent study (Edwards, Gidycz, Murphy, 2008)
  found that many women remain with their sexually
  abusive partners and that they are victims of
  multiple forms of abuse

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Edwards, Gidycz, Murphy (2008) College
womens stay/leave decisions in sexually abusive
relationships A prospective analysis

• Contact information for Katie Edwards
  ke264505_at_ohio.edu

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Descriptive Statistics (T1)

• At T1, approximately 600 women were surveyed and
  20 of women were in sexually abusive
  relationships (obtained from original sample)
• Frequency
• 15 one incident
• 20 two incidents
• 12 three incidents
• 16 four incidents
• 39 reported five or more incidents
• Most Severe
• 30 unwanted contact
• 52 coercion
• 7 attempted rape
• 11 completed rape

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Descriptive Statistics (Time 1)

• Psychological Abuse
• 16 no current psychological abuse
• 52 moderate current psychological abuse
• 32 severe current psychological abuse
• Physical Abuse
• 77 no current physical abuse
• 15 moderate physical abuse
• 8 severe physical abuse

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Descriptive Statistics (Time 2)

• 15 of women left their sexually abusive partners
  over the 2-month interim and 85 REMAINED in
  their sexually abusive relationships
• Abuse over Quarter
• 33 of women were sexually revictimized
• 73 were psychologically abused
• 8 were physically abused

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Risk Reduction Programming
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Ecological Model
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
(2004). Sexual violence prevention Beginning the
dialogue. Atlanta, GA Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention.
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Ecological Model Sexual Assault Programming

• Risk reduction efforts with women only address a
  part of the ecosystemic factors that contribute
  to the sexual victimization of women.
• Specifically, programming most directly
  influences microsystemic factors by helping women
  to identify risky situations and act in a
  self-protective manner within specific contexts.

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Sexual Assault Programming

• Risk reduction programming for women should be
  seen as a part of our efforts to decrease sexual
  violence and should not be done at the expense of
  programming with men or broader institutional
  change
• Community Programming Initiative at Ohio
  University focuses on broader change by offering
  programs to men and women within the same
  dormitories

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Characteristics of Effective Prevention/ Risk
Reduction Programs

• Participant defensiveness is minimized
• Guided by theory
• Multiple exposures to information
• Active participation is maximized
• Salience of information is maximized
• Facilitators are perceived as helpful and
  competent
• Program components maximize participants
  interest
• Increase participants perception of risk as well
  as self-efficacy

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Description The Ohio University Sexual Assault
Risk Reduction Program

• 7-hour long program designed to teach women to
• Assess situations for risk
• Acknowledge when they are risky
• Act quickly and forcefully

The Three A's
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Overview Critical Components of Womens Programs

• Definitions of rape and sexual assault
• Statistics on frequency of rape and sexual
  assault
• Relevancy Include local statistics
• Discussion of societal pressures and causes of
  rape
• Discussion of common characteristics of
  perpetrators

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Overview Critical Components of Womens Programs
(cont.)

• Discussion of parameters of consent
• Teaching of risk reduction techniques, including
  self-defense
• Provision of information about rape aftereffects
• Provision of information about victim assistance
  resources

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Ohio University Sexual Assault Risk Reduction
Program Session I

• I. Introductory Information
• a. Describe purpose of the program
• b. Provide rationale for womens programs that
  reduces blame
• c. Discuss societal factors that foster
• violence

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Session I (cont.)

• II. Background and Statistics
• A. Definitions of rape and sexual assault
• B. Frequency of sexual assault - provide
• local statistics

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Session I (cont.)

• III. Risk factor discussion
• A. Show tape of sexual assault survivors
  discussing their experiences
• B. Discussion of tape for risk factors
  (focusing on characteristics of the perpetrators
  and situations) and issues related to recovery

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Session I (cont.)

• IV. Discussion of recovery issues
• V. Discussion of strategies to employ when
  confronted
• with an assault
• VI. Discussion and modeling of risk reduction
  strategies
• Show Tape Keep Your Options Open Alternative
  Solutions for Stressful Social Situations
• VII. Closing of Session I

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Ohio University Sexual Assault Risk Reduction
ProgramSession II Self-Defense (Cheryl Cesta)

• Awareness and Body Language
• Trust Your Intuition
• Verbal Responses to Deter Assault
• Immediate Resistance
• Physical Self-defense Techniques

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Ohio University Sexual Assault Risk Reduction
Program Session III Booster (3-month)

• Review of program information
• Discussion of personal experiences using the
  information

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Summary of the Ohio University Sexual Assault
Risk Reduction Evaluation Studies

• Women who had the program compared to control
  group women have been found to
• Evidence increases in self-protective behaviors
• Less self-blame and greater perpetrator blame for
  women assaulted over the interim
• Increased knowledge about sexual assault

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• Relationship between program participation and
  sexual victimization over time
• -Decreased rates of sexual revictimization over
  time (Gidycz et al., 2001)
• -Women in control group 3x more likely to be
  raped over a 2-month follow-up (Orchowski,
  Gidycz, Raffle, 2008) compared to the program
  group (5.3 of program group were raped and 17.6
  of the control group)

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Future Directions and Conclusions
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Community Programming Initiative

• Currently, conducting a program evaluation in
  residence halls across Ohio Universitys Campus
• Overview of Program Philosophy Rationale
• Men and womens programs are separate
• Hypothesized synergistic effect

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Community Programming Initiative

• Three year project funded by the CDC
• Key collaborators
• Dept. of Residence Life
• Counseling and Psychological Services
• Health Education and Wellness
• Alan Berkowitz, Ph.D.

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Final Comments Future Directions

• Sexual violence continues to be endemic,
  particularly on college campuses
• Although perpetrators are always responsible for
  ALL acts of sexual perpetration and efforts
  should be aimed at creating the most effective
  prevention programs, it is our obligation as
  researches and clinicians to create effective
  risk reduction programs for women as well as
  prevention programs for men
• Increased need for Inter-disciplinary
  collaboration
• Implementation of sexual assault programs in
  early adolescence

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Contact Information

• Cheryl Cesta (Self-Defense Programmer)
• PO Box 2327
• Athens, OH 45701
• [phone]
• ccesta_at_columbus.rr.com

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THANK YOU!

• Dr. Christine A. Gidycz
• Department of Psychology
• 231 Porter Hall
• Athens, OH 45701
• Office 740-593-1092
• gidycz_at_ohio.edu