Sexual Violence
Conditions
Brief summary
This is a study to determine whether a theoretically-driven web-based 3-hour intervention designed for male college students called RealConsent is effective in increasing prosocial intervening behaviors and in preventing sexual violence perpetration. Sexual violence programs for this population have been implemented for decades in the United States, but a program that is web-based and incorporates the bystander education model has never been implemented or tested. In this study, male college students will be recruited online, enrolled and randomly assigned to RealConsent or to a comparison condition. Prior to the intervention, investigators will ask questions about their intervening and sexually coercive behaviors and other theoretical and empirical factors related to the study outcomes. Investigators will survey the young men again at post-intervention, and at 6-months follow-up to determine whether young men in the RealConsent program intervened more often and engaged in less sexual violence compared to young men in the comparison condition. The main hypotheses are: (1) college men in the RealConsent program will report more instances of prosocial intervening; and (2) college men in the RealConsent program will report less sexual violence against women.
Interventions
BEHAVIORALBystander & Sexual Violence Prevention
This 3-hour web-based program consists of six 30-minute modules that are interactive and range in number of segments (1-14) and types of activities. Each of the modules involves interactivity, didactic activities and two episodes of a serial drama, which allows for the modeling of positive behaviors and illustrate both positive and negative outcome expectations for intervening and for perpetrating abuse against women. Behaviors modeled include communicating with female sex partners, obtaining informed consent to have sex, and intervening to prevent abuse from taking place.
BEHAVIORALGeneral Health Promotion
This general health promotion web-based program is 3-hours and provides a range of activities related to reducing day-to day stress and alleviating anxiety through meditation and exercise.
Sponsors
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Emory University
Study design
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
PREVENTION
Masking
NONE
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
MALE
Age
18 Years to 24 Years
Healthy volunteers
Yes
Inclusion criteria
* Student matriculated at Georgia State University * Male * 18 to 24 * Undergraduate * Self-identify as heterosexual or bisexual
Exclusion criteria
* Graduate student * Self-identify as homosexual
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Prosocial Intervening Behavior | 6 months | This scale is the Reactions to Offensive Language and Behavior (ROLB) index that measures whether or not men confronted inappropriate behaviors of other men. We used the 7-item self-behavior subscale plus an additional 8 items, which directly reflected the content of RealConsent. A series of 15 potential intervening situations were presented and participants were asked to indicate whether they had experienced this situation in past 6 months (yes/no), and whether they had intervened (yes/no). The scale ranged from 0% (did not intervene anytime) to 100% (intervened every time). |
Secondary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Sexual Violence Perpetration | 6 months | This scale is the Conflict Tactics Scale revised, Sexual Coercion Subscale and assessed the number of sexually coercive/violent behaviors engaged in during the past 6 months. The index ranges from 0 (no engagement in any sexual violence) to 7 (engaged in all 7 sexually violent behaviors). |
Countries
United States
Participant flow
Recruitment details
Recruitment took place between Feb 2010 - April 2010.
Pre-assignment details
N=368 participants completed the eligibility screener and provided informed consent in the study, but failed to complete the baseline assessment. Because our randomization occurred following completion of baseline assessment, these participants were not randomized to groups and were not included.
Participants by arm
| Arm | Count |
|---|---|
| General Health Promotion A 3-hour general mental health web-based program.
General Health Promotion: This general health promotion web-based program is 3-hours and provides a range of activities related to reducing day-to day stress and alleviating anxiety through meditation and exercise. | 367 |
| Bystander & Sexual Violence Prevention A 3-hour web-based program designed to teach male college student bystanders to intervene.
Bystander & Sexual Violence Prevention: This 3-hour web-based program consists of six 30-minute modules that are interactive and range in number of segments (1-14) and types of activities. Each of the modules involves interactivity, didactic activities and two episodes of a serial drama, which allows for the modeling of positive behaviors and illustrate both positive and negative outcome expectations for intervening and for perpetrating abuse against women. Behaviors modeled include communicating with female sex partners, obtaining informed consent to have sex, and intervening to prevent abuse from taking place. | 376 |
| Total | 743 |
Withdrawals & dropouts
| Period | Reason | FG000 | FG001 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baseline to Post-Intervention Period | Lost to Follow-up | 184 | 108 |
| Six-Month Follow-up Period | Lost to Follow-up | 91 | 145 |
Baseline characteristics
| Characteristic | Bystander & Sexual Violence Prevention | General Health Promotion | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Age, Continuous | 20.42 years STANDARD_DEVIATION 1.69 | 20.33 years STANDARD_DEVIATION 1.66 | 20.38 years STANDARD_DEVIATION 1.67 |
| Date rape attitudes | 128.85 scores on a scale STANDARD_DEVIATION 24.07 | 128.45 scores on a scale STANDARD_DEVIATION 25.84 | 128.65 scores on a scale STANDARD_DEVIATION 24.95 |
| Empathy for rape victims | 68.96 scores on a scale STANDARD_DEVIATION 9.66 | 68.78 scores on a scale STANDARD_DEVIATION 9.79 | 68.87 scores on a scale STANDARD_DEVIATION 9.72 |
| Frequency of vaginal intercourse | 7.55 vaginal sex acts/60 days STANDARD_DEVIATION 12.75 | 8.38 vaginal sex acts/60 days STANDARD_DEVIATION 13.03 | 7.96 vaginal sex acts/60 days STANDARD_DEVIATION 12.89 |
| Hostility towards women | 3.42 scales on a scale STANDARD_DEVIATION 2.43 | 3.89 scales on a scale STANDARD_DEVIATION 2.54 | 3.66 scales on a scale STANDARD_DEVIATION 2.49 |
| Hyper-gender ideology | 46.59 scores on a scale STANDARD_DEVIATION 11.28 | 46.38 scores on a scale STANDARD_DEVIATION 11.3 | 46.49 scores on a scale STANDARD_DEVIATION 11.28 |
| Intentions to intervene | 52.68 score on a scale STANDARD_DEVIATION 11.85 | 52.09 score on a scale STANDARD_DEVIATION 12.78 | 52.39 score on a scale STANDARD_DEVIATION 12.3 |
| Knowledge of informed consent to have sex | 11.69 score on a scale STANDARD_DEVIATION 2.44 | 11.46 score on a scale STANDARD_DEVIATION 2.49 | 11.58 score on a scale STANDARD_DEVIATION 2.46 |
| Legal knowledge of rape/assault | 4.54 units on a scale STANDARD_DEVIATION 1.73 | 4.61 units on a scale STANDARD_DEVIATION 1.78 | 4.57 units on a scale STANDARD_DEVIATION 1.75 |
| Outcome expectancies for engaging in rape | 58.71 scores on a scale STANDARD_DEVIATION 10.76 | 58.02 scores on a scale STANDARD_DEVIATION 11.17 | 58.37 scores on a scale STANDARD_DEVIATION 10.96 |
| Outcome expectancies for intervening | 28.72 scores on a scale STANDARD_DEVIATION 4.33 | 28.26 scores on a scale STANDARD_DEVIATION 4.86 | 28.49 scores on a scale STANDARD_DEVIATION 4.6 |
| Prosocial intervening | 72 percent scores on a scale STANDARD_DEVIATION 25 | 72 percent scores on a scale STANDARD_DEVIATION 24 | 72 percent scores on a scale STANDARD_DEVIATION 24 |
| Race (NIH/OMB) American Indian or Alaska Native | 12 Participants | 11 Participants | 23 Participants |
| Race (NIH/OMB) Asian | 73 Participants | 73 Participants | 146 Participants |
| Race (NIH/OMB) Black or African American | 83 Participants | 83 Participants | 166 Participants |
| Race (NIH/OMB) More than one race | 0 Participants | 0 Participants | 0 Participants |
| Race (NIH/OMB) Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander | 0 Participants | 0 Participants | 0 Participants |
| Race (NIH/OMB) Unknown or Not Reported | 0 Participants | 0 Participants | 0 Participants |
| Race (NIH/OMB) White | 208 Participants | 200 Participants | 408 Participants |
| Rape myth acceptance | 35.88 scores on a scale STANDARD_DEVIATION 10.43 | 36.69 scores on a scale STANDARD_DEVIATION 10.29 | 36.28 scores on a scale STANDARD_DEVIATION 10.36 |
| Region of Enrollment United States | 376 participants | 367 participants | 743 participants |
| Relationship status Divorced | 0 participants | 1 participants | 1 participants |
| Relationship status Engaged or committed | 82 participants | 87 participants | 169 participants |
| Relationship status Married or has a partner | 1 participants | 6 participants | 7 participants |
| Relationship status Separated | 0 participants | 0 participants | 0 participants |
| Relationship status Single | 289 participants | 270 participants | 559 participants |
| Self-comfort with men's inappropriate behaviors | 32.68 scores on a scale STANDARD_DEVIATION 10.82 | 33.55 scores on a scale STANDARD_DEVIATION 10.71 | 33.11 scores on a scale STANDARD_DEVIATION 10.76 |
| Self-efficacy to intervene | 88.74 score on a scale STANDARD_DEVIATION 20.93 | 87.88 score on a scale STANDARD_DEVIATION 23.6 | 88.32 score on a scale STANDARD_DEVIATION 22.27 |
| Sex: Female, Male Female | 0 Participants | 0 Participants | 0 Participants |
| Sex: Female, Male Male | 376 Participants | 367 Participants | 743 Participants |
| Sexual coercion perpetration | .53 score on a scale STANDARD_DEVIATION 1.07 | .76 score on a scale STANDARD_DEVIATION 1.03 | .64 score on a scale STANDARD_DEVIATION 1.19 |
Adverse events
| Event type | EG000 affected / at risk | EG001 affected / at risk |
|---|---|---|
| deaths Total, all-cause mortality | — / — | — / — |
| other Total, other adverse events | 0 / 367 | 0 / 376 |
| serious Total, serious adverse events | 0 / 367 | 0 / 376 |
Outcome results
Primary
Prosocial Intervening Behavior
This scale is the Reactions to Offensive Language and Behavior (ROLB) index that measures whether or not men confronted inappropriate behaviors of other men. We used the 7-item self-behavior subscale plus an additional 8 items, which directly reflected the content of RealConsent. A series of 15 potential intervening situations were presented and participants were asked to indicate whether they had experienced this situation in past 6 months (yes/no), and whether they had intervened (yes/no). The scale ranged from 0% (did not intervene anytime) to 100% (intervened every time).
Time frame: 6 months
| Arm | Measure | Value (MEAN) | Dispersion |
|---|---|---|---|
| General Health Promotion | Prosocial Intervening Behavior | 72.2 percent score on a scale | Standard Error 0.031 |
| Bystander & Sexual Violence Prevention | Prosocial Intervening Behavior | 81.1 percent score on a scale | Standard Error 0.028 |
p-value: 0.044ANCOVA
Secondary
Sexual Violence Perpetration
This scale is the Conflict Tactics Scale revised, Sexual Coercion Subscale and assessed the number of sexually coercive/violent behaviors engaged in during the past 6 months. The index ranges from 0 (no engagement in any sexual violence) to 7 (engaged in all 7 sexually violent behaviors).
Time frame: 6 months
Population: For some of the variables in this analysis, there were missing data. ANCOVA performed in SPSS will use a listwise deletion. This resulted in n=87 and n=115 for this analysis.
| Arm | Measure | Value (MEAN) | Dispersion |
|---|---|---|---|
| General Health Promotion | Sexual Violence Perpetration | .498 score on a scale | Standard Error 0.087 |
| Bystander & Sexual Violence Prevention | Sexual Violence Perpetration | .258 score on a scale | Standard Error 0.075 |
p-value: 0.042ANCOVA