Evaluating the Efficacy of a New Sexual Violence Prevention Program with College Students
ConditionSexual Violence
Trial statusRecruiting
Trial phaseNot applicable
Trial typeInterventional
Biological sexAll
Age18+
SponsorUniversidade do Porto
About this trial
This research project will develop, deliver, and assess the efficacy of a new sexual violence (SV) prevention program for college students. The MOON program (Moving ON against sexual violence) aims to prevent sexual violence amongst university students, who are known to be an at-risk population for this form of violence.
The MOON program follows a bystander approach, aiming to teach and capacitate young adults to be active agents of prevention within their communities. To do so, the program combines education on several SV-related topics with skills-training activities.
Throughout five online sessions, the participants will be educated on topics such as sexual violence and consent, gender stereotypes, SV myths and bystander attitudes and behaviors. The main goal is to promote discussion forums, increase the participants knowledge on these topics and deconstruct pre-conceived beliefs/ideas that promote societal tolerance and acceptance of SV The program follows a bystander approach to support young adults in the development of bystander attitudes and behaviors that will help them act in situations of risk of SV. To achieve this goal, the program sessions will also have a major focus on building bystander prevention skills through online practical exercises (e.g., training scenarios).
Finally, the program also focuses on promoting empathy towards others, specifically in the context of sexual violence prevention. This focus aims to deconstruct victim blaming narratives and to build victim-support skills, to enhance the students' sense of responsibility and their proclivity to act and help others in need. Being empathic towards others is perceived as a crucial component in the bystander decision-making to intervene.
This clinical trial will apply the MOON program with university students nationwide in the Portuguese context and compare the participants who will take part in the program (experimental group) with other students who will not (control group). Thus, the RCT will be conducted with the following goals:
1. To assess the treatment's efficacy, by evaluating the program's ability to significantly reduce gender stereotypes, sexism, and rape myths; and to significantly increase active bystander attitudes and behaviors and empathy towards other people. 2. To examine the extent to which any changes are maintained three, six and nine months after the program's completion. 3. To assess mechanisms of change, i.e., to test whether changes in cognitive outcomes, namely in rape myth endorsement, are associated with changes over time in behavioral outcomes, as bystander attitudes/behaviors. 4. To investigate the role of age and gender as moderators of change over time in SV perpetration, gender stereotypes, sexism, rape myths, bystander attitudes and behaviors and empathy.
Eligibility criteria
This trial accepts healthy volunteersQualifiers
None
Disqualifiers
None
Trial design
Design model
Parallel
Treatments tested in this trial
MOON Program
BehavioralThe MOON Program aims to contribute to the primary prevention of sexual violence among young university students. The program aims to achieve this goal by promoting bystander attitudes and behaviors through psychoeducation and skills training that enable participants to be active agents in this process. During the sessions, beliefs that legitimize violence will be deconstructed and skills such as communication about consent and empathy will be promoted. The MOON program consists of five online sessions, which are intended to be completed autonomously on a weekly basis. Throughout the sessions, participants will learn on the following topics: SV and consent, gender stereotypes, SV myths and bystander attitudes and behaviors.
Treatment groups
200 Participants
are divided into 2 treatment groupsGroup A: Experimental GroupExperimental treatment 1 intervention
Group B: Control GroupNo intervention 0 interventions
Trial outcomes
Primary outcomes
1
Bystander Attitudes
Bystander attitudes - Bystander Attitudes Scale - Revised (BAS-R) assesses bystander attitudes in SV scenarios (e.g., "Confront a friend if I hear rumors that they had forced someone to have sex"). For each scenario, participants are asked to indicate to what extent the described is acceptable according to a 5-point Likert scale that ranges from (1) = "Not acceptable" to (5) = "Extremely Acceptable". This instrument originally consisted of a 4-factor model categorizing items/scenarios by (1) High-risk Situations, (2) Post-assault Support for the Victim; (3) Post-assault Reporting of the Perpetrator; and (4) Proactive Opportunities. The Portuguese version of the measurement consists of 14 items organized into three similar subdimensions: (1) High-risk Situations, (2) Victims Support/Protection Behaviors, and (3) Proactive Opportunities.
Time frame
Assessed at five different timepoints: (1) baseline - one week prior to the beginning of the program, (2) post-test - one week after the completion of the program and (3-5) follow-ups of three, six and nine months counting from the post-test assessment.2
Bystander Behaviors
Bystander behaviors - Bystander Behaviors Scale - Revised (BBS-R) assesses bystander behaviors within SV scenarios through 16 self-report items (e.g. "Say something to a friend who is taking a drunk person back to their room at a party"). For each scenario participants are asked if they ever been in the described situation and the response varies across "Yes", "No" and "I haven't been in that situation". The original measurement instrument is organized by a 2-factor model contemplating (1) Intervention Opportunities and (2) Proactive Opportunities.
Time frame
Assessed at five different timepoints: (1) baseline - one week prior to the beginning of the program, (2) post-test - one week after the completion of the program and (3-5) follow-ups of three, six and nine months counting from the post-test assessment.Secondary outcomes
1
Empathy
Empathy - Empathy is to be measured with three items (see Milfont \& Sibley, 2016). The items correspond to different affirmations (i.e., "I sympathize with others' feelings"; "I am not interested in other people's problems," reversed score; "I feel others' emotions"). Participants are asked to indicate their agreement with each statement accordingly to a seven-point Likert-type scale ranging from 1 (Strongly Disagree) to 7 (Strongly Agree).
Time frame
Assessed at five different timepoints: (1) baseline - one week prior to the beginning of the program, (2) post-test - one week after the completion of the program and (3-5) follow-ups of three, six and nine months counting from the post-test assessment.2
Myths about sexual violence
Myths about sexual violence will be assed with the sexual violence myths Scale. The scale assesses the subject's degree of tolerance/acceptance of the use of SV. The items are organized into five different factors that allow a better understanding of the specific beliefs underlying the tolerance to SV. The measurement includes items such as "Some people deserve to be raped" and "Some people get sexual pleasure when they are raped". Participants are asked to rate their agreement to each statement accordingly to a Likert scale ranging from 1 ("Completely Disagree") to 5 ("Completely Agree").
Time frame
Assessed at five different timepoints: (1) baseline - one week prior to the beginning of the program, (2) post-test - one week after the completion of the program and (3-5) follow-ups of three, six and nine months counting from the post-test assessment.3
Attitudes about gender roles
Gender role attitudes - Social Role Questionnaire (SRQ) assesses attitudes toward social roles. The scale includes items such as "People can be both aggressive and nurturing regardless of sex"; "Men are more sexual than women"; and "Mothers should work only if necessary." Respondents are asked to indicate how much they agree with each item by choosing a percentage range that varies between 0% and100%, with increments of 10%.
Time frame
Assessed at five different timepoints: (1) baseline - one week prior to the beginning of the program, (2) post-test - one week after the completion of the program and (3-5) follow-ups of three, six and nine months counting from the post-test assessment.4
Sexism
Sexism - Inventory of Ambivalent Sexism (IAS) allows the identification of beliefs related to sexist practices, including the sub scale of hostile sexism (i.e., more visible sexual discrimination - e.g. "Women are too easily offended") and the sub scale benevolent sexism (i.e., more subtle pejorative attitudes - e.g. "Women, compared to men, tend to have a superior moral sensibility"). The responses vary within in a Likert scale from 1 ("Completely Disagree") to 5 ("Completely Agree").
Time frame
Assessed at five different timepoints: (1) baseline - one week prior to the beginning of the program, (2) post-test - one week after the completion of the program and (3-5) follow-ups of three, six and nine months counting from the post-test assessment.Sponsors and contacts
Click on the lead sponsor to view all of their trials.
Universidade do Porto
Lead sponsor
University of Coimbra
Collaborator
Aveiro University
Collaborator
Foundation for Science and Technology, Portugal
Collaborator
Source ClinicalTrials.gov