Conceptualizing an approach to secondary prevention of relationship violence among college students.

College-age women represent the highest-risk age group for intimate partner violence (IPV) victimization. Bystander prevention approaches (primarily developed to address sexual assault risk on college campuses), have quickly become the mainstay of primary prevention education for gender-based violence in these settings and have been applied to all forms of gender violence in this setting, including IPV. The purpose of this paper is to critically examine the application of bystander approaches to prevention of IPV among college students. A brief overview of the current policy environment mandating prevention education will precede a summary of the conceptual framework underpinning bystander approaches to preventing and responding to sexual violence, followed by an analysis of how IPV does (and does not) fit within that same conceptual framework. The paper concludes with recommendations informal social network-informed approaches to dating violence that improve our theoretical understanding of IPV prevention on college campuses.

Review and application of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine bullying or cyberbullying recommendations for screening and lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender youth.

Bullying has been long seen as a natural part of childhood and adolescence. However, a growing body of evidence suggests bullying and now cyberbullying may inflict harm or distress on targeted youth including physical, psychological, social, or educational harm. The purpose of this paper is to endorse the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine statement, summarize the report, and apply the recommendations to screening lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender youth related to bullying and cyberbullying; line 11 change exemplified to discussed. Screening for bullying against youth; lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender youth as a high-risk group for bullying victimization; and implications to address bullying against youth are exemplified. Nurses need to promote policies that foster inclusive, supportive, safe, and healthy schools and environments for youth.

Friends Helping Friends: a nonrandomized control trial of a peer-based response to dating violence.

Dating violence is a significant problem for older adolescents with implications for the survivor's health. Survivors disclose the violence to friends who are often ill equipped to help them manage the consequences. The purpose of this pilot study was to evaluate the effectiveness and feasibility of Friends Helping Friends, a community-level education program to teach older adolescents to recognize and intervene in dating violence. A convenience sample of 101 students aged 18 to 22 years were nonrandomly allocated to a treatment or control group and completed pre- and post-test measures. Compared with the control group, treatment group participants reported increased perceived responsibility to help, skills to act as a bystander, and intention to help and decreased rape myth acceptance. Friends Helping Friends shows promise as an effective strategy for older adolescent females in the prevention and response to dating violence.

Administrators' perceptions of college campus protocols, response, and student prevention efforts for sexual assault.

BACKGROUND: Sexual assault disproportionately affects college students. Because most survivors do not report sexual assault, research has explored individual factors related to the reporting, with limited research exploring institutional-level factors related to victims' decisions to report their experiences. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this research was to describe three key areas: (a) campus assault adjudication, (b) protocols and campus responses to assault, and (c) provision of student prevention education regarding sexual violence. PARTICIPANTS: A nationally representative sample of 1,067 campus administrators responded to a survey regarding institutional sexual assault policies and procedures. CONCLUSIONS: Findings suggest that although many institutions are responding adequately to sexual assault in these three areas, improvements are possible. Implications for improving campus responses and further research are discussed.

Gender differences in attitudes and beliefs associated with bystander behavior and sexual assault.

Sexual violence is a significant problem on many college campuses. Bystander education programs have been found to train individuals to act to prevent sexual and partner violence and improve the responses of peers to survivors. Limited evidence suggests that gender differences exist between males and females regarding both attitudes toward, and use of, bystander behavior, with females reporting more supportive attitudes and greater use of bystander behavior. The purpose of this study is to compare male and female college students on attitudes toward date rape, bystander efficacy, intention to act as a bystander, and actual use of bystander behaviors. A secondary aim explored gender differences in theoretically driven bystander behaviors and barriers to acting as a bystander. A convenience sample of 157 full-time undergraduate students aged 18-24 years completed survey measures of attitudes related to sexual and partner violence and willingness to help. Analysis of variance and chi-square were used to compare gender differences in scores. Significant gender differences were found for date rape attitudes, efficacy, and intention to act as a positive bystander. Men reported more rape-supportive attitudes and greater intention to act as a bystander than women, whereas women reported greater levels of bystander efficacy than men. The findings can be used in tailoring gender-specific components of bystander education programs for sexual assault prevention and intervention.

Who sends the email? Using electronic surveys in violence research.

INTRODUCTION: Students aged 16-24 years are at greatest risk for interpersonal violence and the resulting short and long-term health consequences. Electronic survey methodology is well suited for research related to interpersonal violence. Yet methodological questions remain about best practices in using electronic surveys. While researchers often indicate that potential participants receive multiple emails as reminders to complete the survey, little mention is made of the sender of the recruitment email. The purpose of this analysis is to describe the response rates from three violence-focused research studies when the recruitment emails are sent from a campus office, researcher or survey sampling firm. METHODS: Three violence-focused studies were conducted about interpersonal violence among college students in the United States. Seven universities and a survey sampling firm were used to recruit potential participants to complete an electronic survey. The sender of the recruitment emails varied within and across the each of the studies depending on institutional review boards and university protocols. RESULTS: An overall response rate of 30% was noted for the 3 studies. Universities in which researcher-initiated recruitment emails were used had higher response rates compared to universities where campus officials sent the recruitment emails. Researchers found lower response rates to electronic surveys at Historically Black Colleges or Universities and that other methods were needed to improve response rates. CONCLUSION: The sender of recruitment emails for electronic surveys may be an important factor in response rates for violence-focused research. For researchers identification of best practices for survey methodology is needed to promote accurate disclosure and increase response rates.