Bystander Intervention in Football and Sports. A Quasi-Experimental Feasibility Study of a Bystander Violence Prevention Program in the United Kingdom.

In recent years, social campaigns and high-profile cases have brought increased attention to violence against women. Athletes can be role models, shaping both prosocial and antisocial attitudes. Their engagement in violence prevention could be an effective tool to tackle violence against women through bystander intervention. This part of a mixed-method feasibility study reports on the quantitative evaluation of an evidence-led bystander program, Football Onside, implemented at a football club in South West England in June 2018 to February 2020. The study employed a quasi-experimental design with intervention and control groups. Football coaches and club members (n = 50) completed measures of rape and domestic abuse myths, bystander intent and efficacy, self-reported bystander behaviors, readiness for change, perceptions of peer helping and myth acceptance, law knowledge, and program evaluation. Fidelity was also assessed. The analysis compared between- and within-group differences in mean changes over time using mixed-effects models. Participant ratings of learning outcomes were high, and fidelity was maintained throughout the intervention. Between-group comparison revealed mixed results, with greater improvements in the intervention group for bystander intent and efficacy at post-test and follow-up, domestic abuse myths at post-test, and rape myth acceptance at follow-up. Model contrasts for within intervention group revealed improvements in rape and domestic abuse myth acceptance, bystander intent and efficacy, perceived law knowledge at both time points, and perceived peer myths and helping at post-test. At follow-up, intervention participants reported significantly higher engagement in bystander behaviors. No significant effects were found for perceived importance of legal knowledge. Our research highlights the potential efficacy of a bystander program tailored for football club members. Cluster-randomized control trials are now required to examine bystander attitudes and behavior change processes among professional athletes.

Accommodation in Children after 4.7 Years of Multifocal Contact Lens Wear in the BLINK Study Randomized Clinical Trial.

SIGNIFICANCE: When worn for myopia control in children, soft multifocal contact lenses with a +2.50 D add reduced the accommodative response over a 3-year period, but wearing them for more than 4 years did not affect accommodative amplitudes, lag, or facility. PURPOSE: This study aimed to compare the accommodative response to a 3D stimulus between single-vision, +1.50-D add, and +2.50-D add multifocal contact lens wearers during 3 years of contact lens wear and then to compare accommodative amplitude, lag, and facility between the three groups after an average of 4.7 years of wear. METHODS: Bifocal Lenses In Nearsighted Kids study participants aged 7 to 11 years old were randomly assigned to wear single-vision, +1.50-D add, or +2.50-D add soft contact lenses (CooperVision, Pleasanton, CA). The accommodative response to a 3D stimulus was measured at baseline and annually for 3 years. After 4.7 years, we measured objective accommodative amplitudes, lead/lag, and binocular facility with ±2.00-D flippers. We compared the three accommodative measures using multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA), adjusting for clinic site, sex, and age group (7 to 9 or 10 to 11 years). RESULTS: The +2.50-D add contact lens wearers exhibited lower accommodative response than the single-vision contact lens wearers for 3 years, but the +1.50-D add contact lens wearers exhibited only lower accommodative response than did the single-vision contact lens wearers for 2 years. After adjustment for clinic site, sex, and age group, there were no statistically significant or clinically meaningful differences between the three treatment groups for accommodative amplitude (MANOVA, P = .49), accommodative lag (MANOVA, P = .41), or accommodative facility (MANOVA, P = .87) after an average of 4.7 years of contact lens wear. CONCLUSIONS: Almost 5 years of multifocal contact lens wear did not affect the accommodative amplitude, lag, or facility of children.

From campus to communities: evaluation of the first UK-based bystander programme for the prevention of domestic violence and abuse in general communities.

BACKGROUND: Violence against women and girls is a public health epidemic. Campus-based research has found bystander programmes show promise as effective primary prevention of sexual violence. However, evidence regarding domestic violence and abuse bystander prevention specifically, and in community settings generally, is still in development. Further, research has predominantly emanated from the US. Examining proof of concept in differing cultural contexts is required. This study evaluates the feasibility and potential for effectiveness of a domestic violence and abuse bystander intervention within UK general communities-Active Bystander Communities. METHODS: Participants recruited opportunistically attended a three-session programme facilitated by experts in the field. Programme feasibility was measured using participant attendance and feedback across nine learning objectives. Myth acceptance, bystander efficacy, behavioural intent and bystander behaviours were assessed using validated scales at baseline, post-intervention, and four-month follow-up. Results were examined for potential backlash. Analyses used a paired sample t-test and effect size was quantified with Cohen's d. RESULTS: 58/70 participants attended all programme sessions. Participant feedback consistently rated the programme highly and significant change (p ≤ 0·001) was observed in the desired direction across behavioural intent, bystander efficacy, and myth acceptance scores at post and follow-up. Effect size was generally large and, with the exception of Perception of Peer Myth Acceptance, improved at follow-up. Backlash was minimal. CONCLUSIONS: To our knowledge this is the first UK-based study to examine the potential of bystander intervention as a community-level intervention for domestic violence and abuse. Findings are promising and indicate the translatability of the bystander approach to domestic violence and abuse prevention as well as community contexts. This is likely to be of great interest to policymakers and may help shape future community-based interventions. Further research is now needed using experimental designs engaging diverse community audiences.

Evaluation of the Intervention Initiative: A Bystander Intervention Program to Prevent Violence Against Women in Universities.

Violence against women students is increasingly recognized as a significant public health and human rights issue. The Intervention Initiative is a facilitated bystander intervention educational program commissioned by Public Health England for use by all English universities to prevent violence, abuse, and coercion. The success of the program with first-year law students at a large university in the South West of England was evaluated through course evaluation feedback and in a questionnaire study. Student experience was exceptionally good across all measures. In paired sample t tests, prosocial bystander behavior did not increase significantly from pretest to post-test immediately after taking part in the program. Rape myth acceptance, domestic abuse myth acceptance, and denial decreased significantly (p < .001; d > .599). Bystander efficacy, readiness to help, and responsibility increased significantly (p < .001; d = .408-.703), and intent to help increased significantly (p = .007, d = .248). Exposure to a concurrent social marketing campaign on campus had a significant strengthening effect on improvement of attitudes to rape myths (p = .010) but not any other outcome measures. No significant backlash was identified.

Simultaneity and Temporal Order Judgments Exhibit Distinct Reaction Times and Training Effects.

A considerable body of sensory research has addressed the rules governing simultaneity judgments (SJs) and temporal order judgments (TOJs). In principle, neural events that register stimulus-arrival-time differences at an early sensory stage could set the limit on SJs and TOJs alike. Alternatively, distinct limits on SJs and TOJs could arise from task-specific neural events occurring after the stimulus-driven stage. To distinguish between these possibilities, we developed a novel reaction-time (RT) measure and tested it in a perceptual-learning procedure. The stimuli comprised dual-stream Rapid Serial Visual Presentation (RSVP) displays. Participants judged either the simultaneity or temporal order of red-letter and black-number targets presented in opposite lateral hemifield streams of black-letter distractors. Despite identical visual stimulation across-tasks, the SJ and TOJ tasks generated distinct RT patterns. SJs exhibited significantly faster RTs to synchronized targets than to subtly asynchronized targets; TOJs exhibited the opposite RT pattern. These task-specific RT patterns cannot be attributed to the early, stimulus-driven stage and instead match what one would predict if the limits on SJs and TOJs arose from task-specific decision spaces. That is, synchronized targets generate strong evidence for simultaneity, which hastens SJ RTs. By contrast, synchronized targets provide no information about temporal order, which slows TOJ RTs. Subtly asynchronizing the targets reverses this information pattern, and the corresponding RT patterns. In addition to investigating RT patterns, we also investigated training-transfer between the tasks. Training to improve SJ precision failed to improve TOJ precision, and vice versa, despite identical visual stimulation across tasks. This, too, argues against early, stimulus-driven limits on SJs and TOJs. Taken together, the present study offers novel evidence that distinct rules set the limits on SJs and TOJs.