This article reviews the transtheoretical model of readiness for change and examined how it was applied to a primary prevention program, Bringing in the Bystander. The study examined how to operationalize and create measures to quantify readiness for change in the field of sexual violence prevention and evaluation. Findings indicated that individuals in the precontemplative stage experienced fewer program effects. Also, findings suggested that measures used to quantify readiness for change demonstrated reliability, validity, as well as internal consistency and stability over time.
These summaries were written by SVPEP staff and are based on original papers published within the last 6 years. The information available on this web site is provided as a public service and does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the U.S. Centers of Disease Control and Prevention, the Arizona Department of Health Services, or the University of Arizona. To conduct an individual search or locate older articles use the Search Summary Database which includes over 600 articles related to sexual violence.
Theory
Banyard, V. L., Eckstein, R. P., & Moynihan, M. M. (2009). Sexual violence prevention. The role of stages of change. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, (in press).
Fri, 2009-05-01
Sexual violence prevention programs may benefit from tailoring approaches for individuals at different stages of change.
Sample was small and lacked ethnic diversity. Outcome measures were mostly attitudinal.
Casey, E. A., & Lindhorst, T. P. (2009). Toward a multi-level, ecological approach to the primary prevention of sexual violence. Trauma, Violence, & Abuse, 10, 91-114.
Mon, 2011-03-14
An ecological approach that targets multiple risk factors at multiple levels may enhance the effectiveness of sexual assault prevention strategies.
This review article provides a summary of literature on the etiology of sexual assault perpetration, identifies main components of multi-level prevention programs from a variety of fields and how the components may be applied to sexual violence. The article offers 2 examples (i.e., social norms campaigns and bystander and men’s organizing approaches) of sexual violence prevention methods that operate on the peer and community levels to show how multi-level approaches to sexual violence prevention may be applied. The six components of multi-level prevention included: comprehensiveness, community engagement, contextualized programming, a focus on structural contributors to the problem, theory-based content, and emphasis on positive development. Expanding the reach and effectiveness of primary sexual violence prevention strategies requires engaging diverse networks and communities. Rigorous evaluation of the impact of prevention programs is necessary.
Articles that did not evaluate a specific prevention program and did not include multi-level prevention data were excluded from the review.
Cornelius, T. L., Sullivan, K. T., Wyngarden, N., & Milliken, J. C.(2009). Participation in prevention programs for dating violence. Beliefs about relationship violence and intention to participate. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 24, 1057-1078.
Fri, 2010-02-05
Intention to participate in dating violence prevention programs may be predicted by beliefs about susceptibility to dating violence and perceived benefits.
The Health Belief Model (HBM) was used to examine factors that may motivate individuals to participate in dating violence prevention programs. Participants included 180 undergraduate students from a Midwestern university. Findings suggested that perceptions of vulnerability to future violence and perceived benefits were the most significant predictors of participation in dating violence prevention programs. No differences were found among those who had previously experienced psychological and/or physical violence. The authors recommended that recruitment of participants for prevention programs should focus on perceived susceptibility and benefits and not consequences of dating violence.
Study sample was small and used the participant’s intention to participate in a prevention program as criteria for participation in the study.
Cox, P. J., Lang, K. S., Townsend, S. M., & Campbell, R. (2010). The rape prevention and education (RPE) theory model of community change: Connecting individual and social change. Journal of Family Social Work, 13, 297-312.
Tue, 2011-12-06
The Rape Prevention Education (RPE) theory model may be utilized to promote sexual violence prevention by professionals, educators, and experts in a variety of fields or settings.
This article examines the theoretical foundation of the RPE theory model and explores how to apply the model for ending sexual violence through a case study of 1 RPE grantee’s EMPOWER Program (New Jersey). The case study provided information on how the model was used to guide stakeholders and build capacity during the development of the state sexual violence prevention plan and the successes and challenges faced while using the RPE theory model. Foundational theories and their implications included: community readiness theory, diffusion of innovation, theory of reasoned action, theory of planned behavior, and the health belief model. The RPE theory model provided the grantee’s prevention team with a greater understanding of how individual change and community change are linked and how to design effective prevention strategies. Providing concrete examples of strategies, based on each of the theories, may make the concepts easier to understand.
The article consists of a literature review and a case study. New concepts are not introduced.
Lee, D.S., Guy, L., Perry, B., Sniffen, C.K., & Mixson, S.A. (2007). Sexual violence prevention. The Prevention Researcher, 14, 15-20.
Wed, 2007-08-01
Because sexual violence is a social problem, ending it requires comprehensive community prevention strategies as well as individual education.
The authors reviewed the feminist theoretical basis for sexual violence prevention programs, which states that cultural norms and unequal gender roles lead inevitably to violence against women. They argue that education efforts that address attitudes about gender roles and seek to build relationship skills can be made more effective by incorporating them into comprehensive and community change models. Several comprehensive programs developed using the Ecological Model and the Spectrum of Prevention model are described. Examples of programs based on community mobilization, changing social norms, and social marketing illustrate community level prevention strategies. The importance of promoting policy changes at local and national levels is emphasized. Finally, the authors call for more funding and research into cultural causes of and responses to sexual violence.
Lussier, P., & Healey, J. Searching for the developmental origins of sexual violence: Examining the co-occurrence of physical aggression and sexual behaviors in early childhood. Behavioral Sciences and the Law, 28, 1-23.
Tue, 2010-03-16
At the earliest stages in behavioral development physical aggression parallels sexual behaviors among preschool aged children.
Between 2008 and 2009 the co-occurrence of physical aggression and normative sexual behaviors as well as the covariates of the frequency of the behaviors were examined among 100 preschoolers in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. This study was the first wave in the Vancouver Longitudinal Study on the Psychosocial Development of Children. Two samples were recruited: a clinical sample (14) and community sample (86). Face -to-face interviews were conducted with the primary caregiver and child. Males characterized by a spectrum disorder from low-income families were more likely to show higher levels of both behaviors. These findings may be helpful in understanding origins of sexually violent offenses. However, more research is needed to understand the developmental pathways of aggressive behaviors among preschoolers that may manifest into more severe levels of aggression and sexual behaviors as they become older.
The sample included a small group of Canadian preschool aged children and findings may not be generalizable.
Macy, R. J. (2006). A coping theory framework toward preventing sexual revictimization. Aggression and Violent Behavior, 12, 177-192.
Thu, 2006-06-01
Adaptive, proactive, and resistive-defensive coping strategies may be used to construct a framework for interventions to prevent revictimization.
This paper examines three related coping theories; adaptive, proactive, and resistive-defensive and addresses how they may provide a framework to organize women’s coping efforts after sexual victimization in order to decrease the negative aspects of assault and reduce the likelihood of revictimization. The paper consists of several sections: a summary of research on revictimization, a description of the three types of coping theories, the connections between theories, limitations of the research, and recommendations for future research.
There is limited research on the scope of theory.
Mattaini, M. A., & McGuire, M. S. (2006). Behavioral strategies for constructing nonviolent cultures with Youth: A review. Behavior Modification, 30, 184-224.
Sun, 2006-01-01
This article provides a brief review of the roots of youth violence at a social level. It describes the traits of effective and ineffective programs to address youth violence, and focuses on two types of intervention strategies it considers to be promising and potentially effective.
The first type is universal skill training with youth, for which the article provides an analysis of several programs using universal skill training. Each program description offers and a summary of its strengths and weaknesses. Such programmatic analysis is also provided for the second intervention type, which is the use of universal ecological based strategies in interventions. Such interventions are designed to change cultural practice in cultural networks.
Paul. L. A., & Gray, M. J. (2011). Sexual assault programming on college campuses: Using social psychological belief and behavior change principles to improve outcomes. Trauma, Violence, & Abuse, 12, 99-109.
Wed, 2011-03-30
Attitudinal and behavioral change research in combination with recommendations from current programming may be used to refine and/or develop effective sexual assault interventions employed on college campuses.
This article provides an overview of current sexual assault programming efforts targeted at men and program limitations. Reviews of programming include information about the intervention design, length, modality, recipients, facilitator characteristics, outcomes, follow-up assessment and foci. Three social psychological theories that target belief and behavior change (i.e., social norms, hypocrisy, salience, decision, and deterrence) are applied to the programs reviewed. Recommendations based on the application of the theoretical constructs to the current literature for practice and research is provided.
The interventions targeted male college students only.
College | Prevention | Theory
Vivolo, A. M., Holland, K. M., Teten, A. L., Holt, M. K., and the Sexual Violence Review Team. (2010). Developing sexual violence prevention strategies by bridging spheres of public health. Journal of Women’s Health, 19, 1-4.
Mon, 2011-03-14
Sexual violence prevention efforts implemented at each level of social ecology and targeting risk factors shared by sexual violence, other risky behaviors, and negative health outcomes may be more effective than most current prevention efforts.
This article is a report from the Center of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) which examined individual and peer level sexual risk factors associated with sexual violence perpetration and negative sexual health outcomes. Risk factors for sexual violence perpetration and prevention programs are reviewed. Authors suggested that forms of unhealthy sexual behavior may be influenced by risk factors, similar to risk factors that may cause an increased risk for individuals to engage in both sexual violence and risky sexual behaviors. Sexual violence prevention programs may benefit from addressing the same risk factors that other fields (i.e., HIV/STDs and teen pregnancy prevention) address. Opportunities for cross-cutting approaches to sexual violence prevention are discussed. The intersection between sexual violence and other aspects of sexual health and healthy sexual development should be analyzed in order to develop programs and adapt evidenced-based strategies to prevent sexual violence and/or develop comprehensive prevention programs that reduce multiple negative outcomes.
This is a review of literature and the article did not examine the effectiveness of combined prevention efforts.
White, J. W. (2009). A gendered approach to adolescent dating violence: Conceptual and methodological issues. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 33, 1-15.
Fri, 2009-05-01
Dating violence should be considered within the Gendered Adolescent Interpersonal Aggression (GAIA) model, which examines the individual within the context of relationships and social institutions.
This article reviews major research findings to understand the context and process of why an adolescent chooses to use violence or becomes the target of violence in dating relationships. Using the social ecological model as its foundation, authors discuss a new person centered model: Gendered Adolescent Interpersonal Aggression (GAIA). Support for the model is based on the idea that a young person’s sense of self is influenced by adolescent friendships, romantic relationships, family, and other social institutions. Two additions to the social ecological model are suggested: gender and identity. Gender should be considered at each level of the social ecological model. Identity is considered a meta-construct and involves interactions at all levels.
Discussions of implications for practice are limited.