Education on resistance to acquaintance sexual assault: Preliminary promise of a new program for young women in high School and University

Author ORCID Identifier

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3463-5704

Document Type

Article

Publication Title

Canadian Journal of Behavioural Science

Publication Date

1-1-2013

Volume

45

Issue

1

First Page

24

Last Page

33

Keywords

Education, Girls and women, Intervention, Rape, Sexual assault

DOI

10.1037/a0029915

Abstract

While all women are at risk of sexual assault, young women are at particular risk. It is therefore imperative that at least some efforts to intervene take place before students leave high school. The development of a theoretically driven sexual assault resistance program (Assess, Acknowledge, Act) envisioned by Rozee and Koss (2001) is briefly presented. Female university (n = 88) and high school (n = 59) students participated in a quasi-experimental pilot investigation of the short term effects of the program on relevant attitudes and beliefs. Focus groups led to important refining of the curriculum. The program was successful in increasing the belief that the young women were at personal risk of acquaintance rape and could defend themselves effectively if necessary while lowering negative attitudes related to rape which could harm women if they were later a victim of sexual assault. These changes were evident for young women in both high school and university settings. The program shows promise for young women 16 and older and is now being evaluated for longer term effectiveness of key outcomes. © 2012 Canadian Psychological Association.

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