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Examining the Effects of Two Sexual Assault/ Date Rape Interventions in a Population of College Freshmen

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ABSTRACT Title of Dissertation: EXAMINING THE EFFECTS OF TWO SEXUAL ASSAULT/ DATE RAPE INTERVENTIONS IN A POPULATION OF COLLEGE FRESHMEN Jessica Brewster Jordan Doctor of Philosophy, 2010 Directed By: Robin G. Sawyer, Ph.D. Associate Professor Department of Public and Community Health Rape is committed more often than any other violent crime on college campuses. Over the years, various interventions have been developed to educate and positively change college students’ attitudes, beliefs, and behavioral intentions regarding sexual assault and date rape. Common educational strategies in the sexual assault and date rape programs include the use of films and/or peer educators to help dispel commonly held date rape myths, to improve attitudes and/or knowledge of rape, to decrease rape-related behavioral intentions, to improve communication about sexual decisions, and to increase self-efficacy towards resisting an unwanted sexual experience. However, many intervention studies lack evaluation data to demonstrate the effectiveness of these programs on college campuses. The purpose of this study was to evaluate two experimental conditions in a sample of freshmen students at the University of Maryland, College Park. One intervention group received a sexual assault/date rape educational film followed by participating in a peer-led discussion; the second intervention group received only a peer education presentation; and the control group received no treatment. Pretest and four- to six-week posttest evaluation surveys were administered to participants to determine the effects of the interventions on attitudes towards rape, rape-related behavioral intentions, and sexual communication self-efficacy. The statistical methods used to analyze these data were paired t-tests and nested ANCOVA models. In addition, a Process Evaluation Survey was also administered to the intervention groups immediately upon their completion to capture an overall assessment of the interventions. Lastly, the peer educators delivering these programs completed evaluations after each presentation. Both intervention groups were found to have statistically significant increases in anti-rape attitudes at posttest, with females reporting higher anti-rape attitude scores compared to males in both interventions. Increases in anti-rape behavioral intentions and sexual communication self-efficacy scores were also reported; however, these changes were not statistically significant compared to the control group at posttest. The quantitative and qualitative data collected from the Process Evaluation Surveys and the Peer Educator Evaluations provided further guidance on how to improve the interventions. EXAMINING THE EFFECTS OF TWO SEXUAL ASSAULT/ DATE RAPE INTERVENTIONS IN A POPULATION OF COLLEGE FRESHMEN By Jessica Brewster Jordan Dissertation submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of the University of Maryland, College Park, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctorate of Philosophy 2010 Advisory Committee: Professor Robin G. Sawyer, Chair Professor Kenneth Beck Professor Kerry Green Professor Jessica Rath Professor Mary Ann Hoffman © Copyright by Jessica Brewster Jordan 2010 DEDICATION I lovingly dedicate this study to my husband, Patrick, for his incredible patience and support during the time I have spent working on my dissertation. My daughter, Mckenna, has been my inspiration and motivation to complete my doctoral research. I would also like to dedicate my study to my late Grandpa Brewster, who exemplifies the meaning of strength, perseverance, and courage. ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank my dissertation chair, Dr. Robin Sawyer, who has been my advisor and mentor over the past five years. Dr. Sawyer has graciously allowed me to develop this evaluation study of his film, Playing the Game 2, and guided me every step of the way. I would also like to thank Dr. Kerry Green for her statistical assistance during both the proposal and final write-up phases. Additionally, there are other University of Maryland students and professionals I would like to acknowledge for helping to implement this large data collection effort. These include Dr. Gerry Strumpf for connecting me to the UNIV 100 LTSC coordinator Neruh Ramirez who then allowed me to recruit his students into this study. Kelly Kesler is the Assistant Director of Health Promotion in the University Health Center and agreed to have SARPP participate in this research study. Lauren Stewart and Allison Bennett are the SARPP coordinators and were extremely accommodating during the intervention training and data collection process. Most importantly, the 2009-2010 SARPP peer educators were responsible for delivering all the study interventions and without their hard work, dedication, and diligence this study would not have been possible. Finally, I would like to thank my Mom and Dad and Patrick’s parents for their encouragement and assistance throughout the process. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT .................................................................................................................................... I DEDICATION............................................................................................................................... II ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................................................................................................. III TABLE OF CONTENTS ..................................................................................................................... IV LIST OF TABLES ........................................................................................................................... VII LIST OF FIGURES ........................................................................................................................... IX LIST OF FIGURES ........................................................................................................................... IX CHAPTER I ...................................................................................................................................... 1 Problem Statement....................................................................................................................1 Brief Rationale of Study Problem............................................................................................1 Definition of Terms ...................................................................................................................4 Research Questions ...................................................................................................................5 Hypotheses .................................................................................................................................5 CHAPTER II: REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE ................................................................................. 8 Sexual Assault/Date Rape on College Campuses ................................................................... 8 Sexual Assault/Date Rape Interventions on College Campuses ...........................................9 Background of Interventions ...................................................................................................9 Peer Education...................................................................................................................... 11 Conceptual Framework.......................................................................................................... 19 Overview................................................................................................................................ 19 Rape-Related Attitudes.......................................................................................................... 20 Rape-Related Behavioral Intentions ..................................................................................... 24 Sexual Communication Self-Efficacy .................................................................................... 26 CHAPTER III: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY ................................................................................ 29 Population Description ........................................................................................................... 29 Sampling Procedure................................................................................................................ 31 Research Design ...................................................................................................................... 31 Procedure Outline ................................................................................................................... 32 Experimental Conditions........................................................................................................ 35 Playing the Game 2 Film ...................................................................................................... 35 SARPP Peer Educators ......................................................................................................... 36 iv Instrumentation....................................................................................................................... 37 Power Calculations............................................................................................................... 41 Data Analysis Plan................................................................................................................ 42 Human Subject Concerns......................................................................................................
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