An Evaluation of an Online Sexual Assault Resistance Program (IDEA3)

Official title

A Randomized Controlled Trial of the Efficacy of IDEA3 - An Evidence-based Sexual Assault Resistance Intervention for Undergraduate Women Adapted for Internet Delivery

Overview

The goal of this randomized trial is to test whether the Internet-Delivered Enhanced Assess, Acknowledge, Act (IDEA3) sexual assault resistance education intervention reduces sexual violence victimization in undergraduate women. Participants in the intervention group will be asked to attend four three-hour group sessions of a sexual assault resistance program called IDEA3 with a partner, as well as fill out a number of surveys. Participants in the control group will be asked to attend a one-hour consent workshop with a partner and fill out surveys. Researchers will compare sexual assault victimization between the groups in the one year following the intervention.

Detailed description

Sexual violence (SV), which occurs along a continuum from unwanted sexual contact to rape, is common among young women, with some 40% experiencing sexual assault during their time in college. Given the numerous negative consequences associated with SV, developing effective SV prevention and resistance programs for young adult women is critical for reducing victimization and improving health outcomes for adolescent girls. The Enhanced Assess, Acknowledge, Act (EAAA) sexual assault resistance program has been shown to substantially reduce rates of SV (50% for rape and attempted rape) in young women attending university (ages 17-24). The purpose of the current study is to test the efficacy of the newly adapted Internet-Delivered Enhanced Assess, Acknowledge, Act (IDEA3) program in reducing sexual violence victimization among undergraduate women over 12 months of follow-up. IDEA3 is a 12-hour psychoeducational intervention that provides information, skills, and practice aimed at a) decreasing the time needed for young women to assess sexually coercive situations as dangerous and to take action, b) reducing emotional obstacles to taking action, c) increasing the use of the most effective methods of verbal and physical self-defense, and d) identifying sexual and relationship values and boundaries and reinforcing the right to defend them.

Interventions

• Behavioral IDEA3 Sexual Assault Resistance Intervention
  Internet-delivered EAAA (IDEA3), adapted from an in-person sexual assault resistance education intervention: Enhanced Assess, Acknowledge, Act (EAAA) intervention that was found in a randomized trial to reduce sexual assault victimization by about 50% at follow-up. IDEA3 designed for female identifying university students and focuses on resisting sexual assault committed by males in 4, 3-hour units: 1-ASSESS builds ability to detect risk with male acquaintances and develop risk reduction strateg
• Behavioral Consent Workshop
  Participant pairs assigned to the control arm will receive a 60-minute session consisting of a 60-min interactive, virtual consent workshop. The workshop will include information on a) what consent is, including the idea that consent is about bodily autonomy and applies to interactions beyond sex, b) how to give and ask for consent, and c) examples of what it looks like to ask for and give/not give consent. This presentation will be given by a well-trained Research Assistant.

Primary outcome measures

• Completed rape [Time frame: Baseline, 1-week post-intervention, 6-months and 12-months after randomization]

Secondary outcome measures (2)

• Attempted rape [Time frame: Baseline, 1-week post-intervention, 6-months and 12-months after randomization]
• Other Forms of Sexual Assault [Time frame: Baseline, 1-week post-intervention, 6-months and 12-months after randomization]

Eligibility criteria

Inclusion criteria

• 1st- and 2nd-year university students at one of the 4 sites
• female-identifying students
• students between ages of 17-24
• able to attend one of the scheduled program groups
• able and willing to be matched with another eligible student

Exclusion criteria

\- None

Criteria are shown verbatim from the registry (in English). Final eligibility is always assessed by the study center.

Healthy volunteers: Yes

Study design

Allocation

Randomized

Model

Parallel assignment

Masking

Open label

Primary purpose

Prevention

Study locations

United States · 4 centers

• University of Central Florida — Orlando
• University of Maryland — College Park
• University of Michigan — Ann Arbor
• University of Nebraska - Lincoln — Lincoln

Canada · 2 centers

• University of Guelph — Guelph
• University of Windsor — Windsor

Publications

• Cowan, G., & Campbell, R. R. (1995). Rape causal attitudes among adolescents. Journal of Sex Research, 32(2), 145-153.
• Cowan, G., & Quinton, W. J. (1997). Cognitive style and attitudinal correlates of the perceived causes of rape scale. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 21(2), 227-245.
• Frazier PA. Perceived control and distress following sexual assault: a longitudinal test of a new model. J Pers Soc Psychol. 2003 Jun;84(6):1257-69. doi: 10.1037/0022-3514.84.6.1257. PMID 12793588
• Gray, M. D., Lesser, D., Quinn, E., & Brounds, C. (1990). The effectiveness of personalizing acquaintance rape prevention: Programs on perception of vulnerability and on reducing risktaking behavior. Journal of College Student Development, 31, 217-220.
• Marx BP, Calhoun KS, Wilson AE, Meyerson LA. Sexual revictimization prevention: an outcome evaluation. J Consult Clin Psychol. 2001 Feb;69(1):25-32. doi: 10.1037//0022-006x.69.1.25. PMID 11302273
• Messman-Moore, T. L., & Brown, A. L. (2006). Risk perception, rape and sexual revictimization: A prospective study of college women. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 30, 159-172. doi:10. 1111/j.1471-6402.2006.00279.x
• Payne, D. L., Lonsway, K. A., & Fitzgerald, L. F. (1999). Rape myth acceptance: Exploration of its structure and its measurement using the Illinois Rape Myth Acceptance Scale. Journal of Research in Personality, 33, 27-68.
• Senn, C. Y., Gee, S. S., & Thake, J. (2011). Emancipatory sexuality education and sexual assault resistance: Does the former enhance the latter?. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 35(1), 72-91.

Identifiers

NCT: NCT06058455 · HUM00229565 · 23-063 · 183649

Primary sources (government registries)

• ClinicalTrials.gov (US NIH)

View this study on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗