Effects of bystander sexual assault prevention programs on promoting intervention skills and combatting the bystander effect: a systematic review and meta-analysis
Publication Date
1-1-2020
Document Type
Article
Publication Title
Journal of Experimental Criminology
DOI
10.1007/s11292-020-09417-y
Abstract
Objectives: Bystander sexual assault prevention programs encourage individuals to intervene when witnessing incidents or warning signs of violence. According to a popular skill acquisition model, witnesses to sexual assault must demonstrate the following to intervene: (1) notice the event, (2) identify the situation as warranting intervention, (3) take responsibility for acting, and (4) know strategies for helping. Methods: This systematic review and meta-analysis examined effects of bystander programs on the aforementioned skills and actual intervention behavior among adolescents and college students. Results: Robust variance estimation meta-analysis using a sample of 19 studies (N = 7920) revealed significant effects on identifying situations as warranting intervention and non-significant effects on noticing events, taking responsibility for acting, and knowing strategies for helping. Programs had a significant favorable effect on intervention behavior. Conclusions: Findings cast uncertainty around the proposed relationship between skills and intervention behavior. Future research should explore this relationship through causal modeling.
Funding Number
CSR1.60
Funding Sponsor
Campbell Collaboration
Keywords
Bystander, Meta-analysis, Prevention, Sexual assault
Department
Child and Adolescent Development
Recommended Citation
Heather Hensman Kettrey and Robert A. Marx. "Effects of bystander sexual assault prevention programs on promoting intervention skills and combatting the bystander effect: a systematic review and meta-analysis" Journal of Experimental Criminology (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11292-020-09417-y
