Stand Up and Speak Up: Effectiveness of Web-Based Bystander Intervention on a College Campus
Date
2017-05-12Author
Schumitsch-Jewell, Taylor
Advisor(s)
Winterrowd, Erin
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
The goal of bystander intervention is to provide college students with the necessary
means to recognize an assaultive situation and gain the confidence to step in. The
current study examined the effectiveness of a web-based bystander intervention by
measuring 28 participants’ outcomes (Illinois Rape Myth Acceptance Scale, Bystander
Efficacy Scale, and a confidence in bystander intervention scale) before and after
the intervention. The results were compared to a control group receiving statements
about sexual assault and to existing data collected from the bystander workshop
Stand Up Titans!, conducted through the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh Women’s
Center during the 2014–2015 academic year. Contrary to expectations, there was no
difference in Rape Myth Acceptance scores or Bystander Efficacy scores between the
experimental (web-based video) and control (reading passages) groups. Watching the
web-based intervention did increase participants’ confidence in intervening compared
to the control group, however. As expected, there was a difference in Rape Myth
Acceptance (RMA) scores between the web-based intervention group and the Stand
Up Titans! workshop, with participants in the workshop reporting a lower Rape
Myth Acceptance (i.e., lower endorsement of harmful rape myths). The web-based
intervention group and the workshop both had high rates of confidence in intervening.
Together, these findings suggest that web-based interventions may be effective at
improving bystander confidence but may not reduce rape myths to a greater extent
than merely reading statistics about sexual assault. Findings from this study have
implications for the use of web-based bystander interventions on college campuses.
Subject
Sexual assault
Bystander intervention
Permanent Link
http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1793/76459Type
Article