Educating College Students about Dating Violence Bystander Behaviors: Evaluating an Innovative Animated Intervention

Abstract

Due to the extensively social nature of college campuses, peer intervention is a valuable tool for the reduction of college dating violence. While bystander training programs are becoming a common tool for addressing student welfare concerns on college campuses, there is little research evaluating the efficacy of these interventions. The purposes of this study were to revise an online bystander intervention program (STOP Dating Violence; O’Brien et al., 2021) and conduct a randomized controlled trial to test the effectiveness of this revised intervention. Specifically, the intervention was modified and converted into an engaging animated video and then tested for its effectiveness. College students (N=335) were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: (1) the STOP intervention, (2) a website containing information about dating violence, and (3) a control condition. Students who viewed the STOP Dating Violence video intervention had the greatest knowledge of bystander interventions when compared to the website and control conditions. Thus, the STOP Dating Violence video has potential to successfully educate undergraduates about appropriate bystander interventions for dating violence in a cost effective manner.