Jennifer P Read, Jennifer A Livingston, Rachael J Shaw, Aria F Wiseblatt, Tiffany Jenzer, Lauren R DiPaolo, Nadine R Mastroleo, Jennifer Katz, Maria Testa, Craig R Colder
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引用次数: 0
Abstract
Objective: Sexual assault (SA) is unfortunately common in U.S. college campuses. Friends are central to the social context of college women, and thus to the context of SA, and thus may play a key role in SA prevention. The objective of the present study was to provide a preliminary test of a novel friend-based motivational intervention (FMI) that encourages and prepares friends to work together to reduce SA risk.
Method: In a pilot trial, 51 friend dyads (N = 102) were randomized to either FMI or waitlist control (WLC) conditions and then followed over 3 months. Participant perceptions of the intervention and intervention-associated outcomes (engagement in friend-based assault protective behaviors [FAPB], readiness to change, barriers, sexual assault occurrences) were examined.
Results: Those in the FMI reported greater readiness to engage in efforts to protect their friend against SA and reported higher rates of FAPB across time points relative to the WLC. Though not statistically significant, women in the FMI also reported half as many incidences of SA at the 3-month follow-up. We did not observe decreases in perceived barriers to intervening that were targeted with the FMI. Participant feedback on their experiences with the FMI was positive; women reported that FMI was empowering, personally relevant, and useful.
Conclusions: Findings point to the promise of this dyad-based motivational intervention that capitalizes on the natural resource of women's friendships to decrease risk for sexual assault. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).
期刊介绍:
The Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology® (JCCP) publishes original contributions on the following topics: the development, validity, and use of techniques of diagnosis and treatment of disordered behaviorstudies of a variety of populations that have clinical interest, including but not limited to medical patients, ethnic minorities, persons with serious mental illness, and community samplesstudies that have a cross-cultural or demographic focus and are of interest for treating behavior disordersstudies of personality and of its assessment and development where these have a clear bearing on problems of clinical dysfunction and treatmentstudies of gender, ethnicity, or sexual orientation that have a clear bearing on diagnosis, assessment, and treatmentstudies of psychosocial aspects of health behaviors. Studies that focus on populations that fall anywhere within the lifespan are considered. JCCP welcomes submissions on treatment and prevention in all areas of clinical and clinical–health psychology and especially on topics that appeal to a broad clinical–scientist and practitioner audience. JCCP encourages the submission of theory–based interventions, studies that investigate mechanisms of change, and studies of the effectiveness of treatments in real-world settings. JCCP recommends that authors of clinical trials pre-register their studies with an appropriate clinical trial registry (e.g., ClinicalTrials.gov, ClinicalTrialsRegister.eu) though both registered and unregistered trials will continue to be considered at this time.