Sexual Assault Prevention on U.S. College Campuses: A National Scan

Today PreventConnect Campus has released a report titled Sexual Assault Prevention on U.S. College Campuses: A National Scan. The report draws on a three-pronged approach to addressing and preventing sexual assault on college campuses: trauma-informed practices, community collaboration and engagement, and comprehensive prevention. We believe that this approach can lead to better responses when a sexual assault occurs on campus and can ultimately create a shift in cultural norms to prevent sexual violence before it happens. PreventConnectCampus explored this concept of a three-pronged approach to addressing and preventing sexual violence in our Comprehensive Prevention on Campus web conference and in this podcast.

The report also highlights current trends in sexual violence prevention efforts and includes discussion on challenges and opportunities in designing, implementing and evaluating sexual violence prevention strategies on campus. A critical component of planning and developing sexual violence prevention programs on campus includes careful consideration of the factors that impact a specific campus; that is to say each campus is unique and prevention programs must reflect that. For example, our web conference, Selecting the Right Online Module for Interpersonal Violence Prevention, looked specifically at how campuses could assess online programs to best meet their specific needs and included a toolkit to assist in thinking through this decision making process.

Additionally, the report includes an in-depth description of program components that can assist in making decisions about program goals, program elements, program partnerships and dissemination modalities. A summary of widely used prevention approaches on college campuses is available on our Wiki page, Campus Sexual Violence Prevention Programs Elements, Partnerships and Modalities, and a collection of key resources in campus sexual violence prevention is available in our updated Resource Guide for Sexual and Interpersonal Violence Prevention.

PreventConnect Campus advocates for intentional and strategic prevention efforts that fit into a comprehensive prevention plan. This report reflects those values and provides a framework for implementing tailored comprehensive prevention efforts on campuses. We hope it will be useful in your campus work.

Download the report here.