Who Will Help? Who Will Help?

Engaging Communities in Engaging Communities in Interpersonal Violence PreventionInterpersonal Violence Prevention

Victoria L. Banyard, Ph.D.

Psychology & Prevention Innovations

University of New Hampshire

Victoria.banyard@unh.edu

2011 Bystander Summit, SUNY Oneonta

Overview

• Translating bystander research into prevention

• Formative evaluation: Lessons Learned– Implementation– Diffusion of innovation

• Outcome evaluation: Does it work?

How do we promote positive bystander intervention?

Provide help

Notice event + need for help

Assume responsibility

Empathy Social Norms

Pros and cons including safety

Perceived efficacy

Skill set + experience

Choose from options

Adapted from Latane and Darley and Dovidio.

• Need to notice risk factors• Need to define the situation

as problematic• Perceived susceptibility and

severity (Health Belief Model)

• Cues to action (HBM)• Asked to intervene• Community specific stories,

examples, data

AWARENESS/KNOWLEDGE

• Characteristics of the bystander• Perceptions of the victim

– Victim empathy– In-group versus out-group status

• Social norms – Against sexual violence– In favor of intervention (TPB)

• Being asked (cues to action)• Characteristics of the situation

• Diffusion and facilitation

RESPONSIBILITY

• Health behavior theories support decision process for new behaviors – weigh pros and cons

• Bystander research also shows cost/benefit analysis

• Safety nets for bystanders• Social norms to support

helpful intervention• Audience inhibition

(Berkowitz)

PROS/CONS/PERSONAL SAFETY

• Increase confidence/efficacy

• Need specific skill building

• Need role models (POLS research)

• Need range of options (MVP program)

• Beliefs about outcomes (TPB)

CONFIDENCE AND SKILLS FOR ACTION

Empirical Support for the Situational Model:

Studies of Bystander Behavior and Relationship Violence

Attitudes

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Banyard, V. L. (2008). Measurement and correlates of pro-social bystander behavior: The case of interpersonal violence. Violence and Victims, 23, 83-97.

Broader Bystander Behaviors

Longitudinal Predictors of Behavior: Attitudes matter

Banyard, V. L. (2008). Measurement and correlates of pro-social bystander behavior: The case of interpersonal violence. Violence and Victims, 23, 83-97.

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Complexities

• Gender• Age• Who is helped?

– Friends versus strangers– Victims versus perpetrators

• Typology of helping• Which models better predict behavior?• Environmental contexts (e.g. community size;

sense of community)

Theories of Health Behavior Change: Lessons from Prevention

• Parallels– Readiness for Change process – Key variables from Social/cog model, TPB, HBM:

• Knowledge• Personal attitudes and Peer norms• Confidence/efficacy• Beliefs about outcomes (pros and cons)• Behavioral intention

Founding Bystander Programs• Founding Programs:

– Jackson Katz – Mentors in Violence Prevention (MVP)– Alan Berkowitz

• Recent Programs– Bringing in the Bystander (UNH)– Foubert – The Men’s Program– Edwards - SEEDS

• Theater Programs– InterACT – California State University– No Zebras – Central Michigan– iScream – Rutgers - McMahon

Shared components• Use of discussion and active learning• Visualization exercises

– build empathy– Connect material to participants’ felt experience

• Practice scenerios– Model and practice skills– Practice applying to own experience

• Increase awareness – Debunk myths– Provide information to reduce ambiguity

• Directly ask people to play a role• Need for evaluation data

Bringing in the Bystander ™

• Social marketing campaign (Potter & Stapleton)

• In-person educational workshop (Moynihan, Eckstein, Banyard)

© University of New Hampshire

The Program: Specific content

• What is a bystander?• Victim empathy• Defining scope of sexual violence

– causes and consequences– Consent 101

• Range of safe interventions for bystanders– Modeling range of skills– Reviewing community resources

• Emphasis on bystander safety• Pledge to intervene• Bystander plan

A Local Example: Stoke Hall Gang Rape 1987

• Three men gang raped a woman in 1987 in Stoke Hall, a residence hall at UNH.

• The victim transferred to another University.

• Two of three offenders plead guilty to misdemeanor sexual assault for which they would each spend 2 months in prison.

Small Group Work

Ask participants to:• think of examples when they did or did not intervene • think of examples when they saw someone else intervene • think of examples when someone intervened on their behalf• discuss and list the reasons they did or did not intervene• share how they felt about their experiences, what impact it had

on them• discuss if it is easier or more difficult to intervene when it’s a

friend or a stranger, and why?

ResponsibilityResponsibility

BYSTANDER PLEDGEBYSTANDER PLEDGE I pledge toI pledge to Express my outrage about rape and all forms of sexual violence.Express my outrage about rape and all forms of sexual violence. Talk to other community members about sexual violence.Talk to other community members about sexual violence. Interrupt sexist jokes that objectify women and girls.Interrupt sexist jokes that objectify women and girls. Seek information about why sexual violence is so prevalent in our Seek information about why sexual violence is so prevalent in our

society and how I can help prevent it. society and how I can help prevent it. Change anything I may be doing that contributes to sexual violence.Change anything I may be doing that contributes to sexual violence. Support and encourage men and women to take responsibility for Support and encourage men and women to take responsibility for

ending sexual violence.ending sexual violence. Listen to my friends’ and partners’ fears and concerns for safety.Listen to my friends’ and partners’ fears and concerns for safety. Pay attention to cries for help and take action.Pay attention to cries for help and take action. Challenge images of violence against women in advertising and Challenge images of violence against women in advertising and

entertainment.entertainment. Support women and men working together to end sexual violence.Support women and men working together to end sexual violence. Nurture myself and be aware of my personal safety.Nurture myself and be aware of my personal safety. Believe and support women, children, and men who have Believe and support women, children, and men who have

experienced any form of sexual violence. experienced any form of sexual violence. __________________________________________________________________________ Name and DateName and Date __________________________________________________________________________ Witness and DateWitness and Date

Decision making process

Decision Making ProcessQUESTIONS TO ASK BEFORE I TAKE ACTION:• Am I aware there is a problem or risky situation?• Do I recognize someone needs help?• Do I see others and myself as part of the solution?

QUESTIONS TO ASK DURING THE SITUATION:• How can I keep myself safe?• What are my available options? • Are there others I may call upon for help?• What are the benefits/costs for taking action?

DECISION TO TAKE ACTION:• When to act?• Resources: people, phone, etc available?• ACT

Close up

Distant

Alone With others

Most safe

Least safe

NUMBERS TO CALLEmergency or Police911 Sexual Harassment and Rape Prevention Program862-SAFE (7233) (SHARPP)New Hampshire Statewide Toll Free Hotlines 1-866-644-3574 (Domestic Violence) 1-800-277-5570 (Sexual Assault)For more information about Bringing in the Bystander contactwww.unh.edu/preventioninnovations prevention.innovations@unh.edu

The ABCs of Intervention“Active Bystanders Care”

Assess for safety.Be with others.Care for victim.

Bringing In the BystanderTM

A Prevention Workshop for Establishing a Community of Responsibility ©

Plante, Banyard, Moynihan, Eckstein

QUESTIONS TO ASK BEFORE I TAKE ACTIONAm I aware there is a problem or risky situation?Do I recognize someone needs help?Do I see others and myself as part of the solution?QUESTIONS TO ASK DURING THE SITUATIONHow can I keep myself safe?What are my available options? Are there others I may call upon for help?What are the benefits/costs for taking action?DECISION TO TAKE ACTIONWhen to act?Are resources available (people, phone, information)?ACT

HOW TO INTERVENE SAFELYCall police or someone else in authority.Tell another person. Being with others is a good idea when a situation looks dangerous.Yell for help. Ask a friend in a potentially dangerous situation if he/she wants to leave and then make sure that he/she gets home safely.Ask a victim if he/she is okay. Provide options and a listening ear. Call the local crisis center for support and options. See telephone numbers on the back of this card.

SCENARIO THREE:You are walking down the hall to catch the elevator to go to your room.

When you pass a dorm room on the first floor you hear a man and a woman yelling at each other. The man is calling the woman a “slut” and other names.

Decision Making Process:People have arguments all the time…is this my business? Have they been

drinking?…I wonder if this argument will escalate and someone is at risk of being physically hurt…will someone else call the police if it continues?…should I go get my RA? What am I supposed to do?

Pros and cons of each option:Nothing. It is none of my business.Go to my room and come down in an hour to see if they are still “going at it.”Go get my RA and discuss it with her/him. Call 911.Your own idea:_____________________________________What do you do? How do you stay safe?

* Format adapted with permission from Katz, Mentors in Violence Prevention

PERSONAL PLAN OF ACTIONSCENARIO:____________________________________

_______________________

DECISION MAKING PROCESS:_____________________________________

PLAN OF ACTION:____________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

Stages of Change

• Denial and precontemplation: lower efficacy and higher rape myth acceptance, cons outweigh pros

• Contemplation: greater knowledge, intent, confidence, pros outweigh cons

• Action: greater helping and confidence (cost/benefit not significant)

Rape Myth Acceptance

Decisional Balance

Experimental Evaluation

Part of this project was supported by Grant No. 2202-WG-BX-0009 awarded by the National Institute of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Dept. of Justice. Points of view in this presentation are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official position or policies of the U.S. Dept. of Justice

Experimental evaluation3 conditions

ControlOne-session treatment Three-session

treatment Longitudinal design

Participants

Exclusionary criteria: participants excluded if not traditional college age and if had received prior training as peer advisor or advocate at sexual assault crisis center.

Retention rate 75-94%

389 undergraduates (172 men ; 217 women)

Outcomes• Knowledge • Efficacy• Attitudes

–Rape myth acceptance–Willingness to help–Pros and cons of being a bystander

• Self-reported bystander behavior

Hypothesis: Program will be effective

• Repeated measures using measure of social desirability as covariate across 3 time points (pre-, post-, 2 mo).– Significant time x group interaction

• No gender differences in program effects• Some persistence of effects at 4 and 12

monthsBanyard et al (2007). Sexual violence prevention through bystander education: An experimental evaluation. Journal of Community Psychology, 35, 463-481.

Knowledge

Helping Intention

Decisional balance: Total

Bystander Behaviors

Percentage improving by at least 1 SDPercentage improving by at least 1 SD

Percentage worsening by at least 1 SDPercentage worsening by at least 1 SD

Next Steps

CDC grant

• 2 campuses• Cohort Effects• Social marketing as booster for program• Community surveys

Collaboration with Residential Life

• Who helps? An ecological model– Intrapersonal: women, first year students; those

who spend less time drinking, watching TV and videogames, those who study more, prosocial tendencies

– Interactional: Higher floor sense of community; Higher campus sense of community; Those involved in student orgs

– Exosystem: size of living situation

Context and Behavior

AcknowledgementsAcknowledgementsMary Moynihan, UNHJane Stapleton, UNHSharyn Potter, UNHBobby Eckstein, UNHMary Mayhew and the staff of SHARPPAngela BorgesOur Umass Lowell partners: Linda Williams, Alison Cares,

Mary FrederickElizabethe PlanteGrace Mattern and the NH Coalition Against Domestic and

Sexual ViolenceOur teams of graduate and undergraduate peer educators

and research assistants.UNH Office of Residential LifeResearch participants who gave their time to the projects