Say Something: A Preliminary Assessment of a Peer-Educator Training Program

Abstract

With the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act in 2013, exposés about Title IX investigations (e.g., University of Virginia, Florida State University, and University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill), and the #MeToo campaign, there is renewed media focus on the topic of sexual assault on college campuses and in the wider culture. Scholars and activists in the movement to end interpersonal violence are moving universities forward to change the climate on campuses as well as in our communities. In the midst of new products and programs geared toward helping potential victims and reducing their risk of sexual assault, primary prevention advocates are continuing to focus efforts on changing larger cultural norms that underlie all forms of interpersonal violence and developing programming to alter potential perpetrator behavior. Primary prevention programming, paired with feminist-based policies and education, can create safer spaces for all students on campus, including survivors of violence. We must assess the efficacy and effectiveness of training and education efforts about interpersonal violence. The purpose of the current study is to share initial assessment data on one such program at a mid-sized master’s comprehensive university located in the southeast United States. The authors share this preliminary programming information and assessment data to promote progress in the field and to relay the challenges of assessing programs that are constantly evolving.