Prevention of Alcohol-related Sexual Revictimization in College
Condition: Sexual Assault
Study type: Interventional

Summary: 
      This pilot randomized controlled trial (RCT) is designed to test a new intervention designed
      to reduce college women's risk for sexual revictimization (SRV). The intervention targets
      women with a history of sexual assault (SA) and recent hazardous drinking (HD), as these
      women are at highest risk for SRV. The primary goals of the intervention are to decrease
      women's HD, improve their ability to perceive cues that signal risk for SRV, and strengthen
      their behavioral skills in situations associated with an increased risk for SRV. The
      intervention, Revictimization Prevention for College Women (RPCW) is a multi-modal
      intervention that includes two on-line interactive education modules and two in-person group
      skills-based training sessions that focus on problem solving training and behavioral
      rehearsal. The pilot RCT of the RPCW intervention will include 96 college women with
      follow-up assessments at 3- and 6-months post intervention. Women will be randomly assigned
      to either the RPCW intervention or to a Health Education Control (HEC) condition. The pilot
      RCT will be used to establish the feasibility of recruitment, the acceptability and safety of
      the RPCW intervention, and provide initial efficacy data that will assist in power
      calculations for a Stage II efficacy trial. The investigators hypothesize that women in RPCW
      intervention will report fewer days of hazardous drinking and improved perception of sexual
      assault risk cues compared with participants in the HEC condition. In addition, women in the
      RPCW intervention will report increased knowledge of safe dating practices and protective
      behavioral (drinking) strategies compared with participants in the HEC condition. Finally,
      women in the RPCW intervention will report lower rates of SRV as compared with participants
      in the HEC condition at the 6-month post-intervention follow-up.
    

Detailed description: 
      The investigators will be conducting a Stage 1b randomized controlled trial of a newly
      developed preventive intervention to reduce sexual revictimization of college women. The
      preventive intervention, Revictimization Prevention for College Women (RPCW), is designed to
      reduce sexual revictimization by reducing women's hazardous drinking, and increasing their
      awareness of protective dating and drinking behavioral strategies, as well as their awareness
      of risk cues for sexual assault during social situations. The intervention involves two
      in-person group skills-based training sessions held one week apart and two online interactive
      educational sessions designed for completion between the in-person sessions. During the pilot
      RCT, the active intervention (RPCW) will be compared to a time and attention Health Education
      Control.

      The first group session of the RPCW involves viewing 4 cue recognition training videos and
      participating in an Interventionist lead discussion intended to highlight sexual assault risk
      cues in each of the videos. After the session, each participant will then complete two
      interactive, online learning module focused on safe drinking and safe dating. The second
      group session will occur one week after the first and is designed to elicit feedback on the
      drinking and dating learning modules (e.g., length, ease of use, engagement, interest). The
      training videos will be viewed again individually and participants will engage in behavioral
      skills rehearsal of appropriate responses in paired role plays with feedback from the
      Interventionist and a group discussion about the emotional barriers to engaging in
      appropriate dating and drinking safety behaviors (e.g., "I feel bad for the guy", "He might
      get really mad, "I might miss out on being with a great guy") and strategies for overcoming
      these barriers. Adaptive emotion regulation strategies will be used such as cognitive
      reappraisal, distress tolerance, mindfulness of current emotions, acceptance, and problem
      solving. Immediately following this session, participants will be asked to complete a
      post-intervention survey, including feedback on the intervention content and process.
      Following the in-person RPCW sessions, a debriefing will occur to ensure that women have an
      opportunity to discuss any emotional discomfort or distress with the interventionist.
      Follow-up surveys will be administered again at 3- and 6-months post intervention. The Health
      education control (HEC) is a time and attention control and was developed in parallel with
      the RPCW. The two in-person sessions and two online units of the HEC condition will impart
      health information that is relevant and engaging for college women but does not directly
      address heavy drinking or sexual assault risk. It is intended to control for nonspecific
      intervention factors related to health behavior change. This 4-session active control
      condition will begin with an in-person session focused on stress management. The second
      in-person session focuses on sleep hygiene. The two online, interactive modules address
      nutrition on college campuses and physical exercise. These two modules are similar in format
      to the drinking and dating safety modules provided in the RPCW. To ensure that HEC
      participants receive SA risk reduction and HD reduction information, the participants will
      have the opportunity to receive the RPCW intervention following the 6-month follow-up
      assessment, if the participants choose to do so.

      All participants will participate in the intervention over one week. The participants will
      attend two in-person group intervention sessions one week apart, and complete their two
      on-line units during the intervening week. The participants will be asked to complete a
      baseline survey prior to their first in-person session, a post-intervention session following
      their second in-person session and two follow-up on-line assessment surveys at 3 months and 6
      months post intervention.

      The investigators have three specific hypotheses for the RCT:

      Hypothesis a: Participants in the RPCW intervention will report fewer days of hazardous
      drinking and improved perception of SRV risk cues on the video risk perception measure
      (primary outcomes) as compared with participants in the HEC condition.

      Hypothesis b: Participants in the RPCW intervention will report increased knowledge of safe
      dating practices and protective behavioral (drinking) strategies (secondary outcomes)
      compared with participants in the HEC condition.

      Hypothesis c: Participants in the RPCW intervention will report lower rates of SRV as
      compared with participants in the HEC condition at 6-month post-intervention follow-up.
    

Intervention name(s): RPCW; HEC
Intervention type(s): Behavioral; Behavioral
Intervention description(s): Psychosocial intervention that includes two in-person group sessions two weeks apart and two on-line units during the intervening two weeks. Behavioral training, educational materials, discussions and videos, as well as interactive online materials are included to increase awareness of sexual assault cues, dating and drinking protective behavioral strategies, barriers to defending oneself, and saying no to hazardous drinking and sexual advances.; Health Education time and attention control that includes two in-person sessions two weeks apart and two on-line units during the intervening two weeks. The in-person sessions cover stress management and sleep, while the online units cover nutrition and physical activity. The in-person and online sessions are designed to foster discussion and be interactive.
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention model: Parallel Assignment
Intervention model description: Half of participants will be assigned to the intervention (RPCW) condition designed to reduce hazardous drinking and increase awareness of risk cues for sexual assault and implementation of safe drinking and dating behaviors. Half of participants will be assigned to the Health education control designed to control for time and attention.
Masking: Single (Participant)
Primary purpose: Prevention
Keywords: Intervention Study; Alcohol Drinking in College