Effectiveness Study of the Intervention "Stop Sexual Harassment" in Secondary School
Condition: Sexual Harassment; Anti-Gay Bias; Non Sexual Harassment; Gender-based Violence; Gender Bias; Bullying; Aggression; Depressive Symptoms; Anxiety; Mental Health
MeSH terms: Depression; Aggression; Bullying
Study type: Interventional

Summary: 
      "Stop sexual harassment" is a school based intervention tailored to reduce sexual- and
      gendered harassment among pupils in secondary school. The first aim of this study is to test
      to what extent "Stop sexual harassment" reduces sexual harassment and harassment based on
      sexual orientation and gender expression (gendered harassment) among 8th to 10th grade pupils
      in secondary school. The second aim of the study is to test to what extent the intervention
      increases teachers' responses to sexual- and gendered harassment among pupils. The
      intervention consists of eight lessons which address the prevention of sexual- and gendered
      harassment.

      METHOD: A minimum 32 schools with at least 3840 pupils will participate in a cluster
      randomized controlled trial. Participating schools will be randomly assigned to intervention
      schools and control schools. At the intervention schools, teachers will be introduced to
      "Stop sexual harassment" through a digital course which will provide them with a manual
      containing eight lessons to be held for the pupils. At the control schools there will not be
      any intervention. The effects of the intervention on pupils will be determined by assessing
      their experiences with sexual and gendered harassment, and internalized and externalized
      problems prior to the intervention (T1), shortly after the intervention (T2) and six moths
      after the intervention (T3). The effects of the intervention on teachers will be determined
      by assessing the teachers' experiences of responding to sexual and gendered harassment among
      pupils.

      HYPOTHESIS: It is expected that the intervention "Stop sexual harassment" will lead to
      reduced sexual and gendered harassment perpetration and victimization, and less internalized
      and externalized problems among the pupils in secondary school, and that teachers will more
      frequently take action when sexual- and gendered harassment is encountered among the pupils.
    

Detailed description: 
      AIMS AND HYPOTHESIS The first aim of this study is to test the effects of "Stop sexual
      harassment", a sexual- and gendered harassment prevention intervention in secondary school
      among 8th to 10th grade pupils. The second aim of the study is to test the effects of the
      intervention on teachers' responses to sexual- and gendered harassment among the pupils.
      "Stop sexual harassment" is targeted at both pupils and teachers with the intention of
      reducing sexual harassment and harassment based on sexual orientation and gender expression
      (gendered harassment) among the pupils. It is hypothesized that the intervention will lead to
      reduced sexual- and gendered harassment perpetration and victimization and less internalized
      and externalized problems among the pupils. It is also hypothesized that the intervention
      will lead to teachers more frequently taking action when sexual- and gendered harassment is
      encountered among pupils.

      DESIGN AND METHOD Recruitment: All secondary schools (8th to 10th grade) in three counties
      (Vestland, Nordland and former county Buskerud) in Norway will be invited to take part in the
      intervention.

      Design: A cluster randomized controlled trial will be used to test the effects of the
      intervention. Participating schools will be randomly assigned to intervention schools and
      control schools.

      Assessment: Questionnaires will be administered to pupils and teachers, prior to the
      intervention to obtain a baseline level (T1), shortly after the intervention (T2), and about
      six months after the intervention (T3). Previously tested instruments to assess to what
      extent the intervention leads to reduction in sexual harassment and harassment based on
      sexual orientation and gender expression among the pupils will be utilized. Teachers'
      responses to the pupils' sexual and gendered harassment will also be assessed.

      Data analytic plan and power analysis: The data will be analyzed with both simple descriptive
      (such as correlations, frequency tables) and advanced statistical methods. With regard to the
      latter, 3 level multilevel modelling will be used to assess the impact of the intervention on
      the outcome variables. Multilevel modelling takes into account the hierarchical design of the
      data due to cluster randomization by school (level 3) and school class (level 2). Cluster
      effects were approximated (Intra Class Correlation; ICC) influencing the main outcomes
      (Sexual harassment, emotional problems, attitudes towards homosexuals) by taking advantage of
      data from previous studies. These studies indicate that whereas relatively little (often less
      than 5%) of the total variance of sexual harassment victimization, bullying and emotional
      problems are at the school and/or school class level, a still limited amount of studies
      suggests that this might not be the case for instance attitudes towards homosexuals where as
      much as 12,5 - 30% of the total variance have been explained by school/class levels. Power
      calculations, by the use the Optimal Design Software, showed that with a .05 level of
      significance, power = .80, ICC level 2 = .25, ICC level 3=0.05, number of cluster level 2=6
      (classes) with a cluster size=20 (pupils), 38 schools are needed to be able to detect effect
      sizes of .30 (about medium effects according to Cohen (1988). The power of the analyses can
      be increased by including the pre-intervention measure of the outcome variable. Assuming the
      average school level of the outcome variable at pre-intervention explains 50 or 30 percent of
      the variation of the outcome variable at post-test, decreases the number of schools to 30 and
      32, respectively, given the same assumptions as above. It was therefore decided to include at
      least 32 schools (16 intervention schools) to guard against the possibility of type II
      errors. A minimum of 3840 pupils will thus take part in the study.
    

Intervention name(s): Stop sexual harassment
Intervention type(s): Behavioral
Intervention description(s): Teachers will be introduced to a digital course on the prevention of sexual- and gendered harassment. In the course they will provided with a manual containing eight lessons to be held for the pupils. Each lesson will last 45 minutes and consist of a short lecture and practical activities for the pupils.
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention model: Parallel Assignment
Intervention model description: Cluster randomized controlled study. The randomization is at school level.
Masking: None (Open Label)
Primary purpose: Prevention
Keywords: Sexual harassment; Gendered harassment; Homophobic harassment; Intervention program; RCT study; Secondary school; Youth; Teachers; Pupils; LGBTQ