Community Level Primary Prevention of Dating and Sexual Violence in Middle Schools

Study Overview
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Brief Summary
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Dating and sexual violence are significant public health concerns occurring on a continuum of severity across the lifespan, with serious consequences to victims and society. The present research advances the science of prevention by rigorously evaluating a comprehensive social norms marketing campaign to promote community-level change in dating and sexual violence in middle schools. Partnership between researchers and a CDC Rape Prevention and Education Program (RPE) funded agency is a core feature of this work, and aims to build community capacity to implement and evaluate violence prevention efforts, and promote the subsequent uptake of social norms marketing campaigns as a strategy for reducing dating and sexual violence among youth.

Detailed Description
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In a group cluster trial, a comprehensive, tailored, data-based social norms marketing campaign that addresses misperceptions of: 1) the acceptability of dating and sexual violence; 2) gender roles; 3) sexual activity; 4) sexual communication/consent; 5) support for victims; and 6) bystander intervention will be evaluated among middle schools. Poster messaging will be paired with several systematic efforts to diffuse program content through the community, including a Lunch and Learn Teacher Training, Social Norms Video, Teacher Workbook, Parent Mailing, and Parent Information Session. A member of the researcher-practitioner team, designated as a School Resource Provider, will oversee campaign implementation in partnership with a teacher champion. The Resource Provider will also track campaign intensity, assess campaign credibility through intercept interviews with teachers and students, work with teachers to infuse messaging into classroom activities, and assist the teacher champion with addressing kick-back to the campaign. Outcome assessments will be completed by teachers, administrators and students. Towards the goal of exploring the role of other environmental factors as moderators of program effects, school administrators will assess their community readiness to develop and implement school dating and sexual violence prevention policy, in general, and social norms marketing, in particular. A neighborhood scan will also be conducted to estimate the density of nearby outlets associated with gender-based personal violence.

Official Title
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Community Level Primary Prevention of Dating and Sexual Violence in Middle Schools

Conditions
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Violence

Intervention / Treatment
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* Behavioral: Social Norms Marketing Campaign
* Other: Capacity Building


Participation Criteria
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Eligibility Criteria
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Inclusion Criteria: Student at a middle school or teacher/administrator at a middle school Provide student assent and parental consent as specified in protocol or provide adult consent for study participation Exclusion Criteria: • None

Ages Eligible for Study
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Minimum Age: 10 Years

Sexes Eligible for Study
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All

Accepts Healthy Volunteers
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Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Study Plan
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How is the study designed?
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Design Details

Primary Purpose: Prevention
Allocation: Non-Randomized
Intervention Model: Parallel Assignment
Masking: Single


Arms and Interventions

| Participant Group/Arm | Intervention/Treatment |
| --- | --- |
| Experimental: Social Norms Marketing<br>This arm includes a social norms marketing campaign tailored to the school. | Behavioral: Social Norms Marketing Campaign<br>* This poster based marketing campaign is designed to correct inaccurate perceptions of norms regarding violence.<br>* Other names: Your Voice Your Data;|
| Active Comparator: Capacity Building<br>This arm includes a series of teacher training, and parent engagement meetings, with the goal of building capacity to address violence in the school. | Other: Capacity Building<br>* Schools will participate in teacher training and parent training.<br>|

What is the study measuring?
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Primary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Sexual Violence Victimization | Rates of sexual violence victimization | Over 6 months | 
| Dating Violence Victimization | Rates of dating violence victimization | Over 6 months | 
| Sexual Violence Perpetration | Rates of sexual violence perpetration | Over 6 months | 
| Dating Violence Perpetration | Rates of dating violence perpeptration | Over 6 months | 

Secondary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Bystander Intervention | Rates of bystander intervention | Over 6 months | 
| Attitudes Towards Violence | Attitudes towards violence scale | Change from baseline to 6 months |