Evaluation of USVReact: a staff training program to counter sexual violence at university

Interventions addressing the endemic of sexual violence at European universities are scarce, particularly those that take a bystander focus to sexual violence prevention and involve university staff. Evidence-based data on their effectiveness are also lacking. This article reports the description of a pilot evaluation study of the USVreact Italian training program addressed to university staff for counteracting sexual violence. We assessed initial (T1) representations of gender-based violence, rape myth acceptance, and attitudes to bystander intervention (172 participants), and evaluated the effectiveness of the course by comparing, via paired-sample t tests, the responses before and after (T2) training (66 participants). Comparison between pre- (T1) and posttraining (T2) responses indicated that the participants’ ability to recognize subtle forms of violence and reduce rape myth acceptance was increased after training. Relatively few training programs based on the bystander approach to prevent gender-based violence at university have been performed to date in Europe and data on their effectiveness are scarce. Several limitations notwithstanding, the present pilot evaluation study provides suggestions for a more systematic evaluation of training interventions that address cultural legitimation of gender-based violence and that sustain bystander interventions in sexual assault prevention.