Education for Resistance against Sexual Abuse
Life periods served
Where the program was applied
Country of application
Description

This is a psychoeducation program for female university students aged between 17 and 24 to prevent sexual aggression by acquaintances, providing information and resistance training.
The program consists of three three-hour modules, which include mini-lectures, facilitated discussions, information games, and practical activities, divided as follows:
1) Assessment: improving women’s assessment of the risk of sexual assault by male acquaintances and developing problem-solving strategies to reduce perpetrators’ advantages;
2) Knowledge: to recognize danger more quickly in situations that become coercive and explore ways of overcoming emotional barriers and resisting unwanted sexual behavior by men through the practice of resisting verbal coercion;
3) Acting: self-defense training focused entirely on situations involving acquaintances.

Impact evaluations

Impact evaluation studies showed that program participants had a significantly lower risk of being victims of rape, attempted rape, attempted coercion, and non-consensual sexual contact. They showed a significant improvement in risk assessment skills, self-defense, strategies for resisting rape, non-acceptance of the myths of this type of crime, and beliefs that blame women [1].

Bibliographic reference

[1] Senn, C. Y., Eliasziw, M., Barata, P. C., Thurston, W. E., Newby-Clark, I. R., Radtke, H. L. y Hobden, K. L. (2015). Efficacy of a sexual assault resistance program for university women. The New England Journal of Medicine, 372(24), 2326–2335. https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMsa1411131