The Efficacy of the SUN Program in Adolescents

Condition(s) studied

Investigational drug(s) / intervention(s)

The SUN Program: The SUN Program is a manualized bystander program for high-school adolescents. The program includes ten 50-to-60 minute weekly sessions. The central contents of the program include sexual and reproductive rights, sexual violence throughout the lifespan in different contexts, bystander attitudes and behaviors, and empathy. Every session includes psychoeducation components as well as skills-training moments. The sessions must be delivered by two psychologists with supervision. Session contents are divided as following: Session 1: Introduction to sexual violence and sexual rights; Session 2: Sexual violence: behaviors and contexts, Session 3: Sexual consent; Session 4: Sexual violence myths; Session 5: Sexual violence in intimate relationships; Session 6: The role of the bystanders; Session 7: The bystander effect; Session 8: Bystander intervention; Session 9: Empathy; Session 10: Summary

Study summary

This research project will develop, deliver, and evaluate a new school-based sexual violence prevention program for high-school adolescents. The SUN program (Stand Up Now against sexual violence) aims to prevent the occurrence of sexual violence among adolescents. The program approaches sexual violence as a complex phenomenon which occurs in many contexts throughout life. This program approaches specific concepts associated with sexual violence, such as sexual consent, while acknowledging the association between this form of violence and other violent phenomena. The program uses a bystander approach to support adolescents in the development of bystander attitudes and behaviors, which can be used in situations where the risk of sexual violence may be present. These may include behaviors such as confronting someone who is trying to take advantage of another person or reporting someone who committed sexual violence. The program aims to reduce myths associated with sexual violence, to increase empathy in this context and to improve bystander skills. Program sessions will combine group discussions with skills-building exercises.

This study will apply the SUN program in school settings and compare the adolescents who will take part in the program with adolescents who will not. The study will evaluate changes in sexual violence myths, sexism, empathy, and bystander attitudes and behaviors. The authors hypothesize that by decreasing myths associated with sexual violence and sexism, and by increasing empathy in this context, the program will be able to increase the adolescents' capacity to intervene in real-world situations to prevent sexual violence (i.e., bystander attitudes and behaviors). Additionally, the programs' acceptability will be assessed through focus groups conducted with students. It is expected that this project will improve scientific knowledge regarding sexual violence prevention.

Eligibility

Primary outcome measure(s)

• Bystander attitudes — All primary outcome measures will be assessed at baseline (1 week before the first session of the SUN), post-test (1 week after the last session of the SUN), and three, six and nine months after pos-test (follow-up assessments).
  Bystander attitudes - Bystander Attitude Scale-Revised (BAS-R) The Bystander Attitude Scale-Revised (modified version) is a self-report survey that measures bystander attitudes using 19 items (McMahon et al., 2014). This study uses a recent adaptation of this scale into Portuguese for adolescents, using only 13 items (in preparation for publication). The scale uses several items that capture a diverse range of bystander behaviors in terms of low and high risk of violence, timing of the intervention and proactive or reactive behaviors. An item example would be: "Report a friend to the police if I heard rumors that they had forced someone to have sex". In this survey, participants are asked to rate how acceptable a behavior is for them (i.e., whether they are favorable to that behavior) on a Likert scale from 1 (not acceptable) to 5 (extremely acceptable) (McMahon et al., 2014).
• Bystander behaviours - Bystander Behavior Scale-Revised (BBS-R) — All primary outcome measures will be assessed at baseline (1 week before the first session of the SUN), post-test (1 week after the last session of the SUN), and three, six and nine months after pos-test (follow-up assessments).
  The Bystander Behavior Scale-Revised (modified version) is a self-report survey similar to the BAS-R but which measures bystander behavior. Items are the same but participants are asked to report whether they have had those behaviors in the previous year (scale: "Yes", "No", "I wasn't in that situation") (McMahon et al., 2014).

Trial sites (1)

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