An evaluation of a Web-based sexual assault prevention program for college women

The present study developed and prospectively evaluated a web-based sexual assault prevention program as a credible, effective, cost-effective solution to current largely ineffective prevention program. Focus groups of undergraduate females perceived the current program to target strategies that were realistic, representative, and potentially useful to dating and social situations. Three hundred twenty-nine college women were randomly assigned to an experimental or a wait-list control condition. The study prospectively evaluated high-risk alcohol use strategies, high-risk sexual communication, and sexual assault rates over a period of 12 weeks. MANOVAs were performed separately for the Intent-to Treat (IT) sample and the Completer sample to test for significant differences between the experimental and wait-list control conditions. The results suggest significant differences in risky sexual communication strategies at the nine week follow-up period for the Completer sample. Separate doubly multivariate analyses revealed significant main effects across time but not between groups for both the ITT (multivariate F(4, 290) = 6.090, p. < .05) and Completer sample (multivariate F(4, 169) = 3.657, p < .05). There was no significant difference in sexual assault rates as a result of the web-based program for the ITT or Completer sample. Although the web-based program demonstrated a small effect in risky sexual communication, it may prove to be meaningful given the additive effect of this change across an individual's lifetime and the enormous dissemination potential of the web-based program.