Acquaintance Rape Prevention Program

The Acquaintance Rape Prevention Program is a group education intervention to reduce the incidence of sexual assault. The program educates female university students on the facts and myths of rape to help them alter their dating behavior to reduce risk for assault. The program provides participants with statistics about the pervasiveness of sexual assault on college campuses. A video presentation educates women about situational variables that are related to acquaintance rape such as alcohol consumption, nonassertive behavior, isolation of incident site, and ineffective sexual communication. Participants brainstorm preventive strategies, and then view a second video modeling protective behaviors. Women are also provided with contact information for local agencies that provide sexual assault education, advocacy, and assistance.

The goals of this program are to increase awareness of risk factors for sexual assault, provide women with practical strategies to prevent rape, and reduce the incidence of sexual assault among participants.

Surveys showed that women who participated in the program increased knowledge about sexual assault when compared to a control group. Participants also decreased dating risk behaviors that are associated with acquaintance rape. Women in the program without a sexual assault history were less likely to be sexually assaulted in the quarter following the program (6%) than those in the control group (14%).