Abstract
Teachers of psychology have been called to both educate college students about interpersonal violence (e.g., sexual assault) and use service learning. However, few models exist for how teachers may simultaneously address both of these calls. This article describes a service-learning course in psychology that integrated an evidence-based, bystander intervention program (BIP) into it in order to provide students with both sexual assault education and roles for advancing sexual assault prevention on campus. Sixteen students in an undergraduate psychology course watched TakeCare, a video shown to improve students’ positive bystander behavior to prevent sexual assault and then facilitated delivery of TakeCare to 156 other students on campus. This course illustrates a novel model for advancing sexual assault education and prevention on campus, and the model may be used in other psychology courses. Future directions for implementing and evaluating this model are described.
Sexual assault among college students is a major public health problem (U.S. Department of Justice, 2017) that has received a lot of public attention in recent years (Clark, 2015; Hartocollis & Capecchi, 2017; Perez-Pena, 2013). Studies have reported that one in five female college students will experience sexual assault while in college (Muehlenhard, Peterson, Humphreys, & Jozkowski, 2017) and that sexual assault is more prevalent among certain subpopulations of students, including students in sororities (Minow & Einolf, 2009) or who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer/questioning (LGBTQ) (Cantor et al., 2017; Edwards et al., 2015; Fedina, Holmes, & Backes, 2018). Sexual assault is associated with numerous problems among students, including mental health problems (Carey, Norris, Durney, Shepardson, & Carey, 2018; Dworkin, Menon, Bystrynski, & Allen, 2017), sexually transmitted infections (Goyal et al., 2017), and poor academic performance (Baker et al., 2016; Bruffaerts et al., 2018; Jordan, Combs, & Smith, 2014; Mengo & Black, 2016). Awareness about sexual assault and other traumas has led to calls for incorporating information about interpersonal violence into course curriculum (Graham, Mennicke, Rizo, Wood, & Mengo, 2018) including the undergraduate psychology curriculum (Courtois & Gold, 2009).
Additionally, teachers of psychology have been called to provide service-learning (Conway, Amel, & Gerwien, 2009) and civic-engaged courses to both serve communities and advance students’ learning (American Psychological Association [APA], 2019). Whereas civic engagement and service learning are similar in that they may involve students working to address community issues (APA, 2019), service learning is a narrower concept that refers to a “course-based, credit-bearing educational experience in which students (a) participate in an organized service activity that meets identified community needs and (b) reflect on the service activity in such a way as to gain further understanding of course content, a broader appreciation of the discipline, and an enhanced sense of civic responsibility” (Bringle & Hatcher, 1995, p. 112). Some service-learning courses may also be civically engaged if they include a civic dimension (APA, 2019), and many universities are offering more civic-engaged courses (Anft, 2018).
Service-learning courses have been found to enhance students self-efficacy for both community-engaged research (DePrince, Priebe, & Newton, 2011) and community service and improve students’ knowledge about course content (Conway et al., 2009; Fleck, Hussey, & Rutledge-Ellison, 2017; Geboers, Geijsel, Admiraal, & Dam, 2013; Yorio & Ye, 2012). For example, Fleck and colleagues (2017) compared outcomes of students in developmental research courses that were either taught with a traditional approach or a service-learning technique. Students in the traditional course completed a group research project with a developmental focus, whereas students in the service-learning course completed a group research project with the Boys and Girls club that aimed to understand youth attendance patterns. Compared to students in the traditional course, students in the service-learning courses were found to have significantly higher content knowledge of research methods but not civic engagement (Fleck et al., 2017). Other work suggests that service-learning courses with a civic component improved students’ civic engagement (Prentice, 2011).
Teachers of psychology could respond to calls to educate students about sexual assault (Courtois & Gold, 2009) and use service- and civic-engaged learning (APA, 2019; Conway et al., 2009) by integrating bystander intervention programs (BIPs) into their courses. BIPs are educational programs about sexual assault and sexual assault prevention that are typically provided to students through nonacademic programming. These programs provide students with information about sexual assault and emphasize the need for students to safely intervene in high-risk situations (e.g., preventing an intoxicated woman from being taken to a bedroom by a man at a party) to help prevent sexual assault. BIPs vary in duration from 24 to 360 min, and how they are delivered including whether they are facilitated by peers or professionals or delivered in a video (Jouriles, Krauss, Vu, Banyard, & McDonald, 2018). Studies comparing students who participate in BIPs to those who do not suggest students who participate in BIPs have better outcomes including greater bystander self-efficacy, intentions to help others, and bystander behaviors (e.g., actions taken by bystanders to prevent someone from being assaulted, de-escalate risky situations, and/or help those who have experienced sexual assault; Jouriles et al., 2018; Katz & Moore, 2013).
However, there is a paucity of models for how teachers of psychology may integrate BIPs into their courses. I am aware of only one BIP that was integrated into undergraduate courses (Senn & Forrest, 2016). Two social science courses were created to recruit, educate, and train students to facilitate a 3-hr evidenced-based BIP called Bringing in the Bystander (Banyard, Moynihan, & Plante, 2007). Trained peer facilitators then delivered the 3-hr Bringing in the Bystander to other students in criminology, psychology, or business courses where the course values or content related to sexual assault prevention (Senn & Forrest, 2016). The 3-hr BIP was provided to students in those classes in place of a 3-hr lecture or as an additional mandatory workshop, and outcomes of students who received the program were evaluated. Students who received Bringing in the Bystander within their course curriculums improved their bystander self-efficacy, intentions to intervene, and proactive bystander behavior (e.g., talking about sexual violence and asking others about how to help those who have experienced sexual abuse or intimate partner violence; Senn & Forrest, 2016). Thus, BIPs appear to have positive effects on the students who receive them regardless of whether the BIP is delivered to students within or outside academic courses. Interestingly, although many BIPs are peer-facilitated (Jouriles et al., 2018), there is an absence of academic attention to how students who facilitate these programs may benefit from doing so.
Teachers of psychology may have difficulty using a two-course curriculum to train students to facilitate a BIP to their peers. Thus, models are needed for how students may both receive an evidence-based BIP and facilitate a BIP to others within one psychology course. TakeCare (Jouriles et al., 2016) is a 24-min evidence-based, bystander video that could be integrated into a psychology course for this purpose. The video presents information about sexual assault among college students, vignettes of risky situations college students encounter, and effective bystander responses to these risky situations (Jouriles et al., 2016). In four randomized, controlled trials, students who viewed TakeCare in a lab or on their own reported more bystander behaviors toward friends compared to students assigned to a control condition (Jouriles et al., 2016; Jouriles et al., 2017; Kleinsasser, Jouriles, McDonald, & Rosenfield, 2015). I am unaware of any academic papers that discuss how TakeCare may be integrated into academic courses to advance sexual assault education and prevention on campus. This article describes a service-learning and civic-engaged course in psychology that involved enrolled students (a) watching TakeCare and (b) facilitating delivery of TakeCare to students not enrolled in the course. This article does not provide evidence about the efficacy of TakeCare in reducing sexual assault or increasing student awareness nor does it provide data about the assessment of the course described.
The Course
Overview
This 400-level, undergraduate special topics course in psychology was entitled, Violence Against Women and Women’s Health. Course topics included research methods in the study of violence against women, childhood abuse, intimate partner violence, sex trafficking, sexual assault on college campuses, human trafficking, cumulative abuse, and strategies for both preventing violence (e.g., BIPs) and addressing the impact of violence on women and children’s health. The course was taught in the fall of 2017. 1 There were 15 undergraduate students in this course and 1 graduate student. Only the graduate student did not take the course for credit. I had taught this course 3 previous times, but this was the first time I taught the course with a service-learning and civic-engaged component. The service-learning and civic-engaged project for the course constituted 40% of the students’ grades. The project involved enrolled students viewing TakeCare and facilitating delivery of TakeCare to students who were not enrolled in this course. The project was broken into five parts described below.
Part 1: Watching the TakeCare Video and Reflecting on the Video’s Impact
In Week 6 of this 14-week course, students were shown a film about sexual assault on college campuses, The Hunting Ground (Ziering & Dick,2015) and the brief TakeCare video (Jouriles et al., 2016; Jouriles et al., 2017; Kleinsasser et al., 2015). I obtained the TakeCare video from E. N. Jouriles (personal communication, February 29, 2016). Also, students read one of the peer-reviewed journal articles evaluating the impact of the TakeCare video on students’ bystander behavior and answered 10 questions about that article (Jouriles et al., 2016).
Class discussions focused on students’ thinking about the film, the video, and the peer-reviewed journal article about TakeCare (Jouriles et al., 2016). In class, students discussed their reactions to the TakeCare video and considered whether the information provided in the video could help them in dangerous situations they have seen. Students discussed barriers to using positive bystander behaviors, and we discussed strategies for how students may intervene in risky situations while also staying safe. I asked students whether they thought the positive effects of TakeCare could be enhanced with more interactive student involvement as the authors of TakeCare speculated (Jouriles et al., 2016). The students and I generated ideas for how to enhance the effects of the video through more interactive student involvement.
Part 2: Recruiting Students to Attend the Bystander Intervention Sessions
Students worked in groups of three (with the exception of the graduate student who worked alone) to recruit specific groups students who were not enrolled in this course (i.e., veterans, Greeks, athletes, LGBTQ, residents, and members of the student government association) to attend 1-hr meetings they would facilitate about sexual assault prevention. These sessions were held immediately after class meetings and during the free period on campus when students were not attending academic courses. The goal was for each of the six groups in this class to recruit 30 students who were not in this class to attend the session the group would facilitate. Each group created a recruitment flyer to inform other students about the meeting they would facilitate. The flyers asked interested students to please reply (RSVP) for the sessions. Before students distributed their flyers to others, they received feedback from the other students in this class and me about how to improve the flyer. Each group was given the contact information for one liaison that could help them recruit the students they were seeking to attend the session (e.g., veterans, athletes).
Students posted recruitment flyers about the sessions on the university mobile application and sent flyers through listservs. Also, they distributed flyers directly to students who were in the campus center, student meetings, and other classes. One student from each group confirmed with me the number of students who RSVP’d for each session. We discussed obstacles to recruiting students to these sessions in class along with strategies for overcoming those obstacles. Nevertheless, some student groups were difficult to recruit to attend the bystander sessions. After few students had RSVP’d for the sessions for students who were veterans or in a fraternity or sorority, those sessions were opened to all students.
Part 3: Preparing for Peer-Facilitate the Bystander Intervention Sessions
During the peer-facilitated meetings, each of the six groups showed their peers TakeCare and then used 25–30 min to both enhance the effects of TakeCare on attendees’ positive bystander behavior through more student interaction (e.g., discussion of barriers to bystander behavior and ways to overcome those barriers, emphasis by student facilitators for attendees to do something to prevent sexual assault or help those who have been affected, and discussion of specific bystander behaviors attendees could do in different scenarios) and inform students about related services on campus. Each group submitted a rough draft proposal that described the aims of their session, session activities (e.g., discussion of barriers to bystander behavior and ways to overcome those barriers, discussion of different risky situations students have experienced), and facilitator role with the session activities. To inform enrolled students about related campus resources and services, the associate dean of students came to one class meeting and provided each student with brochures about sexual assault, sexual assault prevention, and related services on campus. The same materials were provided to all of the students who attended the bystander meetings.
Each of the six groups received feedback on their rough draft proposals from other students in class and me. Each group subsequently revised their session proposals based upon the feedback they received and submitted final proposals when they facilitated their sessions. Students had time in class to plan their session activities, and I offered all groups the opportunity to do a practice run of their session in class. Two groups sought that opportunity and obtained additional feedback about their session activities and facilitation skills. Students who practiced their session in class all reported that doing so was helpful to them.
Part 4: Facilitating the Bystander Intervention Sessions With Peers Not in This Course
Although not a requirement, each of the peer-facilitated sessions used PowerPoint slides to facilitate their discussion/activities with session attendees. The student activities/discussion that followed TakeCare focused on providing session attendees with the following: (1) information about the prevalence of sexual assault on the university campus including rates reported by certain student populations (i.e., LGBTQ students), (2) related services for students, (3) barriers to positive bystander behaviors and ways to overcome those barriers, (4) personal examples of when session facilitators had benefitted from the positive bystander behavior of others, (5) findings from evidence-based BIPs including TakeCare, and (6) various strategies for intervening in a dangerous situation (e.g., distracting). Facilitators emphasized the need for session attendees to do something to prevent sexual assault.
Students in this course facilitated delivery of TakeCare to 156 other students on campus during the six, 1-hr sessions. The number of students who attended each of the peer-facilitated sessions varied from 12 to 55 students. Although students were asked to RSVP for the sessions they attended, only about a quarter of students who attended the sessions had RSVP’d. Thus, the student facilitators rarely had a firm idea of how many students were going to attend their sessions. Students who attended the peer-facilitated meetings received US$10 and pizza for their participation, which was provided by the associate dean of students. Members of student health services were also outside each peer-facilitated session to provide students with additional educational materials and provide supportive services to any students distressed by the content of the sessions. Of note, no adverse student reactions were reported.
Part 5: Reflecting on the Project
Students were asked to reflect on this project several times throughout the semester. They considered the impact of TakeCare on them and their behavior immediately after viewing the video, approximately 4 weeks after viewing the video and at the end of the semester (approximately 8 weeks after viewing the video). During one of the last classes, students submitted three-page reflection papers about the service-learning and engaged civic learning project including their views about the strengths and weaknesses of the sessions they facilitated with their peers. One class meeting was devoted to students sharing their reflections about the entire project and its impact on them. In the last class, I provided an overview of each of the groups’ bystander sessions noting three strengths for each group and summarizing my impressions of the most and least effective strategies for these sessions overall. The associate dean of students attended this last class, presented students with certificates of appreciation that acknowledged their work, and offered all the students paid positions to continue facilitating sexual assault prevention efforts on campus during the subsequent semester.
Recommendations for Implementing Techniques Described in Other Psychology Courses
Teachers of psychology have been called to educate students about sexual assault (Courtois & Gold, 2009) and use service learning (APA, 2019; Conway et al., 2009). The techniques described in this article could be integrated into other psychology courses including abnormal psychology, research methods, and social psychology to develop more service-learning courses in psychology that both teach students about sexual assault and advance sexual assault prevention on campus. These psychology courses could align course learning objectives with sexual assault education and prevention on campus. For example, course objectives for abnormal psychology could include students learning about the effects of interpersonal violence on mental health and working to prevent interpersonal violence and related mental health problems. Course objectives for research methods could include students learning about the experimental evidence for BIPs and disseminating evidence-based BIPs to their peers. Course objectives for social psychology could include students learning about prosocial behaviors (e.g., positive bystander behaviors) and working to increase positive bystander behaviors among their peers. Each of these courses could have enrolled students do the same service-learning and civic-engaged activities described in this article.
Benefits of Using the Service-Learning and Engaged Civic Techniques Described
The course described likely benefited students who were in the class and students who attended the peer-facilitated sessions, and it provided a service to the campus. Anecdotal reports from students in this course suggest that the course activities helped them (a) learn skills for intervening in risky situations, (b) improve their knowledge about sexual assault, (c) develop professional skills (e.g., public speaking, project planning, and project implementation), and (d) enhanced their pride. I think the work that students did would also be of interest to future employers and graduate programs because it provides an illustration of how students work in teams, work to translate empirical evidence to practice, and help address major public health problems. In addition, each of the students in this course received the Chancellor’s award for student civic engagement in the spring of 2018. Anecdotal evidence from students who attended the peer-facilitated sessions where they watched TakeCare suggests that these students learned about sexual assault and related services on campus.
Teaching this course was also very rewarding for me. I watched students grow in their commitment to sexual assault prevention, confidence, and leadership abilities. As students overcame project obstacles, they increased their confidence and gained new insights into what they would do differently if given the opportunity to do the project again. I valued the opportunity to see my students facilitate the sessions with their peers as my students presented themselves in different ways than in the classroom. For example, some showed more passion and enthusiasm while facilitating the session and professionalism in their dress and speech.
Students appeared to have learned a lot from working together on this project and it was rewarding to watch them support each other. Even though students completed the project in six groups, there was a sense of class cohesion and students worked to support members of other groups and assist them with recruiting students or improving their sessions. It was incredibly rewarding to have my students receive public acknowledgment.
Challenges
Of course, there were also a number of challenges in executing the service-learning and civic-engaged course project. One of the biggest challenges was recruiting students to attend the peer-facilitated sessions. Students reported that it was difficult to recruit students to the sessions. Some students reported that their liaison did not assist them with recruiting students. Many students who attended the sessions did not RSVP, so the facilitators were not sure whether or how many students would attend their session. It may have been even more difficult to recruit students to attend these sessions had money and lunch not been provided to session attendees by the associate dean of students. Thus, the associate dean of students played an important role in supporting the course activities. Members of the Division of Student affairs also supported the peer-facilitated sessions by coming to the sessions to provide session attendees with the incentive, educational materials, and support if needed. Also, students in this course reported busy schedules that made it difficult for them to coordinate times to meet with their co-facilitators outside of class to prepare for their sessions.
Future Directions
There is a need for integrating the model described into other psychology courses and for embedding the peer-facilitated bystander sessions into other psychology courses as well, since doing so may eliminate challenges to student recruitment and costs for paying students to attend these sessions. Embedding the peer-facilitated sessions into other courses may also improve the wider dissemination of prevention programs as has been called for (Orchowski et al., 2018). Students could facilitate the 1-hr bystander sessions to their peers in other psychology courses in lieu of a course lectures as was done for a 3-hr BIP (Senn & Forrest, 2016). Both the learning of students who facilitate delivery to TakeCare to their peers within psychology courses and the learning of students who watch TakeCare in peer-facilitated sessions need to be evaluated. Additionally, experimental studies are needed which examine whether the peer-facilitated sessions delivering TakeCare to students are more effective than the video alone in improving students’ positive bystander behaviors.
Conclusions
Sexual assault remains a significant health problem affecting college students, and BIPs are one of the main strategies used to prevent sexual assault among students (Jouriles et al., 2018; Katz & Moore, 2013; Storer, Casey, & Herrenkohl, 2016). There is a need to advance sexual assault education and prevention on campus by integrating BIPs into undergraduate psychology courses. This article provides a model for how this may be done within one psychology course, and the techniques described may be integrated into other psychology courses. By integrating BIPs into their courses, teachers of psychology may educate students and provide students with roles and skills for anti-violence work as well as serve as leaders of interpersonal violence prevention on the campus (Graham et al., 2018).
Footnotes
Acknowledgment
The author would like to thank Allison Wisniewski, the associate dean of students at Rutgers University–Camden campus, for supporting the course described.
Declaration of Conflicting Interests
The author declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
Funding
The author disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: The course described was supported with funding provided by the Associate Dean of Students at Rutgers University-Camden.