Who Will Help?
Engaging Communities in
Interpersonal Violence Prevention
Victoria L. Banyard, Ph.D.
Psychology & Prevention Innovations
University of New Hampshire
Victoria.banyard@unh.edu
2011 Bystander Summit, SUNY Oneonta
Overview
• Translating bystander research into prevention
• Formative evaluation: Lessons Learned
– Implementation
– Diffusion of innovation
• Outcome evaluation: Does it work?
How do we promote positive
bystander intervention?
Notice event +
need for help
Empathy
Assume
responsibility
Social Norms
Pros and cons
including safety
Perceived
efficacy
Skill set +
experience
Choose from
options
Provide
help
Adapted from Latane and
Darley and Dovidio.
AWARENESS/KNOWLEDGE
• Need to notice risk factors
• Need to define the situation
as problematic
• Perceived susceptibility and
severity (Health Belief
Model)
• Cues to action (HBM)
• Asked to intervene
• Community specific stories,
examples, data
RESPONSIBILITY
• Characteristics of the bystander
• Perceptions of the victim
– Victim empathy
– In-group versus out-group status
• Social norms
– Against sexual violence
– In favor of intervention (TPB)
• Being asked (cues to action)
• Characteristics of the situation
• Diffusion and facilitation
PROS/CONS/PERSONAL SAFETY
• Health behavior theories
support decision process for
new behaviors – weigh pros
and cons
• Bystander research also
shows cost/benefit analysis
• Safety nets for bystanders
• Social norms to support
helpful intervention
• Audience inhibition
(Berkowitz)
CONFIDENCE AND SKILLS FOR ACTION
• Increase
confidence/efficacy
• Need specific skill
building
• Need role models (POLS
research)
• Need range of options
(MVP program)
• Beliefs about outcomes
(TPB)
Empirical Support for the Situational
Model:
Studies of Bystander Behavior and
Relationship Violence
Attitudes
Beta
0.3
0.2
0.1
***
***
**
*
**
0
-0.1
-0.2
Beta
-0.3
-0.4
-0.5
-0.6
-0.7
***
Banyard, V. L. (2008). Measurement and correlates of pro-social bystander behavior:
The case of interpersonal violence. Violence and Victims, 23, 83-97.
Broader Bystander Behaviors
Longitudinal Predictors of
Behavior: Attitudes matter
***
Banyard, V. L. (2008). Measurement and correlates of pro-social bystander behavior:
The case of interpersonal violence. Violence and Victims, 23, 83-97.
Complexities
• Gender
• Age
• Who is helped?
– Friends versus strangers
– Victims versus perpetrators
• Typology of helping
• Which models better predict behavior?
• Environmental contexts (e.g. community size;
sense of community)
Theories of Health Behavior Change:
Lessons from Prevention
• Parallels
– Readiness for Change process
– Key variables from Social/cog model, TPB, HBM:
•
•
•
•
•
Knowledge
Personal attitudes and Peer norms
Confidence/efficacy
Beliefs about outcomes (pros and cons)
Behavioral intention
Founding Bystander Programs
• Founding Programs:
– Jackson Katz – Mentors in Violence Prevention (MVP)
– Alan Berkowitz
• Recent Programs
– Bringing in the Bystander (UNH)
– Foubert – The Men’s Program
– Edwards - SEEDS
• Theater Programs
– InterACT – California State University
– No Zebras – Central Michigan
– iScream – Rutgers - McMahon
Shared components
• Use of discussion and active learning
• Visualization exercises
– build empathy
– Connect material to participants’ felt experience
• Practice scenerios
– Model and practice skills
– Practice applying to own experience
• Increase awareness
– Debunk myths
– Provide information to reduce ambiguity
• Directly ask people to play a role
• Need for evaluation data
Bringing in the Bystander ™
• Social marketing campaign (Potter &
Stapleton)
• In-person educational workshop (Moynihan,
Eckstein, Banyard)
© University of New Hampshire
The Program: Specific content
• What is a bystander?
• Victim empathy
• Defining scope of sexual violence
– causes and consequences
– Consent 101
• Range of safe interventions for bystanders
– Modeling range of skills
– Reviewing community resources
• Emphasis on bystander safety
• Pledge to intervene
• Bystander plan
A Local Example: Stoke Hall Gang Rape
1987
• Three men gang raped a
woman in 1987 in Stoke
Hall, a residence hall at
UNH.
• The victim transferred to
another University.
• Two of three offenders
plead guilty to
misdemeanor sexual
assault for which they
would each spend 2
months in prison.
Small Group Work
Ask participants to:
•
•
•
•
•
think of examples when they did or did not intervene
think of examples when they saw someone else intervene
think of examples when someone intervened on their behalf
discuss and list the reasons they did or did not intervene
share how they felt about their experiences, what impact it had
on them
• discuss if it is easier or more difficult to intervene when it’s a
friend or a stranger, and why?
Responsibility


















BYSTANDER PLEDGE
I pledge to
Express my outrage about rape and all forms of sexual violence.
Talk to other community members about sexual violence.
Interrupt sexist jokes that objectify women and girls.
Seek information about why sexual violence is so prevalent in our
society and how I can help prevent it.
Change anything I may be doing that contributes to sexual violence.
Support and encourage men and women to take responsibility for
ending sexual violence.
Listen to my friends’ and partners’ fears and concerns for safety.
Pay attention to cries for help and take action.
Challenge images of violence against women in advertising and
entertainment.
Support women and men working together to end sexual violence.
Nurture myself and be aware of my personal safety.
Believe and support women, children, and men who have
experienced any form of sexual violence.
_____________________________________
Name and Date
_____________________________________
Witness and Date
Decision making process
Decision Making Process
QUESTIONS TO ASK BEFORE I TAKE ACTION:
• Am I aware there is a problem or risky situation?
• Do I recognize someone needs help?
• Do I see others and myself as part of the solution?
QUESTIONS TO ASK DURING THE SITUATION:
• How can I keep myself safe?
• What are my available options?
• Are there others I may call upon for help?
• What are the benefits/costs for taking action?
DECISION TO TAKE ACTION:
• When to act?
• Resources: people, phone, etc available?
• ACT
Close up
Least safe
With others
Alone
Most safe
Distant
NUMBERS TO CALL
Emergency or Police
911
Sexual Harassment and Rape Prevention Program
862-SAFE (7233) (SHARPP)
New Hampshire Statewide Toll Free Hotlines
1-866-644-3574 (Domestic Violence)
1-800-277-5570 (Sexual Assault)
For more information about Bringing in the
Bystander contact
www.unh.edu/preventioninnovations
prevention.innovations@unh.edu
QUESTIONS TO ASK BEFORE I TAKE ACTION
Am I aware there is a problem or risky situation?
Do I recognize someone needs help?
Do I see others and myself as part of the solution?
QUESTIONS TO ASK DURING THE SITUATION
How can I keep myself safe?
What are my available options?
Are there others I may call upon for help?
What are the benefits/costs for taking action?
DECISION TO TAKE ACTION
When to act?
Are resources available (people, phone,
information)?
ACT
The ABCs of Intervention
“Active Bystanders Care”
Assess for safety.
Be with others.
Care for victim.
Bringing In the BystanderTM
A Prevention Workshop for Establishing a Community of
Responsibility ©
Plante, Banyard, Moynihan, Eckstein
HOW TO INTERVENE SAFELY
Call police or someone else in authority.
Tell another person. Being with others is a good
idea when a situation looks dangerous.
Yell for help.
Ask a friend in a potentially dangerous situation
if he/she wants to leave and then make sure that
he/she gets home safely.
Ask a victim if he/she is okay. Provide options and
a listening ear.
Call the local crisis center for support and
options.
See telephone numbers on the back of this card.
SCENARIO THREE:
You are walking down the hall to catch the elevator to go to your room. When
you pass a dorm room on the first floor you hear a man and a woman
yelling at each other. The man is calling the woman a “slut” and other
names.
Decision Making Process:
People have arguments all the time…is this my business? Have they been
drinking?…I wonder if this argument will escalate and someone is at risk of
being physically hurt…will someone else call the police if it
continues?…should I go get my RA? What am I supposed to do?
Pros and cons of each option:
Nothing. It is none of my business.
Go to my room and come down in an hour to see if they are still “going at it.”
Go get my RA and discuss it with her/him.
Call 911.
Your own idea:_____________________________________
What do you do? How do you stay safe?
* Format adapted with permission from Katz, Mentors in Violence Prevention
PERSONAL PLAN OF ACTION
SCENARIO:____________________________________
_______________________
DECISION MAKING
PROCESS:___________________________________
__
PLAN OF
ACTION:____________________________________
________
_____________________________________________
___________________________
Stages of Change
• Denial and precontemplation: lower efficacy
and higher rape myth acceptance, cons
outweigh pros
• Contemplation: greater knowledge, intent,
confidence, pros outweigh cons
• Action: greater helping and confidence
(cost/benefit not significant)
Rape Myth Acceptance
Decisional Balance
Experimental Evaluation
Experimental evaluation
3 conditions
Control
One-session treatment
Three-session treatment
Longitudinal design
Part of this project was supported by Grant No. 2202-WG-BX-0009 awarded by the National Institute of Justice, Office of
Justice Programs, U.S. Dept. of Justice. Points of view in this presentation are those of the authors and do not necessarily
represent the official position or policies of the U.S. Dept. of Justice
Participants
389 undergraduates (172 men ; 217 women)
Exclusionary criteria: participants excluded if not
traditional college age and if had received prior
training as peer advisor or advocate at sexual
assault crisis center.
Retention rate 75-94%
Outcomes
• Knowledge
• Efficacy
• Attitudes
–Rape myth acceptance
–Willingness to help
–Pros and cons of being a bystander
• Self-reported bystander behavior
Hypothesis: Program will be effective
• Repeated measures using measure of social
desirability as covariate across 3 time points
(pre-, post-, 2 mo).
– Significant time x group interaction
• No gender differences in program effects
• Some persistence of effects at 4 and 12
months
Banyard et al (2007). Sexual violence prevention through bystander education:
An experimental evaluation. Journal of Community Psychology, 35, 463-481.
Knowledge
Helping Intention
Decisional balance: Total
Bystander Behaviors
Percentage improving by at least 1 SD
Percentage worsening by at least 1 SD
Next Steps
CDC grant
•
•
•
•
2 campuses
Cohort Effects
Social marketing as booster for program
Community surveys
Collaboration with Residential Life
• Who helps? An ecological model
– Intrapersonal: women, first year students; those
who spend less time drinking, watching TV and
videogames, those who study more, prosocial
tendencies
– Interactional: Higher floor sense of community;
Higher campus sense of community; Those
involved in student orgs
– Exosystem: size of living situation
Context and Behavior
Acknowledgements
Mary Moynihan, UNH
Jane Stapleton, UNH
Sharyn Potter, UNH
Bobby Eckstein, UNH
Mary Mayhew and the staff of SHARPP
Angela Borges
Our Umass Lowell partners: Linda Williams, Alison Cares,
Mary Frederick
Elizabethe Plante
Grace Mattern and the NH Coalition Against Domestic and
Sexual Violence
Our teams of graduate and undergraduate peer educators
and research assistants.
UNH Office of Residential Life
Research participants who gave their time to the projects