Awareness and support: students’ views about the prevention of sexual assault on UK campuses
ISSN: 0965-4283
Article publication date: 4 July 2018
Issue publication date: 24 July 2018
Abstract
Purpose
Sexual assault is prevalent on UK University campuses, and prevention efforts are being increased. However, at present there is limited evidence about UK students’ attitudes towards sexual assault prevention and what they think should be done to effectively address the issue. The purpose of this paper is to explore these views to provide a foundation for the development of a new intervention.
Design/methodology/approach
A cross-sectional anonymous online survey was completed by 515 students (73 per cent women; M age: 21.56; 79 per cent heterosexual; and 82.9 per cent white). There were quantitative questions about experiences of sexual assault, attitudes towards sexual consent and victim blaming. Qualitative data were collected regarding participants’ views on what universities should do to target sexual assault.
Findings
In line with previous studies, the authors found evidence of commonplace and normalised sexual assault behaviours. Women had more positive attitudes towards explicit consent than men, and were less likely to blame victims of sexual assault who had been drinking. Consent behaviour was predicted by positive views towards consent and lower levels of blaming. Themes relating to “awareness”, “attitudes”, “environment” and “opposition” were identified in the qualitative data.
Practical implications
Findings highlight the importance of engaging with students to develop effective prevention measures. Students are likely to find university-led prevention strategies acceptable, but this topic needs to be addressed in the context of the prevailing culture, which may provide an environment where certain behaviours are tolerated. New prevention programmes need to treat the issue as one that is relevant to all students and not just target men as perpetrators and women as victims. Such strategies need to do more than treat this as an isolated issue, to which the solution is re-education about the meaning of consent.
Originality/value
There is at present a lack of research evidence about UK students’ views on sexual assault prevention. This exploratory survey highlights areas for consideration when developing new interventions.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The authors are grateful to the participants for sharing their experiences and views. The authors would like to give special thanks to Becca Harrington, Bekah Bellward and Emma-Ben Lewis and the students who helped developed the measures for their feedback and help in constructing the survey items.
Statement of contribution: Sarah-Jayne Camp, Anna C. Sherlock-Smith and Emma L. Davies jointly conceived the study, developed the measures and collected the data. Sarah-Jayne Camp led the analysis and initial drafts of the manuscript. Emma L. Davies and Anna C. Sherlock-Smith contributed to the literature review and analysis, and edited further drafts of the manuscript and Emma L. Davies revised the manuscript. All authors contributed to and agreed on the final version of the manuscript.
Citation
Camp, S.-J., Sherlock-Smith, A.C. and Davies, E.L. (2018), "Awareness and support: students’ views about the prevention of sexual assault on UK campuses", Health Education, Vol. 118 No. 5, pp. 431-446. https://doi.org/10.1108/HE-02-2018-0007
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2018, Emerald Publishing Limited