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Supporting sexual assault survivors through on campus education/liaison programs: a descriptive case study
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Supporting sexual assault survivors through on campus education/liaison programs: a descriptive case study
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Content
Running head: SUPPORTING SEXUAL ASSAULT SURVIVORS 1
Supporting sexual assault survivors through on campus education/liaison programs:
A descriptive case study
Jacqueline Rosenberg
University of Southern California
A Thesis presented to the
FACULTY OF THE ROSSIER SCHOOL OF EDUCATION
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In partial fulfillment of the
requirements for the degree of
MASTER OF EDUCATION
(POSTSECONDARY ADMINISTRATION AND STUDENT AFFAIRS)
May 2019
SUPPORTING SEXUAL ASSAULT SURVIVORS 2
Table of contents
Chapter 1: Overview of the study................................................................................................... 4
Problem statement............................................................................................................. 10
Purpose of the study.......................................................................................................... 10
Background…………………………………………………………............................... 10
Significance of the study……………………………………………............................... 12
Methodology...................................................................................…………………….. 13
Organization of thesis…………………………………………………………………... 15
Chapter 2: Literature review…………………………………………………............................. 16
A case for support services for survivors on campus…………………………………... 18
Barriers for Survivors. ………………………………………………............................. 24
New institutional interventions………………………………………............................. 25
Themes in past research. ……………………………………………………………...... 28
Gaps in the research literature. ......................................................................................... 29
Limitations & disagreements............................................................................................ 29
Conceptual framework. ………………………………………………............................ 30
Conclusion.........................................................................................................................33
Chapter 3: Research design and methodology.............................................................................. 35
Research design................................................................................................................ 35
Methods………………………………………………………………….........................36
Sample recruitment and selection......................................................................................37
Sample………………………………………………………………….......................... 39
Data collection methods…………………………………………………....................... 40
Data analysis procedures.................................................................................................. 43
Trustworthiness ............................................................................................................... 44
Limitations....................................................................................................................... 45
Chapter 4: Findings...................................................................................................................... 47
Community connection……............................................................................................ 48
Support............................................................................................................................. 53
Growth………….. …………………………………………………….......................... 59
Conclusion.................................................................................... ……........................... 63
Chapter 5: Discussion & Recommendations................................................................................ 64
Potential implication......................................................................................................... 64
Do the sexual assault survivors find the current or new practices offered/sponsored by the
university effective or helpful?……………………………………................................. 65
Do the student liaisons and Greek Letter Organization chapter members feel that they are
being trained in a way that provides them with the tools to provide adequate support for
sexual violence survivors?…………………………........................................................ 68
Recommendations............................................................................................................. 69
Limitations to study.......................................................................................................... 71
Conclusion………………………………………………………………........................ 72
Future Areas of Research……………………………………………….......................... 73
Appendices………………………………………………………………………........................ 75
Appendix A: long survey questions………………………………………….................. 75
Appendix B: short survey questions………………………………………..................... 79
SUPPORTING SEXUAL ASSAULT SURVIVORS 3
Appendix C: short survey data……………………………………………...................... 80
References…………………………………………………………………………..................... 82
SUPPORTING SEXUAL ASSAULT SURVIVORS 4
Chapter 1: Overview of Study
Recent news sources and current events have shed light on the alarming amount of sexual
violence acts committed by athletes, businessmen, and other notable persons in the public eye.
Both men and women are stepping forward and reporting sexual abuse. This trend in news
coverage lags behind years of research conducted on sexual misconduct on college campuses.
With this new onslaught of information on the frequency of occurrences of sexual misconduct,
the nation may become more receptive to initiatives of prevention and support that institutions
have been investing in. While this study focused on college campus sexual assault, it is important
to acknowledge the differences and experiences of sexual assault survivors who are women,
men, or gender nonconforming (GNC). These differences are a key piece in this research in order
to make comprehensive recommendations and suggestions for further research and programs.
The journey of women through education has always been a challenging one. Though the
first institution was founded in 1636, women were not admitted to colleges for another 200
years. Women did not attend college in equal numbers as men until the 1980’s. Women have
been striving to gain the same educational experiences as men since the very beginning of the
institutions themselves. Present day institutions try their best to create equity for their female
students by providing equal opportunity to participate in sports, join single gendered
organizations, and live in single gendered apartments. The female college experience has
bloomed to become rich in opportunities and experiences, yet women in college are three times
as likely to be sexually assaulted as the overall population of women (Campus Sexual Violence,
2014). During their first year of college, a quarter of women will experience attempted or
completed rape (Campus Sexual Violence, 2014). College aged women are more likely to be
sexually assaulted by someone they know; 9 in 10 women who were raped knew their rapist
(Sable, Danis, Mauzy, & Gallagher, 2010). Sable et. al understood the effect of a gendered
SUPPORTING SEXUAL ASSAULT SURVIVORS 5
stereotypes on the reporting of sexual violence (2010). Society portraying women as seductive or
temptresses interferes with reporting because women who press charges may be seen as a
seductress who egged on her attacker. Additionally, the stress is put on women to not dress in a
way that conveys “asking for it” or not engage in potentially risky situations instead of stressing
that others should not rape. These stereotypes and ideas are just perpetuating rape culture on
college campuses. Sexual assault and unwanted contact should not be a part of the collegiate
experience. Sexual assault reporting rates for women are much higher than their male and GNC
counterparts, but are still widely underreported due to fear of retaliation, feelings of shame or
helplessness. These same feelings appear for men and GNC individuals as well.
For men, there is significantly less literature on their sexual assault experience. Help and
support for male victims is decades behind programs that readily available for female victims
(Rogers, 1998). As one example, Hickson et al. (1994) surveyed 1000 men and 30% stated that
they had experienced some form of sexual violence. Though Hickson et al’s study only sampled
1000 mean, an assumption could be made about the prevalence of rape in the greater male
population. The disparity of support services for men versus women is created by the stigmas
that surround male rape and reporting that rape. Men sometimes chose not to report because they
perceive that this may jeopardize their masculine identity (Sable et. al, 2010). They feel the same
shame, guilt, and embarrassment that women express feeling after being raped. In a study done
in 1993, 80% of the heterosexual victims who were sexually assaulted experienced long term
turmoil over their sexual identity; for some of these victims, this was their first homosexual
experience (Walker). The barrier of shame and embarrassment is a much bigger barrier for
reporting for men than it is for women (Sable et. al, 2010). Additionally, heterosexual male
sexual assault survivors also expect that if they report they were assaulted, they will be perceived
SUPPORTING SEXUAL ASSAULT SURVIVORS 6
as gay by their peers (Sable et. al, 2010). This fear only causes assaults to be underreported and
survivors to be left unsupported.
A misperception exists that men cannot be raped, which only portrays males as the only
ones who can commit rape, which is also untrue. While homosexual men are at a much greater
risk of being sexually assaulted because they can experience partner rape and homophobic rape,
the occurrence of male rape is not exclusive to the gay community (Walker, Archer, & Davies,
2004). The misconception further establishes a stigma that the sexual orientation of the survivor
should be used as an explanation for the assault. Male sexual assault survivors should be able to
seek help without their sexual orientation being questioned. The fear of judgment for seeking
help is only creating barriers in reporting sexual assault and eventually learning more about
sexual assault. Research on male rape and the barriers men face when reporting could change
rape theory and show it as a crime of power and not just an expression of unmet sexual needs
(Sable et. al, 2010). Without this additional research on males and the limited resources geared
toward men, the negative consequences of sexual trauma are exacerbated alongside the
difficulties men have in disclosing their trauma (Tomlinson & Harrison, 1998).
Gender nonconforming (GNC) victims of sexual assault report their assault even less than
people who identify as male or female. However, various research studies on this population
have come to find an average of 50% of GNC individuals have experienced unwanted sexual
contact, which could range from harassment to rape (Stotzer, 2009). GNC sexual assault
survivors reported that the biggest percentage of their perpetrators were people that they knew,
and had the smallest percentage of perpetrators that were a casual or primary partner (Stotzer,
2009). Barriers to reporting for GNC sexual assault victims included retaliation from the
perpetrator, potential abuse by hospitals, and feeling as though reporting would not make a
SUPPORTING SEXUAL ASSAULT SURVIVORS 7
difference (Stotzer, 2009). Though resources are limited for GNC sexual assault victims, the
National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs (NCAVP) has taken a step in the right direction
toward creating programs and resources for GNC individuals. NCAVP has begun collecting data
on occurrences of GNC violence (Stotzer, 2009). This data is descriptive in nature, so it only
details the type of crime, the perpetrator, the location, demographic information, and extent of
injuries. Further research could use the data from the NCAVP to identify areas with a high need
for support programs as well as tailor programs to fit the type of violence occurring. However,
reports from the NCAVP and local police may be skewed since some crimes against GNC
individuals are miss categorized as lesbian, bisexual, or gay hate crimes because officers and
researchers are unfamiliar with the label of GNC. Though the issue of GNC hate crimes has
slowly been brought to light, there is not yet enough information to gauge the severity or
consequences of these crimes. A study on suicide rates among GNC individuals did show a
staggering statistic about the rate of suicides and attempts. Almost 80% of GNC individuals who
had experienced sexual violence in college stated that this incident greatly influenced their
thoughts of suicide or suicide attempt (Haas, Rodgers, & Herman, 2014). This study stated that
recognizing the struggle and individuality of the experience of GNC individuals can function as a
suicide prevention technique and a positive way to support GNC individuals (Haas et al., 2014).
Research on the different gender identities and their sexual assault survivors is an important
contribution toward the overall goal of tailoring support and education services to meet the needs
of a varying population. There are commonalities that exist among the different identities that
can provide a base for constructing support programs and sensitivity trainings.
Unfortunately, campus sexual assault rates have only been increasing. A study that
analyzed the prevalence of sexual assault on college campuses from the last fifteen years found
SUPPORTING SEXUAL ASSAULT SURVIVORS 8
that there was an increase over the last decade and a half of sexual assaults or attempts (Vladutiu,
Martin, & Macy, 2010). Though the rates of increase on each campus varied greatly, the fact
remains that sexual assault is on the rise in America in various types and sizes of institutions.
College campuses are doing what they can to be proactive about this issue. Though awareness
and educational programs are now prevalent at universities, college campus communities have
seen little effect by way of actually preventing the assaults themselves (Yeater, 1999).
Institutions are focusing on preventative tactics to combat these rates, but little support for these
victims after their attempted or completed rape is provided. As the rates rise, the need for support
becomes more and more prevalent. There have been positive outcomes for victims who come
into contact with peers who are sensitivity-trained to respond to sexual assault disclosure and
provide information to the victim (Orchowski & Gidycz, 2015). In order to prevent negative
outcomes for survivors, these sensitivity trainings are necessary to prepare peers to become
support systems. Literature finds that there is a need for these programs and urges campuses to
provide for that need (Relyea & Ullman, 2015).
Through anonymous surveys, this study investigated the experiences of different students
and staff members as they interacted with a program created to provide peer education to the
institution’s Greek Letter Organization (GLO) community. The program being studied focuses
on training GLO chapter members on issues of domestic violence, stalking, and sexual assault. A
member from each GLO chapter is chosen to serve as the liaison for their chapter. That liaison
comes to weekly training sessions hosted by the university’s sexual assault resource center with
each week’s training session covering a different topic. These sessions include information on
how to prevent violence and how to care for the person who has experienced the violence. Each
week the liaison must return to their chapter and provide that same information to their peers
SUPPORTING SEXUAL ASSAULT SURVIVORS 9
during the chapter’s meetings. The participants in this study were the student liaisons, program
director, student liaison coordinator, GLO community members, and sexual assault survivors.
The study also investigated the experiences of the student liaison coordinator, the full
time staff member overseeing the program, and sexual assault survivors who have used the
resources provided by this program. The chapter members who received these peer trainings
participated through short surveys about the effectiveness of these trainings. The liaisons and
coordinators completed a long survey about their individual experiences and thoughts they had
while participating in this program and how the program affected them. These long surveys
contained open ended questions. Through the short survey, this study polled the members of the
GLO chapters about if they have used the services provided by the program and about the
reception/usefulness of the educational sessions presented to them. These short survey results
obtained quantitative data about the perceived effectiveness of the program. The short survey
was only given to chapter members who currently had a student liaison in the program at the
time of the study. The principal investigator went to each chapter participating in the study to
brief the GLO chapter members on the voluntary nature of the study and answered any clarifying
questions. The study was guided by the following overarching research question:
● What interventions at this public institution are in place in order to support sexual assault
survivors on campus?
a. How do these interventions aid students’ reintegration into a college campus?
To learn more about the effectiveness of the program’s resources, the following questions also
informed the study:
● Do the sexual assault survivors find the current or new practices offered by the university
effective or helpful?
SUPPORTING SEXUAL ASSAULT SURVIVORS 10
● Do the student liaisons and GLO chapter members feel that they are being trained in a
way that provides them with the tools to provide adequate support for sexual violence
survivors?
Problem statement
Collegiate sexual assault survivors are not being met with the proper support services in
order for them to reintegrate themselves into their college communities. Negative coping
methods are related to insufficient support post-assault, but most college campuses do not have
the programs or trainings available to survivors or their peers in order to combat this.
Purpose of the study
The purpose of this research was to examine the effectiveness of a current support
program at a public institution in preparing the program’s members for supporting sexual assault
victims within their own community and to evaluate the interventions provided by the institution
for effectiveness from a survivor perspective. The research showed the effects that the program
had on the community, members of the program, and the survivors by its ability to provide the
specialized support and trainings. Through surveys, the students and staff at a public four year
institution communicated their thoughts and feelings of this support program. The study found
that these programs helped survivors cope with their trauma, feel more supported and connected
with their community, and connect them with necessary resources.
Background
Higher education institutions have been active in creating prevention campaigns for
sexual assault. In California, the University of California system’s president increased their
funding for preventative efforts from $67,000 in 2013 to $1.6 million for 2016-17 (Watanabe &
Xia, 2017). Though sexual assault prevention programs are prevalent on college campuses,
SUPPORTING SEXUAL ASSAULT SURVIVORS 11
support for the post-assault period usually only extends to legal options for the survivors to
pursue. These preventative efforts, while helpful in combating the rates of sexual assault on
campus, do not provide for the reality that there will be attempted and completed assault victims
that need to be able to cope with what comes next for them.
Title IX is a federal law that prohibits sex discrimination, which includes sexual assault
or harassment, in any program that receives federal funding. A university now has the
responsibility to respond to sexual violence and is held accountable when the university
knowingly ignores incidents of sexual violence. This federal law created a big push for
prevention techniques and resources for sexual assault victims. Universities were now going to
be legally obligated to act on issues of sexual harassment and sexual violence. Title IX helps
with the creation of such resources and services in order for institutions to fulfill their legal
obligation to their student body. This federal law causes universities to be more active on the
issues of sexual violence that occur at their institutions.
In order to counter negative repercussions on victims and the campus communities,
higher education institutions should consider adding to their prevention programs to include an
aspect of education and support. These support methods should be informed and effective in
training peers in sensitivity and resources. Currently, few institutions have such programs.
However, research suggests that these programs would prove effective in producing the desired
positive outcomes. Relyea & Ullman’s study in 2015 discovered the following:
Importantly, almost all women (94%) in our sample received reactions that
acknowledged that an assault occurred but failed to provide support, and this lack of
support was associated with worse coping than even more hostile reactions such as being
blamed or stigmatized. Therefore, there seems a great need for effective programs to train
community members to respond to survivors with the kind of emotional and tangible
support that promotes better outcomes.
SUPPORTING SEXUAL ASSAULT SURVIVORS 12
Significance of the study
The need for support programs like this one are important for society as a whole, not just
on college campuses. Recently, the MeToo campaign swept the nation via social media. People
from all over posted online on Twitter or Facebook about their sexual assault or harassment
experiences. The purpose of the MeToo movement was to show the magnitude of people that
these issues affect; the peak reaching 12 million posts using the MeToo hashtag on Facebook
(Garcia, 2017). The movement was started by Tarana Burke in 2007 when she felt voiceless
about her experience of sexual assault (Garcia, 2017). Female leaders from the California capital
have also made a stand against sexual violence and signed a letter speaking out against pervasive
sexual assault (Mantle and Clevenger, 2017). Jeanne Clevenger and Larry Mantle discussed the
MeToo movement during a podcast about the how traumatic it can be just to open up to someone
about their sexual abuse and how detrimental negative responses can be to the victims (Mantle
and Clevenger, 2017). The relevance of a study like this is at an all-time high.
The initial contact that this survivor may have is a crucial interaction that affects their
ability to successfully regain that routine. Education and awareness are the tools that the
collective within any of these climates can use to help break the cycle of insufficient initial
support. This study contributes to the exigency of programs like the one in the study that prepare
collegiate sexual assault survivors and their peers for their reconnection to campus. This study
hopes to benefit future survivors who seek sensitive support from their institutions and peers in
their post-assault period. The benefit of this study is not only for the survivors but also those in
their social circles, and the overall campus climate as it identified methods to improve more
widespread awareness and education. The impact of this study encompassed many aspects of
intertwined groups on campus.
SUPPORTING SEXUAL ASSAULT SURVIVORS 13
Relyea & Ullman (2015) claim that sexual assault survivors without the proper support
given by their institutions and peers are associated with worse coping methods and adjustment
back into their lives. Those survivors are more likely to engage in risky behaviors and could
experience a significant drop in their academic performance and emotional well-being (Jordan,
Combs, & Smith, 2014). The primary contact person of the survivor could greatly influence the
survivor’s expectations for the support given by the campus and those around them.
Methodology
A qualitative research design was used so that the study could paint a picture of the
overall experience of the participants. Open-ended long surveys facilitated the collection of
personal experiences of the survivors, staff members, and participants in the program at this
public institution. The qualitative research had a descriptive research design standpoint so that
the study could describe the individuals and their experiences within their natural environment
(Braune and Clarke, 2013). Descriptive research allowed the principal investigator to get rich
data and provide suggestions for further research for this population. This approach helped
examine how survivors encountered support and if they felt it was effective for them. The
approach was also able to reveal the emotions of the participants of the program and how they
felt the program is being received by their community. The method used were open-ended
surveys to better understand the experiences of participants, survivors, and staff members (Braun
& Clarke, 2013). The data underwent thematic analysis and first and second cycle coding in
order to identify themes in experiences. The study utilized emotional, In Vivo, and descriptive
coding to sort the data into categories and concepts for first cycle (Saldana, 2009). For the
second-cycle coding, theoretical coding was used so that the primary theme from the data could
be highlighted (Saldana, 2009).
SUPPORTING SEXUAL ASSAULT SURVIVORS 14
The sample for the long survey portion of this study was selected using purposeful
sampling. The sample selected consisted of one full-time director of the office, one student
coordinator, three student participants, and three survivors who used the services of the program.
The participants were all members of the public four year institution by either enrollment or
employment.
In order to protect the well-being of the survivors who were surveyed, privacy and the
voluntary nature of the survey were communicated from the very beginning. All names and
specifics were not recorded and the data was coded so that the anonymity of the survivors is
intact. In order to recruit participants, the campus assault office director contacted their survivor
panel about participating in the long survey portion of this study. The office’s survivor panel
consists of current or past students who volunteer to attend various organizations’ trainings to
share their sexual assault experience. The survivors who participate in the panel were used for
this study because they already were comfortable speaking candidly about their sexual assault
experience and healing process.
Because of the involvement of sexual assault survivors in this study, the Institutional
Review Board office was involved in this process in order to provide the special protections for
this project and advice for protecting the participants. An exempt review process took place for
this study since no identifiable information was collected. The considerations for a special
population were kept in mind during the creation of this study and the long survey protocol
(Appendix A).
The sample for the short survey portion of this study was selected using snowball
sampling. The sample selected consisted of members of the GLO community for which this
program serves. Survey links were only be distributed to chapters that had a member currently
SUPPORTING SEXUAL ASSAULT SURVIVORS 15
participating in the program as a student liaison. The survey links were only be distributed after
the principal investigator had gone over survey instructions, expectations, and methods for
protecting anonymity. In order to limit the possibility of non-university students taking the
survey, a university email was required in order to open the survey. The survey responses were
anonymous by using the anonymous survey option on Google Forms and not collecting any
identifiable information. The data collected from this form was encrypted.
Organization of thesis
In the next chapter, previous research on sexual assault service strategies, social support
for survivors, and consequences for inadequate responses from peers/initial contact will be
reviewed. Chapter three goes over the detail of the research design, methodology, and the
collection and analysis procedures. Chapter four describes the study sample of students and staff
members as well as showcasing the study findings from the surveys about their previous
experiences and feelings about sexual assault support and the university’s support program.
Chapter five goes over the implications of the results, provides recommendations for other
institutions of higher education, and suggesting next steps for further research.
SUPPORTING SEXUAL ASSAULT SURVIVORS 16
Chapter 2: Literature Review
The National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey stated that one in five women
overall have experienced rape during their life (2011). As stated prior, sexual assault survivors
make up about a quarter of the collegiate campus population (Campus Sexual Violence, 2014).
This number has steadily been increasing over the past decade despite efforts to halt such growth
(Vladutiu, Martin, & Macy, 2010). This number is staggering but these numbers are
underreporting the real number of assaults due to multiple barriers to reporting or speaking out
about sexual violence (Tjaden & Thoennes, 2006). Collegiate women are at a greater risk
because of their vulnerability and age. A survey of adults revealed that 37.4% of female rape
victims were first raped between the ages of 18-24 (Black et al., 2011). Sexual assault,
completed or not, may cause long term and serious effect for survivors especially when untreated
(Finn, Garner, & Wilson, 2011). The combination of these statistics puts the population of
women on a college campus at a high risk for not only becoming a victim of sexual assault, but
also for leaving their trauma untreated. Sexual assault causes some victims to experience low
self-esteem, low self-worth, depression, antisocial behavior, substance abuse, and self-harm
(Finn & Hughes, 2008). For collegiate women, some of these effects are apparent in their school
work. Women who were sexually assaulted during college had significantly lower GPAs than
those who were not, with a lower GPA associated with the increased violence or severity of their
assault (Jordan, Combs, & Smith, 2014). The isolation felt by sexual assault victims also
increases their risk for suicidal thoughts or actions (Chang et al, 2014). Institutions who hope to
protect and support their students from these long term effects need to examine why there is a
gap in their programming for students who fall into this category. Often times, the institutions
SUPPORTING SEXUAL ASSAULT SURVIVORS 17
focus on prevention and lack in the area of long term support services or effective initial contact
methods.
Relyea & Ullman’s (2015) study released a questionnaire to 2000 women in order to
quantify the effect of negative responses to survivors when they opened up to someone about
their trauma. The survivors stated whether they encountered a turning away from their support
person or a unsupportive acknowledgement response (Relyea & Ullman, 2015). The
unsupportive acknowledgement and the turning away both had negative effects on their survivor
but lead to more negative coping methods as well as feelings of isolation, shame, and self-blame
(Relyea & Ullman, 2015). The study concludes with a call for further research and investment in
programs that prepare communities for supporting survivors by training them to respond
positively (Relyea & Ullman, 2015). The ideal environment is one of basic knowledge and
encouragement for survivors. Among other findings from the study, Relyea & Ullman stated that
the initial contact that survivors have is crucial to preventing further harmful effects and negative
coping methods by creating a community ready to receive the survivors. The past research and
previous literature on the subject support the call to action of Relyea & Ullman, who made a case
for educating the community in order to provide a safety net for survivors.
This chapter provides an overview of the importance of sexual assault support services. It
discusses barriers that survivors have when deciding to share their stories and for seeking help. It
exhibits new institutional interventions that are present now on colleges campuses in order to aid
survivors in their healing journey. It also discusses Title IX and its influences on support services
and research. Next, this chapter presents themes in past research and discusses gaps in the
research literature. Finally, this chapter presents disagreements and limitations within the
research before showcasing the conceptual framework used to analyze the research.
SUPPORTING SEXUAL ASSAULT SURVIVORS 18
A case for support services for survivors on campus
The case for support services comes from a myriad of different studies on sexual assault
survivors and their experiences. Though campus sexual assault prevention efforts are strong, few
campuses have equally as strong empirical support in college settings (Huang, Philyaw-Kotov,
Gleckman-Krut, Davis, Epstein-Ngo, Kusunoki, & Bonar, 2017). Survivors who feel
unsupported and victimized were more likely to engage in binge drinking and have bigger bouts
of PTSD versus those who were not sexually assaulted (Ullman, 2016). Additionally, the
survivors who are unsupported usually feel less hope for the future getting better and are more
likely to attempt or complete a suicide (Chang et al, 2015). Administrators at these institutions
are also seeing the effect that sexual assault has on the campus climate. With the input of the
administrators, a study concluded that access to education about sexual assault and support was
more effective in preventing sexual assault; concluding that campuses need to invest more into
the areas of campus adjudication, protocols and access (Amar, Strout, Simpson, Cardiello &
Beckford, 2014). Students who are exposed to sexual assault prevention trainings were less
likely to be sexually assaulted; however, those same students often were a part of the groups of
students who have higher victimization rates, such as Greek Letter Organizations (Rothman &
Silverman, 2007). As the number of Greek Letter Organizations increase on college campuses so
does the size of the at risk populations. Because there are a higher rate of occurrences within
these social groups, the need for education, prevention, and support programs for sexual assault
victims grows as the population grows.
Adolescent victims of sexual assault reported that though counseling services were
helpful as a part of their support network, a majority of the participants interviewed stated that
they wished they had received more support from their peers (Schönbucher, Maier, Mohler-Kuo,
SUPPORTING SEXUAL ASSAULT SURVIVORS 19
Schnyder, & Landolt, 2014). This study reported that of all of the people mentioned in this study,
peers were the most frequently recorded as the ones who provided the most direct support when
coping with sexual assault (Schönbucher et al., 2014). The importance of peer empathy, educated
skills, and a sense of responsibility for prevention or intervention were also named as items that
sexual assault survivors desired within their communities (Schönbucher et al., 2014). Also
suggested were minimally invasive programming to support survivors as long as they gradually
intensify to provide a more comprehensive program (Amstadter et al., 2008). Easing in the
survivors with a minimally invasive program that supplements any emotional needs with peer
interaction is the hybrid of these two studies that meets suggestions from previous research on
the topic. The common recurring theme within these studies is that peers are the go to people
being sought out by victims of sexual assault and there is a need for those peers to be empathetic
and educated.
A key piece within past research stresses the importance of not just having services
available but training the administrators of those services properly. Hotline services have become
increasingly popular as an anonymous way for victims to get support and get connected with
resources. Though this intervention expands the scope of services to far past the campus
boundaries, incomprehensive training to the needs of survivors could lead this service to do more
harm than good. Survivors who call sexual assault hotlines and have the operator use language
that may indicate blame or excuse male aggression as normal can cause women to place the
blame on themselves or start to downplay the seriousness of their assault (Weiss, 2009). When
sexual assault survivors assume responsibility for the assault, their self-blame decreases the
likelihood that they seek medical or emotional support (Colvin, Pruett, Young, & Holosko,
2017). These interactions can cause long term effects if the victim were to downplay her assault
SUPPORTING SEXUAL ASSAULT SURVIVORS 20
and not seek the care that she may need for her own healing and coping (Weiss, 2009).
Comprehensive hotline training should include instructing operators to challenge narratives that
place blame on survivors and not using language that normalizes sexual aggression (Colvin et al.,
2017). These practices and skills should be taught and not assumed of the administrators in these
key roles because of the detrimental effects that inadequate support can have.
When victims do seek out support from their peers, some receive two types of reactions,
turning away or unsupportive acknowledgment (Relyea & Ullman, 2015). This study by Relyea
& Ullman exhibited the way that insufficient support can cause for an increase in negative
coping mechanisms that are harmful to the survivor (2015). The victims who were shown
unsupportive acknowledgement of their assault were more likely to engage in maladaptive
behaviors than their counterparts that encountered peers who simply turned away from them
(Relyea & Ullman, 2015). This shows that even though victims received support from their
peers, the support was so lacking in the proper exhibition of empathy and understanding that the
survivors who reach out to peers and were turned away were less negatively impacted than those
who encountered negative acknowledgment from peers. This study supports the importance of
proper guidance and teaching of supportive counseling methods for peers. Orchowski &
Gidycz’s study further supported previous research findings when virtually all of their
participants chose to confide in a peer (2015). This highlights that there is a higher likelihood
that sexual assault disclosure will be revealed to an informal source such as a peer versus an on
campus counseling center (Orchowski & Gidycz, 2015). Orchowski & Gidycz claimed that it
was the logical next step for higher education institutions who have sexual assault prevention
programs to educate these potential providers on prevention and support (2015).
SUPPORTING SEXUAL ASSAULT SURVIVORS 21
A study in 2017 describes what students want in their sexual assault survivor
programming. Almost half of the participants in this qualitative study were GLO affiliated
(Huang et al., 2017). Their findings suggested that peer-based programming that was
administered in person to a small, mixed-gendered group of students who did not really know
each other is much more useful for undergraduates than other interventions being used (Huang et
al., 2017). They also felt that peer survivor testimonies were compelling way to deliver trainings
and make the trainings more real for the participants (Huang et al., 2017). My case study utilizes
exactly what Huang et al’s study suggests within the GLO community at a public institution. The
program being studied brings together individuals from the GLO community and trains them on
issues of sexual violence in order for those same participants to give those same trainings to their
GLO chapter. This idea of peer to peer trainings is what undergraduate feel comfortable
interacting with (Huang et al., 2017). The addition of sexual assault panelists in these trainings
provides the program with the opportunity to have a sexual assault survivor share their story and
their personal experience getting support. The program then will have access to a source of
knowledge from within the target population. The telling of the sexual assault story from the
survivor themselves adds a compelling component to the trainings and an informative piece. The
experience of the survivor at the training allows the trainees to ask the survivor their opinion on
whether a particular intervention, resource, or response was helpful for them. This gives the
trainees more to a real life application to reference when potentially interacting with a survivor.
A program made up of peers to provide support creates a network of accountability. It
also creates multiple opportunities for survivors to get connected with other peers who are
knowledgeable about this area and other survivors. Chang et al. studied loneliness and its effects
on sexual assault survivors (2015). Sexual assault survivors tend to feel isolated or isolate
SUPPORTING SEXUAL ASSAULT SURVIVORS 22
themselves from their social groups due to the shame that they may feel. Some allow this feeling
of isolation to cause them to wait to disclose their assault. Without getting connected to a support
group or program, this feeling of isolation can grow until the survivor feels totally alone. Sexual
assault and the loneliness felt by victims are predictors of suicidal tendencies in victims (Chang
et al., 2015). The loneliness and experience can sometimes transform into a feeling of
hopelessness, which in turn, increases the risk of suicide attempts in survivors (Chang et al.,
2015). The study suggested interventions that reduce perceptions of loneliness and hopelessness
in order to lower the rate of suicide probability in sexual assault survivors (Chang et al., 2015).
Their findings displayed a crucial need for interventions that foster connectedness with others
and that create a campus-wide strategy for preventing assault (Chang et al., 2015). They also
suggested having a more accessible point of contact for sexual assault survivors, such as a
hotline or a formal/informal contact, in order to increase connectedness in a more acute way
(Chang et al., 2015). The program at the university being studied directly involves the entire
GLO community in being a part of the change in the attitudes toward sexual assault and creation
of a dependable and caring network for survivors.
From an administrative standpoint, directors of support programs are able to verify which
methods of support they feel best suit their campus community. Their positions and ability to
evaluate the same program over a longer period of time makes them an integral part of creating
effective programming. Research findings showed that a survey of directors agreed that
providing immediate response and an open and continuous support group are helpful
interventions for sexual assault survivors (Macy, Rizo, Johns, & Ermentrout, 2013). They also
agreed that survivors are best helped with a mix of staff that can provide crisis support and
advocacy while also providing opportunities to join programs that supply the opportunity for
SUPPORTING SEXUAL ASSAULT SURVIVORS 23
survivors to interact with those with similar experiences of violence or interest in the subject
(Macy, Rizo, Johns, & Ermentrout, 2013).
Lastly, the impact of sexual assault and lack of support can be easily seen within the
academic performance of a sexual assault survivor. The results of a study done by Jordan,
Combs, & Smith on the academic performance of sexual assault victims in college were
staggering (2014). Drawing from previous research from numerous studies, the results showed
that the rate of women entering college that had already experienced assault was extremely high
at a rate of more than 40% (Jordan et al., 2014). They also found that additionally a quarter of
women experienced sexual violence within their first semester and another 20% were sexually
assaulted during their second semester (Jordan et al., 2014). Additionally they found significant
evidence that the presence of a sexual violence experience had a blatant effect on her academic
success (Jordan et al., 2014). As the violence of the assault increased, the participants’ GPA
decreased; women who experienced sexual violence during or before college were three times as
likely to have a GPA below a 2.5 (Jordan et al., 2014). The urgency in this study was for higher
education institutions to include this population in their retention statistics in order to help create
programs to retain survivors. They called on the institution to contact the educated counselors
and administrators of assault offices for guidance and assistance in creating these programs
(Jordan et al., 2014). Support programs can easily alleviate some of the strain for retention
programs for sexual assault survivors. Having a peer be accountable for the survivors or training
a community to be accountable to each other when sexual violence occurs will create a network
for survivors to lean on and ask for help when experiencing academic difficulty. Advocating for
themselves and their academic needs is something that sexual assault survivors need support for,
SUPPORTING SEXUAL ASSAULT SURVIVORS 24
and studies have shown that this support can be most effective when coming from a peer
(Schönbucher et al., 2014).
Barriers for survivors
Barriers for survivors to seek help has a lot to do with the campus climate. First, some
students on campus feel that services available on campus are not inclusive and are primarily
geared toward women thus, alienating men (Allen, Ridgeway & Swan, 2015). The view that men
report less than women creates an additional barrier for survivors to seek help because this view
constructs a stigma against male sexual assault claims (Allen et al., 2015). This study brings to
light the possible perceptions a campus community can have about who they believe makes up
the demographics of sexual assault survivors on campus.
Within campus climate, the perceived shame and stigmatization of sexual assault is only
perpetuated by a campus who is inadequately prepared to be a point of contact for sexual assault
survivors. As mentioned prior, unsupportive acknowledgment can be worse for the coping of a
sexual assault survivor than if they had been met with a peer who turned away (Relyea &
Ullman, 2015). When a victim discloses their experience to a peer who is unable to connect them
with resources or respond in an empathetic way, the sexual assault survivor can sometimes
assume that the rest of the campus is also unprepared to help them. Not having receptive
participants and first points of contact creates a barrier for sexual assault survivors to seek help.
It is important that administrators of counseling programs respond individually to each victim in
order to meet their needs (Orchowski & Gidycz, 2015). The barrier to support is established
when a survivor encounters a negative reaction to their sexual violence disclosure which can
cause the survivor to take the blame for the assault (Orchowski & Gidycz, 2015). Negative
responses from peers increase the likelihood that a survivor will blame themselves for their
SUPPORTING SEXUAL ASSAULT SURVIVORS 25
trauma (Orchowski & Gidycz, 2015). Orchowski & Gidycz also found that negative social
reactions will cause an increase in fear and hostility in survivors (2015).
Another barrier to getting support is indicated by potential past use of mental health care.
Survivors who had previously used mental health care for a separate issue were more likely to
seek help again (Price, Davidson, Ruggiero, Acierno, & Resnick, 2014). The barrier is present
for the target population of college aged survivors who may not have any previous experience
seeking mental health care and support. Some survivors may not even know those services exist
or even that they can ask for them. These findings echo what Ullman stated that about women
who have not used mental health services before and how they are less likely to seek treatment at
all after being assaulted (2007). This statistic is concerning considering some sexual assault
victims will experience chronic conditions such as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and/or
substance abuse (Rothbaum et al., 1992). Interventions that focus on the first point of contact
after the assault are optimal to helping all victims (Price et al., 2014). However, as mentioned
previously, when sexual assault survivors’ first point of contact meets them with negative
reactions, the survivor can start to self-blame which decreases the likelihood that they seek
medical or emotional support (Colvin et al., 2017). Price et al. also discovered that though
drinking is considered a negative coping method, survivors who engaged in risky drinking
behaviors were 4 times more likely to seek treatment for their sexual assault (2014).
New institutional interventions
Other than the traditional campus assault resource center which usually hosts resources
such as therapy groups, counselors, and victim advocates, there are other new interventions that
college campuses are having success with in regards to supporting survivors. Referenced
previously, 24 hour campus hotlines have become a popular resource on college campuses in
SUPPORTING SEXUAL ASSAULT SURVIVORS 26
order to provide a constantly accessible resource to survivors. The hotline provides a way for
survivors to get immediate contact, remain anonymous, and use this resource from anywhere.
The caveat to this is that the counselors on this hotline must be ready to provide individual care
and be aware that this may be a crucial contact point for the survivor. There is a great importance
placed on what the operator says because it may greatly impact the future coping methods of the
survivor (Colvin et al., 2017).
Huang et al. focused on the opinions of what undergraduate students are looking for in
support programming outlined the ideal program as one that provides a space for peers to engage
in trainings and conversations as well as utilize a survivor panel to enrich the educational portion
of their prevention methods (2017). Creations of programs like this have begun on many college
campuses, including the one at UCI. These institutions’ programs integrate the community into
the prevention and support interventions.
A more recent intervention that is happening both on and off campuses is using yoga as a
method of healing trauma in sexual assault victims. More higher education institutions provide a
yoga as healing class for people who have experienced trauma. An initial study results showed
that the benefits of using yoga were apparent in people suffering from PTSD (Emerson, Sharma,
Chaudhry, & Turner, 2009). Their trauma yoga program also focused on training other yoga
instructors and counselors in offering yoga as healing (Emerson et al., 2009). In her book, The
Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma, Dr. Bessel van der
Kolk outlines how the mind and body are active participants in healing from trauma (2014). Dr.
Van Der Kolk goes over how the body has a physical and emotional reaction to trauma and that
certain practices, such as yoga, can actively treat post traumatic symptoms in trauma survivors
(2014). Further studies illustrate how therapeutic yoga can be and how it can reestablish the
SUPPORTING SEXUAL ASSAULT SURVIVORS 27
connection of the survivor with their body, as often times the sexual assault causes the survivor
to feel a loss of control over their own body (Desikachar, Bragdon, & Bossart, 2005). The
positive results of yoga as healing is apparent. An eight week study had participants actively
participate weekly in mindful, trauma sensitive yoga (Stankovic, 2011). The participants in
Stankovic’s research group who completed the program reported less rage, anxiety, emotional
volatility, and increase in their sense of peace, self-awareness, calm, and self-efficacy (2011).
Title IX enabled students and administrators to push for sexual assault support programs
and resources. Under this federal law, institutions are held responsible to respond to sexual
violence that occurs. Responding to sexual assault victims’ needs is a direct way for colleges to
avoid being accused of deliberate indifference towards these crimes. Creating programs of
support and holding trainings help the universities comply with their legal obligations under Title
IX. Title IX also enables students who do not have adequate services to push and lobby for more.
Title IX plays a big role in sexual assault support services because of the legal obligations that
need to be met; colleges have more of a reason to be proactive in the creation of services. In
addition to Title IX, some states have called for further protection and support for victims.
California passed a bill for student safety called Yes means Yes, which defined sexual consent
and serves as a way for sexual assault victims to be empowered on their college campuses by
requiring “affirmative consent” (Jozkowski, 2015). This enables California universities to
clearly define consent for their student body and uphold Title IX. California colleges are now
able to educate their student body on exactly what it means to have consent and create programs
centered around this interpretation.
Themes in past research
SUPPORTING SEXUAL ASSAULT SURVIVORS 28
The review of the literature on supporting sexual assault survivors conveys these
recurring themes: (1) sexual assault survivors tend to rely on peer interaction over professional
help (Schönbucher, Maier, Mohler-Kuo, Schnyder, & Landolt, 2014; Relyea & Ullman, 2015;
Orchowski & Gidycz, 2015; Huang et al., 2017); (2) the reaction to the initial disclosure of
sexual violence can influence the future coping methods of survivors (Relyea & Ullman, 2015;
Orchowski & Gidycz, 2015; Colvin et al., 2017); (3) proper sensitivity training for those
supporting sexual assault survivors is crucial for the success of a program and the support itself
(Relyea & Ullman, 2015; Rothman & Silverman, 2007; Weiss, 2009; Colvin, Pruett, Young, &
Holosko, 2017; Huang et al., 2017; Price et al., 2014;Mantle and Clevenger, 2017); (4)
community and peer support training programs where survivors can be integrated into the
function are beneficial for both the community and current/future survivors of sexual assault
(Schönbucher, Maier, Mohler-Kuo, Schnyder, & Landolt, 2014; Relyea & Ullman, 2015; Colvin,
Pruett, Young, & Holosko, 2017; Huang et al., 2017). These themes illustrate the importance of
supporting sexual assault survivors through proper sensitivity training and peer accountability in
order to promote positive coping and healing endeavors. By supporting survivors, institutions
accomplish their goals of student retention and cultivating student health and wellness. Sexual
assault survivors are a hidden population on college campuses that need to have the proper aid in
order to sustain a healthy and successful college career. Research focuses on the component of
peer support for survivors. It highlights the role that college community members can play in
being a survivor’s first step to healing and altering the campus climate to become a more
complementary network of accountable students.
Gaps in research literature
SUPPORTING SEXUAL ASSAULT SURVIVORS 29
While the research on sexual assault prevention and support has been steadily growing
over the last decade, more research is needed in several areas. For example, there is little
research conducted specifically on the experience of male sexual assault survivors and their
perceptions of support available to them (DeMatteo, Galloway, Arnold, & Patel, 2015; Allen,
Ridgeway, & Swan, 2015). There also needs to be more research on how college campuses are
defining consent and how that can vary by campus. California passed a bill for student safety
called Yes means Yes, which defined sexual consent and serves as a way for sexual assault
victims to be empowered on their college campuses by requiring “affirmative consent”
(Jozkowski, 2015). When students attended a seminar that clearly defined for them what consent
was, they were more comfortable with talking about issues of sexual assault and felt more
prepared to be in situations where they could recognize whether or not there was consent
(Lafrance, Loe, & Brown, 2012). However, not all colleges nor states have a bill or program in
place that defines what consent is. Additionally, most studies recognize that support programs
are not a one-size-fits-all type of intervention but do not research the different types of
programming that does show positive results. None of the research conducted really evaluates
what types of support programs or groups are the most effective in supporting survivors. The
research usually states that participating in any group is beneficial but does not have a definitive
answer as far as which types of setting yield favorable results.
Limitations & disagreements
The limitations of this research come from various sources. First, sexual violence
occurrences are underreported (Tjaden & Thoennes, 2006). The underreported events mean that
there could potentially be a much larger number of survivors and occurrences that are going
unnoticed and not cared for. There is also the limitation of limited male perspective within this
SUPPORTING SEXUAL ASSAULT SURVIVORS 30
subject matter due to the stigma about men who are sexual assault survivors as well (De Matteo
et al., 2015). These limitations cause sexual assault research to be subject to scrutiny since it is
hard to generalize over the population being studied. There is a discrepancy with the idea that
alcohol drinking as a coping method because both Price and Ullman categorize it differently.
Alcohol consumption as a coping method can lead to sexual assault survivors seeking out
treatment for their trauma (Price et al., 2014). In Ullman’s study, binge drinking was portrayed
as a negative coping method that sexual assault survivors turn to in order to cope with
insufficient support or negative remarks (2016). Though these two arguments can show that each
survivor can cope differently, it ultimately just creates a lack of trustworthiness in their data.
Claiming that alcohol consumption is a positive coping method is dangerous. Stating that
drinking more alcohol is a positive step toward recovery encourages survivors to engage in
dangerous behavior not only for their safety but for their health as well. Finally, research in this
area has the limitation of the varying ways that sexual assault survivors cope with their trauma.
What may be effective for one survivor, may be ineffective for another. The variation in
preferred support methods for individual survivors is what makes generalizing about beneficial
support programs and interventions very limited.
Conceptual framework
This study drew upon themes illustrated throughout previous literature and research on
the topic of caring for the emotional and physical sexual assault survivors. The review of the
literature revealed that survivors rely on their peers as their initial points of contact; it also
showed that the initial contact and the reaction of that contact to the disclosure of sexual violence
from a survivor can have lasting repercussions. The literature review also supported the proper
training of peers and administrators of resources in order to have positive interactions with
SUPPORTING SEXUAL ASSAULT SURVIVORS 31
survivors. Finally, the literature also established that peer support programming is an effective
way to integrate the survivor back into their community. Specifically, peer support programming
that involves the community in the collective effort of preventing assaults and supporting
survivors. To increase positive coping methods and healing outcomes, literature suggests a
combination of all these themes. A successful peer sexual assault training program will: equip
peers to be a reliable point person for sexual assault survivor contact, focus on teaching sensitive
vernacular especially during initial contact, conduct thorough sensitivity training on various
sexual violence issues, and involve the community into the effort of education, prevention, and
support.
Studies claim that the combination of these themes and concepts will render a program effective
in addressing multiple issues that sexual assault survivors encounter. Survivors can experience
isolation, shame, depression, negative coping mechanisms, PTSD, hopelessness, dissociation
from body, low self-worth, and various other issues. These issues sometimes are exacerbated by
the lack of proper support and resources available to the sexual assault survivor.
SUPPORTING SEXUAL ASSAULT SURVIVORS 32
The conceptual framework for this research study was influenced by several researchers:
Relyea & Ullman, Orchowski & Gidycz, and Schӧnbucher. These three research teams stressed
the importance of a well-informed peer to peer program to help sexual assault survivors cope
with their trauma and be able to feel at home in their own communities. The results from the
previous research was demonstrated in the following examples from the current research study:
Peer Training Sessions. The student liaisons’ positive feedback about the format of the
training program demonstrates that the program’s format is successful in training a large group
of people. The training format encourages interaction from the student liaison and learning from
perspectives of their peers. The research also identified how the level of interaction with the
training itself can influence the way participant may feel about the success of the program.
Institutional Support. The perceptions of support that the survivors receive from the
institution provided insight on multiple things. First, the research illustrated how effective the
institution is at promoting their programs and resources to the campus community. Secondly, the
experience of the survivor determined that the institution could provide more resources for this
population. Finally, the research gave a general idea of the campus climate toward supporting
survivors and how that campus climate is interpreted by survivors.
Long Surveys. Being able to survey the faculty and staff who are directors of the program
being evaluated showed the difference between what the administration believed was important
to highlight during training versus what participants and survivors believed was important.
Surveying the director provided a longitudinal view of the program to gauge the growth and
adaptability of the program. It revealed the program has been changing to meet the needs of
survivors/community and that the staff is utilizing survivor input to improve the trainings.
Surveying survivors helped discern which programs and resources they find impactful and
SUPPORTING SEXUAL ASSAULT SURVIVORS 33
beneficial. This drew connections between what stands out to a survivor versus the members of
the program. This framework helped to validate the lived experiences of the people involved
with this program and recognize impactful practices.
Conclusion
College campuses have unfortunately become a high risk area for sexual violence. The
rise in sexual assault on campuses calls for the rise in support resources and prevention
programs. For students who are victims of sexual assault, they may experience many negative
reactions to their trauma such as substance abuse, mental health disorders, grade fluctuation,
isolation, hopelessness and low self-worth. For these students, seeking support and guidance to
navigate through their trauma is crucial to having a successful college career. However,
survivors sometimes are met with difficulty when reaching out to these resources; whether that
difficulty is inadequate support from a peer, disappointing initial contact, insufficient support or
lack of support at all. The rise in the amount of students who encounter sexual violence calls for
a counter response for these negative outcomes. Prevention programs have increased on college
campuses to aid in the fight against sexual assault, but they lack the ability to support the reality
that the violence still occurs. The change in this practice has to come from support programming
for survivors and the community. It has to be a collective effort. Sexual assault survivors can
have a perceived idea of the campus climate that may deter them from seeking help. They may
believe that the help they need does not exist or that they will be criticized for expressing the
need for help. Not seeking the help and resources available will only further hinder the survivor’s
healing process. College campuses have started on the right track in order to change the stigma
about sexual assault, but there is more work to be done. Institutions need to supply more
opportunities for involvement for peer groups and for survivors to advocate for their needs if
SUPPORTING SEXUAL ASSAULT SURVIVORS 34
colleges want to retain this large population. When provided with the right interventions,
including trainings, programs, and contacts, both the campus and the survivors can be active
participants in changing the trend of sexual assault. By exploring the experiences of the
participants within a support program at a public institution, this study dove into what aspects of
support programming are most impactful and successful at accomplishing positive outcomes for
both community and survivor.
SUPPORTING SEXUAL ASSAULT SURVIVORS 35
Chapter 3: Research design and methodology
Chapter 3 details the research design, methodology, and procedures that were used to
collect and analyze the data that was gathered from the participants in the sexual assault survivor
support program. This chapter rationalizes the use of a qualitative research approach and
describes the selection process for informants, collection of data, and findings analysis. Then, the
chapter illustrates the measures taken to protect the anonymity of the subjects and provides
details to prove trustworthiness. Finally, chapter three discusses the limitations of the study.
The study was guided by the following overarching research question:
● What interventions at this public institution are in place in order to support sexual assault
survivors on campus and to aid into their reintegration into a college campus?
To learn more about the effectiveness of the program’s resources, the following questions also
informed the study:
● Do the sexual assault survivors find the current or new practices offered by the university
effective or helpful?
● Do the student liaisons and GLO chapter members feel that they are being trained in a
way that provides them with the tools to provide adequate support for sexual violence
survivors?
Research design
This study sought to evaluate the effects of a program at a public institution that trains
selected student liaisons from the GLO community on issues of sexual assault. The program
being studied focuses on training GLO chapter members on issues of domestic violence,
stalking, and sexual assault. A member from each GLO chapter is chosen to serve as the liaison
for their chapter. That liaison comes to weekly training sessions hosted by the university’s sexual
SUPPORTING SEXUAL ASSAULT SURVIVORS 36
assault resource center with each week’s training session covering a different topic. These
sessions include information on how to prevent violence and how to care for the person who has
experienced the violence. Each week the liaison must return to their chapter and provide that
same information to their peers during the chapter’s meetings. These student liaisons serve as a
potential first point of contact for sexual assault survivors in their chapter and as a wealth of
knowledge for the community about these issues. The study focused on the lived experiences of
the participants, making it a qualitative study (Braune & Clarke, 2007). A descriptive research
approach was used to interpret the data of this study. The purpose of the descriptive research
design was to “describe [and] explain… research findings” (Fox & Bayat, 2007). As described in
chapter two, previous research points to having support programs like this one in order to lower
the risk of negative coping methods among survivors. This study resonate with previous research
findings. A qualitative design utilizing a descriptive research case study approach including
surveys was used in order to collect data that were rich in detail. Data included stories of lived
experiences and provided the principal investigator with an overview of data from the GLO
chapters that had a liaison. A case study using a small group of subjects allowed patterns to
develop and created meaningful relationships with the informants (Creswell, 2003). This study
included short surveys and long surveys in order to explore the experiences of participants of this
support program, their peers, and the survivors who used their resources.
Methods
The methods for this study included two surveys, one long and one short. The long
survey included open ended survey questions and the short survey consisted of a few multiple
choice questions about the program.
SUPPORTING SEXUAL ASSAULT SURVIVORS 37
For the descriptive research case study approach of this study, the long survey protocol
(Appendix A) had structured questions based on themes that arose from the literature review: (1)
sexual assault survivors tend to rely on peer interaction over professional help (Schönbucher,
Maier, Mohler-Kuo, Schnyder, & Landolt, 2014; Relyea & Ullman, 2015; Orchowski & Gidycz,
2015; Huang et al., 2017); (2) the reaction to the initial disclosure of sexual violence can
influence the future coping methods of survivors (Relyea & Ullman, 2015; Orchowski & Gidycz,
2015; Colvin et al., 2017); (3) proper sensitivity training for those supporting sexual assault
survivors is crucial for the success of a program and the support itself (Relyea & Ullman, 2015;
Rothman & Silverman, 2007; Weiss, 2009; Colvin, Pruett, Young, & Holosko, 2017; Huang et
al., 2017; Price et al., 2014;Mantle and Clevenger, 2017); (4) community and peer support
training programs where survivors can be integrated into the function are beneficial for both the
community and current/future survivors of sexual assault (Schönbucher, Maier, Mohler-Kuo,
Schnyder, & Landolt, 2014; Relyea & Ullman, 2015; Colvin, Pruett, Young, & Holosko, 2017;
Huang et al., 2017). The study analyzed the collected data using a thematic analysis, which is
intended to “for identifying themes and patterns of meaning across a dataset in relation to a
research question” (Creswell, 2009). The short survey questions (Appendix B) were based on the
research questions for this study and the themes from the literature review. The following section
describes the study’s sample, methods, and procedures.
Sample recruitment and selection
The richer the data coming from the participants on a particular subject area, the fewer
participants are needed (Morse, 2000). For this study, a small group of participants were selected
that were all directly involved with this particular survivor support program at the chosen public
institution. The decision to restrict the amount of participants who were given the long survey to
SUPPORTING SEXUAL ASSAULT SURVIVORS 38
under twenty came from the important aspect of descriptive research, which is establishing a
rapport and relationship with the participants being surveyed (Spradley, 1979). That relationship
would not have be possible with a large sample. A sense of trust in these relationships also had to
be strong because of the nature of the subject matter participants were speaking about.
Purposeful sampling was used to select the long survey participants. The participants were
selected based on their extent of involvement with the program and their activeness within it.
The program office helped with the selection of the student participants by contacting all
participants via email about participating in the study as informants. The participants were a
facilitator of the program, a student involved in the program, a student coordinator of the
program, or part of the GLO chapter that the liaison was from. The perspectives of the students
in comparison to those of the facilitators provided powerful insight on how the program was
perceived based on professional affiliation with the university. The long survey participants were
contacted via email by the director of the program explaining the purpose and further details of
the study.
For the short survey, participants were chosen using snowball sampling. They were
contacted by the director who sent out the survey to a listserv of all the active members of the
GLO chapters that had a student liaison. The link was only sent out once the principal
investigator had attended the chapter meetings of the Greek Letter Organizations to explain the
survey. These surveys rated the effectiveness of the trainings and receptiveness of those trainings
to the overall chapter. The surveys also included a section asking how prepared the GLO chapter
members felt after having these trainings for supporting survivors in their social circles, and
concluded with a comments section for other thoughts and feelings that they may have had.
SUPPORTING SEXUAL ASSAULT SURVIVORS 39
These surveys provided an overview of how the served community felt about the validity of the
program.
Sample
The participants in this study were either employed by the university, were students at the
university, or were students at the university. The participants varied in educational and
professional backgrounds, age, and ethnicity. The sample for the long surveys included three
male, one gender non-conforming, and three female participants. Three participants were sexual
assault survivors who either were students at the university during the time of the study or are
alumni, three were current undergraduate student liaisons at the university, one was the
undergraduate student program coordinator, and one was the director of the program being
studied who is a full time staff member at the university. The following table provides an
overview of the long survey participants:
Name (pseudonym) Position in Program University Status
Richie Sexual Assault Survivor Alumni
Stacy Sexual Assault Survivor Current Student (4th year)
Veronica Sexual Assault Survivor Alumni
Brennan Student Liaison Current Student (3rd year)
Tristan Student Liaison Current Student (3rd year)
Anne Student Liaison Current Student (3rd year)
Tiffany Student Coordinator Current Student (4th year)
Reese Program Coordinator Staff Member (4 years)
SUPPORTING SEXUAL ASSAULT SURVIVORS 40
Participants from the short survey portion of the study were all undergraduate students of
various academic standings, aged 17-25, who were all active members of a Greek Letter
Organization on campus. There were 150 short survey responses with 78 male students and 72
female students. No other demographic information was collected from these students. The short
survey included five questions that let students rank their answer on a scale of 1-5. These
responses will show quantitative data to portray the experiences of the larger GLO community.
The following table provides an overview of the short survey participants:
Student Status Total GLO
Chapters Polled
Age Range Female
Responses
Male Responses
Undergraduates 7 17-25 72 78
Participants from the long survey provided diverse perspectives on the issues of sexual
violence and the program itself since these individuals were had different levels of responsibility,
involvement, and education. Only the participants from the long survey are given pseudonyms as
the short survey responses did not collect that information. For this study, any quotes from a
student completing the short survey will be referred to as anonymous. Long survey participants’
responses provided insight into their experiences in varying levels of involvement with the
liaison program.
Data collection methods
Long Survey. In order to allow the participants the same opportunity to answer identical
questions and disclose as much information as they were comfortable with, the standardized
open-ended approach was used (Gall & Borg, 2003). These long surveys came with an
SUPPORTING SEXUAL ASSAULT SURVIVORS 41
introduction saying that the participants could skip/include as much as they would like about the
program.
The trust between the participant and the investigator was of the utmost importance.
Referencing Spradley’s (1979) model of rapport, the investigator was prepared to build this
relationship. To alleviate any apprehension the participants had, the investigator went over the
purpose of the study, the principal investigator’s involvement with the program, and how the
data was protected (Spradley, 1979).
The long survey protocol (Appendix A) provided direction for the survey so the
investigator was able to ask questions that relate to the general themes that were brought up in
the literature review. The majority of the protocol questions were descriptive in nature so the
investigator could collect rich data instead of receiving yes or no answers. The protocol included
structural questions so the investigator was able to explore the use of language in informants
(Spradley, 1979). A variety of descriptive questions were also be used in this protocol. Specific
grand tour questions were used to elicit descriptions of some of their more recent interactions
within the program. Typical grand tour questions were used for the facilitator surveys so the
investigator could get a better sense of the general state and growth of the program. Mini tour
questions were used to ask students and the facilitator about what went on in the program
trainings and presentations themselves. Example questions gave the investigator a chance to ask
survivors about specific examples of when they felt supported/unsupported by this program or to
tell the investigator about an example of a program they wish existed. Experience questions
appeared on the protocol for both students and facilitators so they could provide details of
previous experiences within the program and experiences of support or lack thereof. The
protocol’s variety enabled the investigator to follow up and ask for more information about a
SUPPORTING SEXUAL ASSAULT SURVIVORS 42
specific event or item they brought up (Braun & Clarke, 2013). The open ended and flexible
character of the long survey helped to “offer a more thorough, thoughtful or unexpected
commentary on the topic” by letting the informant take the survey responses where they’d like
(Braun & Clarke, 2013). The long surveys aimed to get a better, more detailed image of the
personal experiences and opinions of the informants through open ended questions.
Short Surveys. For the short survey portion of the data collection, a Google form was
sent out to the students within the GLO community who had a liaison in the program. Before the
survey links were sent out, the principal investigator attended the chapter meetings in order to
explain the survey and its purpose. The anonymity of the survey was also stressed at this time.
These students had to have a verified school email in order to participate. The survey did not
collect identifiable information and was completely anonymous, using only the school email
login for access. The use of the school email verification was to prevent non students from taking
the survey. The survey results were also be encrypted. These surveys were mixed with both open
ended and closed ended questions. The closed ended questions were ratings of the effectiveness
of the trainings they had received, how prepared they felt after having these trainings to support
survivors, and the overall receptiveness of the chapter on a scale of 1 to 5. Additional voluntary
closed ended question asked if they have ever contacted their program chair for support or
resources, and whether they felt the new practices offered/sponsored by the university were
helpful. The additional open ended questions asked why they rated the earlier options as they
did, and their feelings on the GLO campus climate toward supporting sexual assault survivors.
There was a space for any concluding thoughts or feelings. Once the participants submit the
survey, they were prompted with a debriefing statement about the study and about their
SUPPORTING SEXUAL ASSAULT SURVIVORS 43
participation in the survey. Additionally, there was information provided on how the data would
be coded and if they would be open to being contacted for further information.
Data analysis procedures
Thematic analysis. A thematic analysis of participants’ long survey responses and their
short survey responses was conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of the support program on
creating a sensitive and supportive community as well as how this program positively influenced
survivors who were met with informed advocates within their community. Thematic analysis
was chosen because of the focus on experience, use of small sample size, and the descriptive
nature of this study (Braun & Clarke, 2013). The stages of thematic analysis are data preparation,
reading and familiarization of transcripts while taking notes of potential interests, complete
coding across dataset, search for themes, review themes and produce a map of provisional
themes/subthemes, and define and name themes (Braun & Clarke, 2013). The use of first and
second cycle coding methods developed the themes for this study. Descriptive, emotional, and In
Vivo coding were used during the first cycle of coding and pattern (Saldaña, 2009). Theoretical
coding was used during the second cycle, so primary themes and messages from the data could
be identified (Saldaña, 2009).
Measures to protect informants
The risk of this study had more than minimal risk due to the sensitivity of information
being disclosed and the importance of maintaining anonymity of the survivors themselves. Both
IRB’s at the home university and the university where the study occurred had to grant approval
for this study. The university where the study took place requested IRB approval from the home
university first before applying for secondary approval from the university being studied via a
short form. This study had more than minimal risk and involved a population with special
SUPPORTING SEXUAL ASSAULT SURVIVORS 44
protections. The application for this research study was submitted for exempt review in order to
ensure that the study was taking all the steps necessary to protect the participants. The other
participants who were not sexual assault survivors faced low risk for participating in the study.
In order to protect the participants, names were recorded and pseudonyms were used instead.
Data from the surveys was unidentifiable because no personal information was collected. All
electronic recordings and transcripts were password protected and only accessible by the
principal investigator. A year following the study, all other documents containing any data that
could be linked to any participant will be destroyed.
Data protection. All data collected for this study was stored in password-protected
computers and folders. Transcripts and other documents were all digitized and stored on a
personal computer on the principal investigator had access to. Initial contact to start recruiting
research participants was facilitated by the program director. The additional email
communication were sent through a protected email account and will be deleted after one year of
study completion.
Trustworthiness
Triangulation. By asking the same research questions of different participants, this study
was able to triangulate the information and data received. The long survey had four different
variations in order to get a well-rounded view point of the student liaisons, sexual assault
survivors, and staff members. There was only one full time staff member in charge of the
program so that portion of data was not able to be triangulated but the other surveys all had
multiple respondents from people in the same positions and of varying ages and experiences.
Because the viewpoints of the participants in the long survey were all different, the data collected
are robust because the respondents shared similar conclusions about the program. The short
SUPPORTING SEXUAL ASSAULT SURVIVORS 45
survey asked the general GLO population about the program so all levels and backgrounds in the
GLO population were asked the same questions and respondents said similar things about the
program. It was easier to analyze the data because the themes in the research were easily
identifiable from triangulation of the different responses.
Researcher Positionality. In order to solidify trustworthiness for this study, researcher
bias has to be addressed. For this study, the principle investigator is a 25-year-old Hispanic
female working on her graduate degree in post-secondary administration and student affairs. The
researcher is actively involved in a Greek Letter Organization as an advisor at the academic
institution of her graduate study. She was also a member of a Greek Letter Organization at the
university being studied where she was a student liaison of the program being evaluated. The
principle researcher feels that her closeness to the program allowed her access to the staff and
students that she needed in order for the study to be successful.
Audit trail. All research documents were stored digitally and physically to maintain an
audit trail to guarantee dependability and confirmability of the study.
Limitations
There were many limitations of this study to be addressed before data collection started
and throughout the process. However, there are some limitations of this study that could not be
addressed because of the short nature of this project. First, this descriptive study could not be
verified or tested using statistical data because no quantitative data was collected. Because there
were no statistical tests, researcher bias may have been present in the presentation of the data,
especially when considering the principal investigator’s closeness to the project and previous
participation in the program being evaluated. Additionally, the small sample size made this
study’s findings hard to generalize about the target population. The principle investigator also
SUPPORTING SEXUAL ASSAULT SURVIVORS 46
acknowledged that their access to the opinions of male survivors for their surveys was limited,
making the data only applicable to women.
SUPPORTING SEXUAL ASSAULT SURVIVORS 47
Chapter 4: Findings
Chapter four describes the study sample of students and staff members as well as
showcases the findings from the surveys. The last chapter provided the descriptive research
approach for this study. This chapter is organized thematically to describe the experiences and
feelings of the participants about sexual assault support and the university’s support program.
There were three salient themes that emerged from this study: 1) community connection; 2)
support; and 3) growth. The study revealed participants experienced a great deal of support as
they joined the student liaison program and did help to create a community that supports sexual
assault survivors on their college campus. Participants expressed a need for continued
involvement and support from the university in order for the program to continue running
successfully. The participants were able to demonstrate a community connection to the issue, a
culture of support, and a future of growth within the program. Survivors were able to convey that
the support and resources that they were provided through the student liaison program did
positively impact their healing journey. This study can benefit institutions of higher education as
they seek to support their sexual assault survivors by creating programs that are both beneficial
for their campuses and their survivors. However, participants did express that in order for the
success of the program to continue, the university must invest more time and resources into it in
order to support the expansion of the student liaison program. They also wanted a more intensive
selection process for students who want to serve as liaisons to ensure that survivors would make
contact with and the GLO community would be educated by students who were genuinely
passionate about ending sexual assault and understood the gravity of their assigned positions.
The data from this study is presented in three thematic sections, and each addresses the
research question: What interventions at this public institution are in place in order to support
SUPPORTING SEXUAL ASSAULT SURVIVORS 48
sexual assault survivors on campus and to aid into their reintegration into a college campus? The
first section examines the importance and influence of the program’s connection to the college
community to gather insight into if the current program is reaching its desired audience and
having an impact. The second section focuses on the idea of support from the university toward
this program and how that influences the overall success of the program in its goal. The third
section explores the growth of the program itself and how the future plans to expand the
program.
Community connection
This section describes significant experiences during participants’ time interacting with
the liaison program that made them gain a sense of community connection to the program and
community responsibility for supporting sexual assault survivors. The community connection
was showcased in an overall feeling of a shift in attitudes and a greater sense of awareness and
through real life experiences witnessed by students involved with the liaison program.
Shift in awareness and attitudes. The interactions mentioned by the participants in their
interviews painted the picture in the overall rise in the awareness of sexual assault on a college
campus and how to support survivors because of the liaison program. Five participants recounted
that they felt that the overall community attitude toward sexual assault was that the campus took
it seriously and that the students felt as though it was on the students to prevent sexual assault.
For instance, Richie an alumni of the university was sexually assault in his first year of school
and was very involved in the program and its activities. He believed that the school sets the tone
for the rest of the state, he stated,
The school’s model has set the precedent for all other schools in our system as well as
universities nationwide. It has allowed for the issue to be brought to light and then
resources made available for survivors.
SUPPORTING SEXUAL ASSAULT SURVIVORS 49
Brennan, a current undergraduate student who was the liaison for his GLO chapter and a third
year student, agreed and stated that he knows that the overall presence of the program has helped
to break down barriers that existed before surrounding Greek Letter Organizations and showcase
the power of the entire community when they rally around a common good:
I think by having a liaison present in greek letter orgs has helped the stigma that
surrounds greek life, as well as spreading awareness of the kids of support available on
campus. As more of the community sees that we are here to make a difference and clear
the stigma around greek life, I think is a really positive outcome of our presence.
Reese, a full time staff member at the university that oversaw the liaison program in their fourth
year in the position, echoed what the Brennan had to say about how changing the stigma
surrounding GLO life meant that the members of the GLO had to put in the work to change the
public view. This change in the public view helps Reese as a professional staff member reach
more people and talks about how the liaisons involvement also influences the goal:
I think members of the campus community are proud of and impressed by [our] greek
Life community…in part because of this program. I also believe that the message is
spreading that violence is not acceptable here and people are engaging in active bystander
intervention more often. Having a Chair serve as a liaison, resource and educator means
we are reaching more community members with important information about resources
and prevention than we could if only staff were conducting workshops and education.
Tiffany, the undergraduate student coordinator and a fourth year at the university, described the
overall connection between GLO life and the overarching community as well due to the
resources available at the liaison program center:
We have successfully spread awareness in a positive way and are continuing to spread it
to the broader community rather than just greek life. We have created more active
bystanders and I have heard tons of stories of our liaisons or members form their chapters
intervening in situations just because they were prepared to do so with the concepts from
trainings. Also, we have more and more attendance at Take Back the Night each year.
Three of the interviewees mentioned a negative stigma toward GLO life and that having a
chapter member be their liaison has helped to swing public opinion because the rest of the
SUPPORTING SEXUAL ASSAULT SURVIVORS 50
population on campus sees the GLO leaders actively involved in preventing acts of sexual assault
and by attending Take Back the Night, which is a school wide night of awareness and healing for
those who have experienced any type of abuse or violence. This night brings both community
engagement and education together. The program allows for liaisons to have their own booths at
the event to help educate and raise awareness. This opportunity has been a large area of growth
for the program as told by the participants. Tiffany’s interaction this year showed her that there is
a rise in the general awareness about issues of sexual assault and how to prevent it, but that there
is much more room to grow:
I think one experience that definitely stuck out to me during my time in this program was
working the Clothesline Project at Take Back the Night. Seeing people reading all of the
t-shirts that were hung up and their reactions for me showed that people understood the
gravity of the subject. This visual representation really helps people see how much of a
problem sexual assault is and that we need to take action to prevent it. In addition, there
were some people who came up to the booth asking questions that quite frankly, startled
me and really emphasized how necessary this program is. There are still people out there
who do not think sexual assault is a problem or who do not really understand what
constitutes sexual assault.
When asked whether they thought that their programs offered by the community were effective
in raising awareness and supporting survivors, 69% of the GLO population polled said that it was
effective (Figure 1) and 65% of the participants said that their chapters are either receptive or
very receptive to the trainings and feeling of responsibility for supporting survivors(Figure 2)
(Appendix C).
Figure 1
SUPPORTING SEXUAL ASSAULT SURVIVORS 51
Figure 2
SUPPORTING SEXUAL ASSAULT SURVIVORS 52
In the free response section of the short survey, participants were asked about the general attitude
toward sexual assault in the GLO community and towards survivors: 47% of participants said
that the community was very supportive, while 20% said that it is taken very seriously. While not
all of the participants chose to answer this question, the overall sense from the responses is that
the GLO community feels as though if they were to experience sexual assault or dating violence,
they would be met with unwavering support and a plethora of resources to access. Twenty
responses mentioned their liaisons by name or the program by name for reasons why assault is
taken so seriously at their school.
Real Life Experiences. Participants demonstrated the effectiveness of the program by
talking about the real life experiences they had had where they witnessed a student using tools or
resources that were educated on by the student liaisons or by the program office itself. Tristan, a
current undergraduate student who was the liaison for his GLO chapter and a third year student,
went into detail about his chapter member using the prevention tools he had trained them on:
We had a party where one of our members had a bit too much to drink and there was a
girl that was starting to try and get a little too close. One of my members acknowledges
that he was not sober enough to really consent to any form of contact so they got me and
we were able to diffuse the situation and made sure both parties were accounted for.
Additionally, Anne, a current undergraduate student who was the liaison for his GLO chapter
and a third year student, talked about how she was able to support by just being there for
someone and doing the simple task of just making a visit to the program office with her:
There was a time when a girl in my chapter was going through a rough time with her
(now ex) boyfriend and she had me walk her through the resources available to help her
get out of her situation. We went to the office together and she was able to get help and
out of her relationship safely.
In the free response section of the short survey, an anonymous student added their thoughts about
how the general population is misinformed but that the GLO chapters themselves have the
SUPPORTING SEXUAL ASSAULT SURVIVORS 53
program office to help them. The response showed that the chapter members are retaining some
of the information and are able to go out in their college community and educate on the student
liaison and other similar programs:
Last quarter I had a guest speaker in one of my lecture classes that spoke to us about
sexual awareness, but she was very negative about sexual assault and how if we do not
want to be assaulted, we should not be going to parties or having fun or being out late at
night. I was in that class with some of my sorority sisters and all of us were just confused
about how and why someone would blame the victim. They were unaware and unfamiliar
with the student liaison program, so we informed them that there are helpful programs on
campus for the victims rather than people to blame them and tell them not to party.
These individual experiences just continue to echo the overall idea that the relationships that the
members of any GLO chapter make are the most important tool they have in preventing sexual
assault and supporting survivors.
Support
This section describes significant experiences during participants’ time interacting with
the liaison program that made them feel supported or not supported while they continued to try to
carry out the mission of the student liaison program. The participants showed a strong sense of
support in pursuing the mission of the program either from their facilitators, student liaisons, or
chapter members and support for the prevention of sexual assault, but an overall lack of support
in other areas. Support for the purpose of this paper does not just mean the encouragement or
giving assistance to, but also can represent adding to the positive movement toward the overall
goal of the student liaison program.
Positive Support. Many participants felt supported in their endeavors whether those were
leading a student liaison training, being guided through their healing journey, or facilitating the
overall program. Participants within the GLO chapters themselves reiterated that same feeling of
positive support for when they needed resources from their student liaison or potentially a fellow
SUPPORTING SEXUAL ASSAULT SURVIVORS 54
chapter member. They also added that the GLO community itself supports the student liaison
program office and program for the most part. In this section, the participants describe how they
give support and how they receive support and how that affected them.
Richie reflected on his experience as a survivor interacting with the student liaison program and
its office:
During my fourth year, I was still struggling with the issues of sexual assault and the
program provided me friends that understood my issues. Furthermore, I was able to be
linked into care and help. The facilitator [of the program office] was amazing and truly
cared for my well-being. She already was my mentor so this made it so much more
personal and healing. Being able to be in a community that truly cared about this
important issue and provided me space to heal [was the most meaningful part of my
interaction with the office].
Stacy, a current undergraduate student who experienced sexual assault her first year in undergrad
and had used the program to guide her through her healing journey, talked about how she was
lucky to receive such positive support when she was initially assaulted and feels that the value of
that experience overall helped her to heal because of the amount of genuine support she received:
My most recent interaction with the student liaison program was in the winter quarter of
my freshman year of college when I was offered guidance from the student liaison
program office after experiencing sexual assault. Around the time of my sexual assault
incident, I was emotionally supported by the student liaison for my chapter at the time.
Around this same time, when a criminal investigation ensued, I was offered guidance and
support from multiple people from the student liaison program and its office. I definitely
felt [as if the people I interacted with were knowledgeable and ready to support me]. I felt
like I had many options to turn to for guidance and support. My initial interaction with
the student liaison assigned to my chapter was when I needed guidance after my sexual
assault incident. [This interaction was meaningful and helpful because] I felt like I was
not alone in a time I really needed someone to support me. [It was impactful] solely by
the fact of knowing that I am not alone.
For Veronica, an alumni of the university who experienced sexual assault during her second year
of school and became very involved in the program before she graduated, she felt that the thing
that kept her engaged and healing was the support from the program office and its facilitator. She
SUPPORTING SEXUAL ASSAULT SURVIVORS 55
describes how the support helped her to return and continue to pour into the program even after
she had graduated:
The program and office has always welcomed me back into its arms even as a post grad. I
also felt like I had an unlimited amount of resources available to me and that the office
would bend over backwards to help me. They were always there for me regardless of the
time. They helped me get back into my normal routine and helped me feel comfortable in
my chapter again. Once I felt up to it, I was even able to join the program as a student
liaison and shared my story with the other liaisons. I am so happy that I am still asked
back to their training sessions to tell my story and offer insights on how to support
survivors. The program helped me to feel empowered enough to do this. The programs
they offered helped me to connect back to my body. [Veronica]
The survivors all felt different levels of positive support stemming from this program, whether it
was the courage to share their story, a shoulder to cry on, or someone to provide resources for
legal obstacles, they all came out with a positive experience that reintegrated them into their
communities and lives. The positive support received from the survivors shows the goal of the
office is being put into action by those that are involved with it.
For Anne as a student liaison, she knows that the trainings that she receives from the
office and in turn gives to her chapter are making a difference in her chapter. Anne not only feels
confident in supporting survivors, but also feels ready to provide support and resources to the
rest of the campus:
I do feel prepared to support sexual assault survivors with the amount of resources I
know of as well as the practical language and skills I have learned in speaking to
someone about a trauma. Learning how to make an individual feel validated and give
them back some of the power they may have lost is what I have found to be the most
important part. As peer liaisons, we are not counselors, but resources and support for
individuals on our campus.
Continuing the trend of not just providing support for the chapter members, Brennan describes
how he feels supported in his position as a student liaison to continue to pour his time and energy
into the program. He talks about the various ways he was encouraged, honed his skills as a
liaison, and was able to be a source of strength for others:
SUPPORTING SEXUAL ASSAULT SURVIVORS 56
The other liaisons were very encouraging about ideas we had to offer and how to increase
participation in programs we host, and being open to teaming up to host programs
together. The directors were also very flexible and understanding when things would
come up, and have resources available for us to better our programs. My chapter
members would support by coming out to the program I put on and actively listening to
the presentation during chapter meetings. My chapter members were always attentive and
genuinely appreciated the topics I would bring up for discussion. They also were very
supportive to make sure I was okay when members would come to me, making sure I
considered my own mental health as well. The members always emphasized the
importance of my position to each other, which I really appreciated. I felt very supported
when my chapter members came out to the Survival Panel I hosted and listened
attentively. I also felt really good when they came to my booth at Take Back the Night
and complimented the activity and board I worked really hard on. I feel confident that my
chapter knows the resources available that can help support sexual assault survivors.
[Brennan]
Tristan’s approach to support comes from his passion for the topic. He believes that the passion
for participating in the program directly translates to the GLO chapter’s involvement and how
serious they take the trainings. He talked about not just offering his support for issues of sexual
assault and dating violence, but also talking about self-care with his chapter members. Through
his passion, he saw results and talks about what that looked like for him:
No matter what I was doing, I always felt [the other liaisons’] support. The people in the
program are so genuine that it made coming to training fun and enjoyable. The
facilitators were also so receptive of feedback and questions that we had for them. I felt
most supported by the chapter at Take Back the Night where over 20 of my members
were there supporting me and letting me know how much they appreciated my passion
for the program. I think because my chapter is smaller, I have had a large impact of what
goes on in the chapter. I think my genuine concern for the topics really translates well for
my presentations. People who are close to you tend to be able to acknowledge the passion
you have for a topic and it makes them more receptive of what you have to say. [Tristan].
It is easy to see the positive effects of the assistance given to all of the participants involved. The
participants showed that if they needed to call on a facilitator, they were always there to answer
their calls. The chapter members met their dedicated liaisons with encouragement. The student
liaisons saw their fellow liaisons as a source of strength and a person they could count on to
SUPPORTING SEXUAL ASSAULT SURVIVORS 57
bounce ideas off of or lean on for reassurance. The community showed real growth in the
positivity toward the overall student liaison program.
Lack of Support. There are many ways that participants communicated their experiences
of a lack of support. Though the program was working toward creating a responsible and
cohesive community committed toward preventing sexual assault and elevating their community
to be a safe place for survivors to return to, it is not without its shortcomings. The participants
were able to provide rich detail on experiences where they felt as if they would have been more
successful provided the proper assistance. For example, Reese, the program facilitator points out,
as the program grows so does the need for other resources:
Having adequate funding is an ongoing struggle. The growth of the program, while a
good thing, has increased the amount of time needed to manage it effectively. Advising
the student liaison program could be a full time job. Funding is an area where [ I wish I
had more support from the university itself].
Tiffany, the student coordinator, recognized the need to stress the importance of the position that
the student liaisons are taking on, the responsibilities that come with it, and the need to take the
position seriously:
There were times during training where I felt some of the liaisons were not paying
attention or did not seem to care about the topic. I wish I had a little more support in
terms of setting a certain expectation for the liaisons. My biggest challenge is getting the
liaisons to really understand how important their role is. Sometimes I feel like they do not
pay attention in training or are just doing the program because their chapter forced them
to. I want to make sure that every liaison is there because they want to be there and that
they will take the position seriously. It was hard for me to see chairs who dropped the
program, especially for chapters who really needed a liaison. It was hard when I felt like
some liaisons were not giving this program any priority. I think they struggle with
recognizing the true importance of their role.
For the survivors, some of them experienced varying amounts of desultory support which
manifested in different ways. For Richie, he felt that some of the issues he was facing were not
addressed in the program:
SUPPORTING SEXUAL ASSAULT SURVIVORS 58
I would not necessarily say that I felt unsupported entirely, but I wish that I had more
comprehensive LGBTQ+ support during my time.
Stacy remarks on the current state of her chapter and the absence of a sense of urgency about the
topic:
I feel that the current student liaison for my chapter does not stress the importance and
intensity of the need of this program. I am sure she could direct someone to the right
outlets for support, but during presentations and announcements made during chapter
meetings, I feel like she makes light of the experience of being a liaison when in reality,
the seriousness and importance should be more stressed.
Veronica unfortunately was met with an inadequate amount of emotional support directly after
her sexual assault. After she was assaulted, she immediately turned to her student liaison which
is when it became clear that the student had never taken the role seriously. Veronica described
her experience:
My initial interaction left something to be desired. I could tell that my liaison had not
been attending the trainings or taking the position seriously at all. She was not helpful at
all and when I was crying to her about what had happened, her response was devoid of
any education or resources. She had absolutely no idea what she was doing. Luckily for
me, she at least gave me the card for the number of the program office, which I connected
with and received the response I needed. This interaction only made me want to join the
program so that no one would experience what I had.
Veronica’s response only further conveys the need for well-educated and prepared student
liaisons because that interaction could have proven detrimental to her healing as we have seen in
previously stated research. Luckily, Veronica was able to get the help she needed and push past
her first interaction with the program.
Participants’ descriptions of their experiences were influenced strongly by emotion and
focused on the need to continue to grow and sustain the student liaison program. Though this
program is housed within an institution of higher education, it has the ability to reach past the
time that a student is in college. How the participants were able to apply what they learned in
trainings, educate their peers, and bolster one another was influenced by the support that they
SUPPORTING SEXUAL ASSAULT SURVIVORS 59
received from each other and from the genuine conviction exhibited by the facilitators, the
student liaisons, and the chapter members toward preventing sexual assault and helping
survivors. This program and those involved will only continue to benefit from its purpose
through the continuous growth of the program.
Growth
This section describes the participants’ ideas for the growth of the program that are drawn
from significant experiences that they had while interacting with the liaison program. The
participants were able to express what they felt would help make the program more engaging and
successful using what they had observed as well as things that they wished they had been able to
experience. The main areas of growth that arose from the participants’ responses are the student
liaisons, new ways to support survivors, and the overall program itself.
Student Liaisons. Many participants vocalized the need for more student liaisons that
were in the program because they hard an authentic dedication to the program’s mission and
objectives. The program is only as strong as the liaisons that are selected to participate in the
program. Stacy remarked that:
The matter of having student liaisons that make light of their position needs to be
addressed. Student liaisons need to be selected more carefully.
The comprehensive idea that the program needs student liaisons that want to be in the program is
reiterated by most of the participants in both the long and short survey responses. Stacy’s
thoughts were reiterated by Veronica when she was talking about her initial lack of support:
Student liaisons need to understand the gravity of what they are asked to do. I sympathize
that what the university is asking them is a big ask, but they agreed to be a liaison
knowing exactly what that entails. The selection process for the liaisons needs to be a
little more rigorous. I would hate for someone to go through what I did just because their
SUPPORTING SEXUAL ASSAULT SURVIVORS 60
student liaison is only in that position because their chapter forced them to be there. It
should not be a forced to type of thing. Chapters should see their liaisons as their way of
actively fighting against sexual violence and putting an end to that type of violence. It is
such a powerful role and it is not seen that way.
Participants called for a new system for the student liaison selection so that each chapter was
able to benefit from their selected person. Their student liaison has to be someone who feels a
personal responsibility for their chapter and for the issue at hand.
New Ways to Support Survivors. The survivors provided a few ideas to grow the
program to help to support survivors directly. The survivor participants added their insight to
things that should be brought up in training in order to better prepare the student liaisons and
their chapter members. The comprehensive idea is that the input from survivors is necessary for
the program’s growth. Richie discussed what to expect or not expect from survivors:
Do not expect anything from the survivor and be fully present. We just need support and
that is going to look different for every person. And if you do not know, that is
completely okay—just ask for additional support or help.
Stacy reflected on what she found to be healing for her and responded with what she would
advise new student liaisons to say or do when interacting with a survivor:
I would advise being sincere and understanding, allowing survivors to share as much as
they feel comfortable without prying, being a shoulder to cry on and someone to listen,
and telling them their options to help move forward.
Additionally, Veronica noted some new programs that helped her heal that should be tied more
closely with the student liaison program as well as some more ideas for the program office to put
on to further support their target audience:
I would encourage student liaisons to listen and reflect on what they are being told. Take
it in so that you can respond appropriately. The most impactful part of the program is
being able to be integrated back into our communities and it is the student liaisons job to
start this conversation about sexual assault. They can start breaking the taboo of talking
about sexual assault so that everyone is more comfortable discussing any facet of it. I
would have really appreciated an anonymous support group. I know that those could be
SUPPORTING SEXUAL ASSAULT SURVIVORS 61
tricky to facilitate but having people to talk to while I healed that were going through
similar things would have helped me to connect quicker. I also think the program should
invest more into yoga as healing. I took a trauma sensitive yoga class and it helped me to
connect back to my body. I think that having each chapter take a class like that as a group
would introduce something that is new and potentially scary for a survivor in a safe
environment where they are surrounded by friends and not going alone. This lets the
survivor explore a new way to care for themselves without even having to reveal that
they are a survivor since it’ll be a thing that the whole chapter goes to. It’s just another
way to get the word out that there are so many different paths to healing.
The input of sexual assault survivors should be integrated into the program so that the program
can have the most up to date and helpful information. The survivors provide a wealth of
knowledge to the program that has an unlimited amount of potential to help students help
survivors. The program itself has to be ready for suggestions and growth.
Program. The student liaison program has seen an incredible amount of growth over the
last thirteen years that it has existed according to our facilitator participant. However, the other
participants showed that there are many items that the program can improve on in order for it to
continue to be successful. As Richie had mentioned previously, there is a need for more
LGBTQ+ focus and training for the student liaisons in order for them to support their entire
communities. Additionally, Veronica stated an idea that had been reiterated by many other
participants:
To make a bigger impact on the community, having a student liaison needs to be a
requirement. I would even change the option from pass no pass to a letter grade so that
the liaisons take it seriously.
Some of the liaisons also had their suggestions for room for growth. Tristan described what he
would ideally like to see change in the program:
I want to stress the importance of Male Identified Survivors and put importance in
training on that population. I feel like trainings could be more effective if we include
panels or more practical and real life scenarios. I think something beneficial would be to
incorporate some type of mock scenario training so that when we are faced with actual
scenarios we can have a better idea on how to deal with certain things. Something that I
feel needs some work is retention rate, I do not really know how to incentivize the
SUPPORTING SEXUAL ASSAULT SURVIVORS 62
program more but I feel like it would be good to consider seeing how so many people
have dropped from the program. I think once more chapters join and stay, then more can
be done.
Brennan rehashed what Richie had mentioned about serving the LGBTQ+ community as well as
changing around the content of the program:
Having meetings every week instead of biweekly would be more effective, so we have
more to talk about in our chapter meetings. I think having more resources on campus
coming in to talk to us would be helpful too, like more from the LGBTQ center and the
student health and wellness center (we had a couple presentations from these centers, but
having more would definitely be more helpful).
The student liaison program has seen steady growth and has created a strong partnership between
the GLO community and the program office. The participating chapters has risen from 30 to 53
in the last five years that Reese has been a facilitator and they only hope to continue to expand.
Reese talked about what the growth means for the program:
An area we are looking to make improvements is developing a strategy so all chapters are
represented. Our smaller chapters are often not involved due to finances or time
restraints. The time required to advise the program has increased. [Our biggest area of
growth and improvement is] Creating and sustaining ‘buy in’ from their chapter
members.
The bigger program calls for more staff to support the growth in size as well as creating a reason
for their chapter members to care and participate. Participants from the short survey
communicated multiple times that they felt that the fraternities are the ones that need the bigger
push for this program. The participants said the fraternity members need to be more involved and
actually pay attention to the trainings. The GLO population being polled conveyed an overall
feeling of dissatisfaction in fraternity investment in the program. Participants stated that in order
for the program to work, the effort has to be put in from both sides.
SUPPORTING SEXUAL ASSAULT SURVIVORS 63
Conclusion
The crux of the participants’ experiences was their dedication to the success of the
student liaison program regardless of the shortcomings. As participants discussed their
involvement with the program, they were able to reflect on what works and what does not.
Participants tended to have a strong conviction for the program and its positive effects on the
GLO community. Overall, the participants conveyed the various aspects of the student liaison
program’s mission and goal were being accomplished and invested in. Chapter five discusses the
implications of these findings for the research questions and makes recommendations for how
institutions can create effective and engaging sexual assault survivor support programs at their
own institutions. The chapter will also discuss limitations of this study and suggestions for
further research.
SUPPORTING SEXUAL ASSAULT SURVIVORS 64
Chapter 5: Discussion & Recommendations
The purpose of this study was to evaluate a current support program in place at a public
institution for effectiveness in preparing the program’s members for supporting sexual assault
victims within their own community and to evaluate the interventions provided by the institution
for effectiveness from a survivor perspective. The survey findings from the previous chapter
reveal important insights into how participants’ experiences with the program influenced the
program’s success. This chapter discusses the implications of these findings to the study’s
research question: What interventions at this public institution are in place in order to support
sexual assault survivors on campus and to aid into their reintegration into a college campus? The
chapter’s sections draw from this study’s findings as well as from past research to explore the
following: 1) do the sexual assault survivors find the current or new practices offered/sponsored
by the university effective or helpful; 2) do the student liaisons and GLO chapter members feel
that they are being trained in a way that provides them with the tools to provide adequate support
for sexual violence survivors. The chapter also provides recommendations for higher education
institutions and other organizations to create a peer to peer sexual assault prevention group to
support sexual survivors. Lastly, the limitations of the findings and future research is presented.
Potential implication.
When researching the intervention in place at this public institution, past research
findings were considered and informed this study. Relyea & Ullman’s study in 2015 discovered
the following:
Importantly, almost all women (94%) in our sample received reactions that
acknowledged that an assault occurred but failed to provide support, and this lack of
support was associated with worse coping than even more hostile reactions such as being
blamed or stigmatized. Therefore, there seems a great need for effective programs to train
community members to respond to survivors with the kind of emotional and tangible
support that promotes better outcomes.
SUPPORTING SEXUAL ASSAULT SURVIVORS 65
In other words, in order to support college aged sexual assault survivors, institutions need
to provide more peer to peer programs and groups. These peer groups aid survivors into their
reintegration of their social circles because of the connections they made with their peers and the
trust they build in using their peers to support their healing. The implications of this study could
help to better support for sexual assault survivors and potentially help to create new interventions
on college campuses where peer to peer support does not exist.
The following questions explore key elements that needed to be considered to gauge the
success of the peer to peer student liaison program at the public institution being studied.
Do the sexual assault survivors find the current or new practices offered/sponsored
by the university effective or helpful?
Community connection. Across the sample, participants noted the overwhelming
amount of positive support for the student liaison program and its purpose. Chapter members
were trained to support their peers. Student liaisons educated the campus community. Facilitators
of the program expanded the program material into relevant topics. The purpose of the student
liaison program is to cultivate a sensitive and supportive community for sexual assault survivors
to be a part of. Participants reported active engagement in the program and gave examples of
seeing the trainings in action. Participants who were sexual assault survivor described their
interactions with this program, whether a peer who had a student liaison, a liaison themselves, or
the program office as providing them with the resources and assistance that they needed in order
to feel comfortable, empowered, and reconnected. Participants such as Richie and Stacy for
example, recalled being supported immediately by their peers in their GLO chapters and by the
student liaison assigned to the chapter. While Veronica was not initially met with this assistance,
she did find solace and help within the student liaison program by using its resources and
SUPPORTING SEXUAL ASSAULT SURVIVORS 66
contacting a well prepared liaison. Veronica, Richie, and Stacy all mentioned feeling welcomed
back and not alone when returning to their Greek Letter Organization and that they felt
comforted by the fact that they could talk to a peer about their assault. Other participants, such as
Tiffany and Tristan, described a sense of pride for their Greek Letter Organization and fellow
peers with the amount of knowledge they had retained from the student liaison trainings and had
witnessed in real life situations by supporting their peers. Participants’ experiences align closely
with findings from past studies of peer to peer support groups within the context of sexual assault
survivor support. For example, adolescent victims of sexual assault reported that though
counseling services were helpful as a part of their support network, a majority of the participants
interviewed stated that they wished they had received more support from their peers
(Schönbucher et al, 2014). The importance of peer empathy, educated skills, and a sense of
responsibility for prevention or intervention were also named as items that sexual assault
survivors desired within their communities (Schönbucher et al., 2014). This highlights that there
is a higher likelihood that sexual assault disclosure will be revealed to an informal source such as
a peer versus an on campus counseling center (Orchowski & Gidycz, 2015). Participants
mentioned that what helped them to truly heal and feel comfortable back in their communities
was the ability to call on their peers for educated and informed help. While the participants may
not have wanted a direct response from their peer and more just wanted someone to talk to, it is
still important to note that their peers were educated on how to respond when someone is
discussing their trauma. As mentioned earlier, the initial response to a disclosure can have lasting
repercussions so it is important to have an educated community for support. The unsupportive
acknowledgement and the turning away responses to sexual assault disclosure to a peer both had
negative effects on their survivor and lead to more negative coping methods as well as feelings
SUPPORTING SEXUAL ASSAULT SURVIVORS 67
of isolation, shame, and self-blame (Relyea & Ullman, 2015). While the experiences that lead to
the participants needing support may have been negative, they also resulted in the empowering
of the survivor due to interactions with a community that had been educated on how to help their
friends who had experienced sexual assault. In turn, the peers who support their friends feel a
sense of pride and responsibility. Participants showed that while the content of the trainings and
the education given during the year is important to the overall cause, the relationships that they
have with each other are much more impactful and important to supporting the cause. Being
accountable for one another and taking care of another person regardless of the letters that they
wear was a recurring theme within the short and long interview responses.
Meaningful Investment. As a result of the community connection on campus due to the
liaison program, the participants were able to invest their time into a program that provided
meaningful support and tangible successes. Participants recalled feeling proud of their chapter
members when they saw them actively engaging in preventive efforts or coming to educational
programs such as Take Back the Night. This empowerment and sense of conviction was felt by
Tristan, Brennan, and Tiffany when they discussed how the success of Take Back the Night and
the recognition of their peers of the importance of the work they were doing made them feel
more invested in the program’s purpose. Because they were more invested in the program, they
continued to cultivate the supportive community within their GLO chapters. This cultivation
only expanded the safe network and informed peer network that sexual assault survivors could
lean into and rely on. These experiences tie into existing studies that discussed that knowing a
survivor, hearing their story, and being an active participant helped to make the community more
compelled to participate and made the cause more “real” (Huang et al., 2017). The participants
found their work more meaningful because the issue for them was real.
SUPPORTING SEXUAL ASSAULT SURVIVORS 68
Do the student liaisons and Greek Letter Organization chapter members feel that they are
being trained in a way that provides them with the tools to provide adequate support for
sexual violence survivors?
Participants’ responses reflected the themes from prior research about successful support
programs for sexual assault survivors. The responses showed that the students responded well to
peer to peer interaction and education. They showed that the students understood the importance
of sensitivity training. Additionally, the previous research and the current study demonstrated
that community and peer support training programs where survivors can be integrated into the
function are beneficial for both the community and current/future survivors of sexual assault. For
example, both Tristan and Brennan mentioned that the survivor panel that they held at their
chapter meetings and the panel held during their student liaison training making them feel more
confident in their tools is supported by the study of Schönbucher et al (2014) as well as Huang et
al.(2017). Both studies discussed that integrating survivors into trainings helped to stir up a sense
of responsibility in the person being trained and made the situation more real for the participant.
Brennan and Tristan both mentioned that hearing the suggestions from the survivor and asking
them questions helped them to be more confident when training their chapters.
Also, participants from the short survey responded positively to the question of whether
they felt prepared to support survivors and included that even their chapter members that
participated the least would still be able to point the survivor in the right direction as far as
resources as well as be sensitive toward their trauma. The short survey participants stated that the
GLO community views issues of sexual assault as a very serious matter and that the liaison
program is seen with that same level of importance for most chapters. This echoes research done
by Schonbucher et al., which talks about the influence and importance of peer empathy, educated
SUPPORTING SEXUAL ASSAULT SURVIVORS 69
skills, and a sense of responsibility for prevention (2014). The short survey results conveyed
feelings in line with Schonbucher as the community portrayed the priority that learning about
sexual assault has taken in the GLO life community at their school. While survivors can provide
context and knowledge about supporting other survivors, the conviction has to come from the
community to do what is right and be informed peers. Institutions must provide the necessary
tools for students to be ready to address issues of sexual assault that may occur within their
social circles. The next section provides recommendations for institutions of higher education to
create peer to peer sexual assault support programs.
Recommendations
The following recommendations draw from past research on sexual assault support
programs and findings from this study to provide suggestions for institutions to create more
supportive and effective programs for their various communities on their campuses. Higher
education institutions need to provide services for this growing problem in the best way that they
can. Institutions can do this by investing their efforts in discovering and researching new
interventions to support survivors of sexual assault. Peer to peer support has proven to be useful
to sexual assault survivors, but uninformed or incorrect responses can do more harm than good
(Huang et al., 2017). The following recommendations can help create a supportive and safe
environment for their sexual assault survivor students:
Recommendation 1: Create a program to educate incoming students on how to
support someone who has experienced sexual assault.
The participants in this study were all able to learn prevention techniques and how to
respond to situations later on in their college career, introducing the topic early on would help to
decrease the occurrences of sexual assault and may peak more interest in joining the student
SUPPORTING SEXUAL ASSAULT SURVIVORS 70
liaison program. Adding a program into the orientation weekend at most universities could flow
seamlessly with the other trainings that go on throughout the orientation period. This also gives
the university a chance to communicate its stance on sexual violence early so that freshmen enter
school knowing exactly what is expected of them and what is not tolerated. With this expectation
set and the basic concepts given early, this could provide students with an opportunity early in
their college careers to get involved with the student liaison program as well as to help to sustain
the culture of support on campus from the very beginning. It is better to give the students more
information than they will hopefully need at orientation, then to not educate them and have them
need the support or resources.
Recommendation 2. Cultivate or create existing peer to peer programs on campus to
secure recurring support. In order to continue a university’s forward progress with supporting
sexual assault survivors, the administration must support the programs and vocalize its support of
the programs. Reese discussed how though the student liaison program is flourishing and
growing, they struggle with finding the time and funding to continue to support it. Programs like
this that support the health and wellness of the student body should be supported more heavily by
the institution itself. If a university is truly passionate about joining the fight to stop sexual
assault, they must initiate more support for programs like this one. Making programs like this a
priority comes from the public addressing of the administration about the policy toward sexual
assault, their unwavering support, and their dedication to continuing to improve efforts to
support survivors. Creating a peer to peer program is a start for some and is backed by research
to show that peer to peer support works sometimes better than counseling support (Orchowski &
Gidycz, 2015). Offering counseling services is not enough to support survivors, institutions must
commit to creating a community. By creating a creative community by investing in these
SUPPORTING SEXUAL ASSAULT SURVIVORS 71
interventions, the university actively tries to reduce the occurrences of sexual assault and can
change a campus culture. If the administration puts emphasis on an issue, then the students have
to pay attention.
Recommendation 3. Create a program with survivor input integrated in.
The first two recommendations focused on starting programs with an early impact that
could be sustained by creating a culture around sexual assault support, but in order for
institutions to truly push forward and continue to help survivors heal, they must create programs
with survivor input integrated into the foundation of the program itself. Research has shown that
in order for a program to be truly helpful, and beneficial for the community, the experience of
the survivor must be added as complementary materials (Schonbucher et al., 2014). The firsthand
experience is invaluable to the people participating in the program. By engaging sexual assault
survivors, institutions have tapped into the varying opinions and preferences of what helped and
what did not during their healing journey. The survivors are a resource that wants to give back
and contribute so that they can aid in the prevention effort. We also saw in research that the
stories of sexual assault survivors told during trainings of peer groups makes the issue more real
for the students being trained and helps them to gain a sense of urgency and conviction toward
helping to support victims of sexual assault (Huang et al., 2017).
Limitations to study
Participants’ responses provided insight into the experiences of GLO chapter members,
facilitators, and student liaisons involved in the student liaison program and revealed important
findings about their sense of preparedness to support survivors and the effectiveness of the
program as a whole. However, while the descriptive approach of the study explored the
participants’ experiences, the small sample size of this research limits the generalizability of the
SUPPORTING SEXUAL ASSAULT SURVIVORS 72
findings since only a very small percentage of the GLO community participated in the study.
Another limitation of the short survey responses was not collecting the year of each student, what
chapter they were from, and the number of members in each chapter. This information would
have made the qualitative data stronger and easier to draw conclusions about the influence the
program has over the students. The study was limited in time, interaction, and resources, so it is
not intended to be comprehensive of all experiences of participants in the student liaison program
or GLO chapter members. Additionally, the study did not intend to find relationship between
participants’ experiences and the success of sexual assault survivors reintegrating themselves
into their communities. Rather, the study sought to explore the participants’ experiences within
the program and how those experiences may have influenced the positive reception of the student
liaison program and ultimately the mission of the program. The experiences that participants
shared about the program provided important insights into what works and does not in a peer to
peer program. It also was able to show the overall benefit of the GLO community participating in
the program by communicating the spread of awareness and prevention tools.
Conclusion
The participants of this study may not be representative due to the small sample size, but
through the design of this study, I was able to use the past experiences of the participants and
how their experiences influenced the student liaison program’s effectiveness in accomplishing
the goal it set. Participants recalled the importance of the involvement of every chapter in this
program, their personal investment in the program and how it was influenced, and how the
overall community attitude toward sexual assault shifted as the student liaisons expressed the
seriousness of the issue. The participants portrayed an overall feeling of responsibility for each
other and for prevention. Now as students enter this public university, they are met with a
SUPPORTING SEXUAL ASSAULT SURVIVORS 73
community who make support and prevention of sexual assault a priority. The experiences
shared by the sexual assault survivors informed the study of the varying amounts of assistance
that the students received due to this program and how this program positively influenced them.
Investing in a program like this can be incredibly beneficial to higher education institutions that
aim to create a more conscientious, diligent, welcoming, and supportive college campus that
actively engages in preventing sexual assault. As student populations continue to grow, so does
the potential opportunity for sexual assaults to occur. However, while the potential for assault
rises, institutions can invest in their programs to educate students on how to thwart these acts and
to support their peers if they are to occur. If a university devotes its efforts into creating a
campus that feels responsible for one another and is educated on how to counter sexual assault
attempts, the frequency of encounters will surely change. Institutions must buy in to the
importance of this issue, because once the administration also communicates the gravity of the
problem, everyone else on campus will see it as crucial as well.
Future Areas of Research
More research is needed to understand the various ways that sexual assault survivors
want to be supported. This study provide useful insights, but more importantly, raised more
questions for further investigation. Further research could examine how sexual assault survivors
who are a member of the LGBTQ+ community respond to peer to peer support groups. Research
should also explore how male students feel about issues of sexual assault and their role in
providing support and a safe place for survivors. Lastly, research could also focus on the
relationship between university focus on issues of sexual violence or attitudes towards it and how
the collegiate community responds. The researchers could see if the attitude of school
administration toward sexual assault influences the way that students view the issue. College
SUPPORTING SEXUAL ASSAULT SURVIVORS 74
campuses only continue to diversify, and so must institutions of higher education diversify their
support for students of different backgrounds. By becoming more inclusive of all students,
higher education institutions only further establish themselves as a haven for all who want to
learn.
SUPPORTING SEXUAL ASSAULT SURVIVORS 75
Appendices
Appendix A
Long Survey Protocol (Student Liaison):
● Can you describe for me the last educational presentation that you gave to your
chapter from the start of the program until the end of the program?
● Could you describe for me how a presentation at your chapter goes?
● Could you describe what you do when a chapter member contacts you for help?
● Could you describe for me what the student liaison training was like for you?
● Could you give me an example of how you felt supported by your fellow
liaisons/director/chapter members?
● Do you feel as though your chapter members genuinely support this program and
your trainings?
● Can you describe an experience where you may be felt very supported or not
supported by your peers?
● How do you think this program could improve?
● Do you believe that this program is accomplishing its purpose?
● Do you feel prepared to support sexual assault survivors?
● Do you feel as though your chapter members are prepared to support sexual
assault survivors?
● Do you feel as though your chapter members are utilizing the tools you give them
during your presentations?
● Can you describe for me a time when you saw a chapter member using the
prevention and support tools from training?
SUPPORTING SEXUAL ASSAULT SURVIVORS 76
● Can you describe for me what you feel is the most effective or impactful part of
the presentations that you give?
● What would you say is the biggest challenge you face as a student liaison?
● How do you feel this program has, if at all, impacted the surrounding campus
community?
Long Survey Protocol (Staff Member/Student Coordinator):
● Can you describe for me the last training you facilitated for the student liaisons?
From the start of the training to the end of the training?
● Can you describe for me a typical day working with the student liaisons for me?
● Can you describe for me a typical student liaison presentation for me if you have
attended one?
● Can you describe for me a typical training session for the student liaisons?
● How would you describe the student liaison program and its growth since the time
you have been a part of it?
● Can you give me an example of a program that you wish existed for sexual assault
survivors at your institution?
● Can you describe an experience that you had with the program that stuck out to
you or struck a chord with you?
● Can you describe an experience where you felt you could have had more support?
● Could you describe an experience where you wish you had more support from the
institution itself?
● How do you think this program could improve?
● Do you believe that this program is accomplishing its purpose?
SUPPORTING SEXUAL ASSAULT SURVIVORS 77
● What would you say is the biggest challenge you face as a facilitator/coordinator
of this program?
● What would you say is the biggest challenge the student liaisons face while being
a part of this program?
● Can you describe for me what you feel is the most effective or impactful part of
the presentations the students give?
● Can you describe for me what you feel is the most effective or impactful part of
the student liaison training sessions?
● How do you feel this program has, if at all, impacted the surrounding campus
community?
Long Survey Protocol (Sexual Assault Survivor)
● Can you describe for me your most recent interaction in any capacity with the
student liaison program?
● How would you describe the growth of the student liaison program since you
began to interact with it?
● Can you give me an example of when you felt supported by this program?
● Can you give me an example of when you felt unsupported by this program?
● Could you give me an example of a program you wish existed or one that you
would find helpful?
● When working with the program, did you feel as though the people you interacted
with were knowledgeable and ready to support you?
● Do you have anything you wish you could have changed during an interaction
with this program?
SUPPORTING SEXUAL ASSAULT SURVIVORS 78
● When in contact with students involved in this program in any capacity, do you
feel as though they are prepared to support you and use the support/prevention
tools given to them during training?
● How do you think this program could improve?
● Do you believe that this program is accomplishing its purpose?
● Can you describe your initial interaction with this program or the student liaison
assigned to your chapter?
○ Do you feel as though this interaction was meaningful and helpful?
● Do you use the other programs provided by the institution i.e. Yoga as Healing?
○ If you do, why or how are these beneficial for you?
○ If they are not beneficial, can you explain why?
● If you could give the student liaisons advice on interacting with survivors, what
would it be?
● What would you describe as the most impactful or meaningful part of this
program is for you?
● What would you consider the most impactful or meaningful part of this program
is for the student liaisons and the GLO chapters that participate?
● How do you feel this program has, if at all, impacted the surrounding campus
community?
SUPPORTING SEXUAL ASSAULT SURVIVORS 79
Appendix B
Survey Questions:
1. On a scale of 1-5, rate the effectiveness of the trainings your chapter has received
on issues of sexual assault? Effectiveness being defined as the trainings educated
the chapter on these issues and gave them realistically usable tools.
2. On a scale of 1-5, how prepared do you feel to support survivors of sexual assault
after having these trainings?
3. On a scale of 1-5, what would you rate the overall receptiveness of your chapter
towards these trainings?
4. On a scale of 1-5, are programs like this one or other services offered by the
university (i.e. Yoga as Healing, Take Back the Night) helpful for
prevention/education/support?
Additional Answers:
1. Have you ever contacted your program chair for support services or resources?
a. Was your chair ready/prepared to help you in whatever way you needed?
2. Why did you rate questions the way that you did (dropdown menu for each
question above)
3. What is your opinion on the GLO campus climate/attitude toward supporting
sexual assault survivors?
4. Additional Thoughts and Comments
SUPPORTING SEXUAL ASSAULT SURVIVORS 80
Appendix C
Short Survey Data Charts
SUPPORTING SEXUAL ASSAULT SURVIVORS 81
SUPPORTING SEXUAL ASSAULT SURVIVORS 82
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Abstract (if available)
Abstract
Recent news sources and current events have shed light on the alarming amount of sexual violence acts committed by athletes, businessmen, and other notable persons in the public eye. Both men and women are stepping forward and reporting sexual abuse. This trend in news coverage lags behind years of research conducted on sexual misconduct on college campuses. With this new onslaught of information on the frequency of occurrences of sexual misconduct, the nation may become more receptive to initiatives of prevention and support that institutions have been investing in. As the rates rise, the need for support becomes more and more prevalent. Collegiate sexual assault survivors are not being met with the proper support services in order for them to reintegrate themselves into their college communities. Negative coping methods are related to insufficient support post-assault, but most college campuses do not have the programs or trainings available to survivors or their peers in order to combat this. ❧ This paper researches the effectiveness of a university program created to support sexual assault survivors by educating their peers on prevention methods and support strategies. Through anonymous surveys, this study investigated the experiences of different students and staff members as they interacted with a program created to provide peer education to the institution’s Greek Letter Organization (GLO) community. The program being studied focuses on training GLO chapter members on issues of domestic violence, stalking, and sexual assault. A member from each GLO chapter is chosen to serve as the liaison for their chapter. That liaison comes to weekly training sessions hosted by the university’s sexual assault resource center with each week’s training session covering a different topic. These sessions include information on how to prevent violence and how to care for the person who has experienced the violence. Each week the liaison must return to their chapter and provide that same information to their peers during the chapter’s meetings. The participants in this study were the student liaisons, program director, student liaison coordinator, GLO community members, and sexual assault survivors. ❧ The research showed the positive effects that the program had on the community, members of the program, and the survivors by its ability to provide the specialized support and trainings. The study found that these programs helped survivors cope with their trauma, feel more supported and connected with their community, and connect them with necessary resources.
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Rosenberg, Jacqueline Anne
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Supporting sexual assault survivors through on campus education/liaison programs: a descriptive case study
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Postsecondary Administration and Student Affairs
Publication Date
03/25/2019
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college,domestic violence,education programs,fraternity,Greek life,Healing,intervention,liaison programs,OAI-PMH Harvest,peer education,peer groups,peer to peer,peers,Prevention,rape,recovery,Sexual assault,sexual assault survivors,sorority,student liaisons,support,support groups,support programs,universities,Violence
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