Dr. Sarah Peitzmeier
Sexual assault on college campuses is a prevalent public health problem, with 1 in 3 women experiencing sexual assault during her time in college. The Enhanced Assess, Acknowledge, Act (EAAA) sexual assault resistance intervention is the only intervention that has been shown to reduce sexual assault victimization for college women in a randomized controlled trial. EAAA is a 12-hour, peer facilitator-led, in-person intervention proven to reduce attempted or completed rape victimization by over 50% among female undergraduates, with durable effects lasting more than two years. Despite its unique efficacy, uptake of EAAA has been limited, in large part because universities prefer less costly interventions that can be administered online; unfortunately, no online intervention has been proven to reduce victimization. We developed an internet-delivered EAAA (IDEA3), which would allow rapid, cost-effective scale-up of the evidence-based EAAA intervention, with the potential to cut sexual assault victimization in half for the nation’s undergraduate women. We used a systematic intervention adaptation framework called ADAPT-ITT that is designed to preserve core elements of the original evidence-based intervention that are crucial to its efficacy, while allowing for necessary changes to content or processes that capitalize on the exciting possibilities and strengths of conducting the intervention in an online space. First, we used qualitative methods to “theater test” a first draft of IDEA3 while experts unobtrusively watched. Second, individual and focus group data were collected about participant and observer experiences of the intervention and used to substantially revise IDEA3. Lastly, we tested feasibility and acceptability of the revised IDEA3 through a single-arm pilot trial (n=64). We also examined data on pretest/posttest changes in cognitive and psychological outcomes shown to be strong mediators of EAAA’s effect on reducing victimization as indicators of potential efficacy.