Dating Violence

The goal of this bystander-focused, classroom-delivered curriculum is to reduce rates of interpersonal violence among high school students. The program is rated Ineffective. The program had no statistically significant impact on various measures of interpersonal violence, victim empathy, and measures of proactive bystander behavior. There was a statistically significant decrease for the treatment group in bystander denial about the role students could play in preventing interpersonal violence.

This program involves film and guided discussion to promote bystander behavior related to dating abuse. The program is rated Ineffective. There were no statistically significant differences between the intervention and control groups on intervening when a peer was being harmed or physically hurt by an intimate partner, or when a peer was intoxicated or being bullied. The intervention group was statistically significantly more likely to intervene in peer self-harm, compared with the control group.

This was a sexual assault prevention program adapted for American Indian girls that sought to reduce sexual assault victimization and to improve sexual assault resistance skills and self-defense knowledge. The program is rated Promising. Girls who received the intervention reported statistically significantly lower rates of sexual assault and sexual harassment, compared with girls in the comparison group. However, there was no impact on reported rates of physical dating violence.

This is an online video program that seeks to promote and increase high school and college students’ efficacy in performing helpful bystander behavior in instances of relationship or sexual violence, to reduce sexual violence among young adults and adolescents. The program is rated Promising. The treatment group showed statistically significant increases in observed and self-reported bystander behavior and in efficacy to intervene, compared with the control group.

This is a therapeutic program that used meditation to improve mental health outcomes for female survivors of interpersonal violence with co-occurring disorders. The program is rated Promising. Women in the treatment group who participated in the meditation curriculum had a statistically significant fewer number of mental health and trauma symptoms, and a higher level of reliable change in mental health and trauma symptoms, compared with women in the control group who received services as usual.

This was a policing strategy designed to reduce the severity of intimate partner violence and the rearrests of males who had been previously arrested for, or had admitted to, a first domestic violence offense and received a conditional caution. The program is rated Promising. Results indicated a statistically significant reduction in frequency and prevalence of rearrests of persons assigned to the treatment group compared with those assigned to the control group.

This program is designed to increase active-bystander behaviors and reduce dating and sexual violence in college and high school students. The program is rated Promising. Students who participated in the program had a statistically significantly greater number of observed and self-reported active-bystander behaviors than students who did not participate. However, there was no statistically significant impact on sexual violence victimization or sexual harassment.

This is a 12-session program for adolescent females with a history of exposure to violence/abuse and involvement in the child welfare system. The goal of the program was to reduce re-victimization in teen dating situations. The program used a health-promotion approach to help girls develop healthy relationships. The program is rated Promising. The intervention had a statistically significant impact on reducing physical re-victimization, but not sexual re-victimization.

This is a program for adolescent females with a history of violence/abuse and involvement in the child welfare system. The goal of the program was to reduce re-victimization in teen dating situations. The program used mindfulness-based, cognitive interventions to build skills for responding to risky situations (including reasoning and problem solving). The program is rated Promising. The intervention was shown to statistically significantly reduce sexual and physical re-victimization.

This was a community-based prevention program that targeted youth at risk of becoming involved in abusive relationships. The program was rated Promising. Treatment group youth demonstrated statistically significant reductions in physical abuse perpetration and trauma symptoms and a lower likelihood of emotional abuse and threatening behavior victimization, compared with control group youth. However, there were no differences between groups in threatening behavior perpetration or hostility.

This program aims to reduce harmful behavior among young adult couples who are neither married nor cohabitating. It uses a brief counseling method to address ambivalence toward behavioral change and encourage self-motivation for behavioral change. The program is rated Promising. This program showed statistically significant reductions on reports of moderate physical aggression and harmful alcohol consumption, but no statistically significant effects on reports of psychological aggression.

The program aims to reduce precursors of teen pregnancy, including sexual risk behaviors, involvement in violence, and disconnection from school. The program is rated Ineffective. There was a statistically significant impact on consistency of condom use and relational aggression perpetration, but there was no statistically significant impact on physical violence victimization, relational violence victimization, stress management, interpersonal skills, or fight avoidance skills.

This is a cognitive therapeutic program that is intended to assist female victims of sexual assault with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The overall goal is to restructure unbalanced thoughts directly related to the trauma. The program is rated Effective. Women in the treatment group demonstrated reduced symptoms of both PTSD and depression, compared with women in the control group. These differences were statistically significant.

This program is a problem-solving court that is part of a unified “one family-one judge” model, which means all criminal, family, and matrimonial cases involving the same family are handled by one judge. This program is rated Ineffective There were no statistically significant differences in re-arrests and conviction rates when comparing the IDV court cases with traditional family court cases.

The program is a problem-solving court that operate a specialized caseload for domestic violence-related cases only, and for which eligibility is determined on a case-by-case basis. Criminal domestic violence courts tend to be more common throughout the U.S. The program is rated Ineffective. The criminal domestic violence courts in New York statistically significantly reduced case-processing time, but there was no statistically significant impact on recidivism.

This is a school-based education program designed to teach students the warning signs of dating violence. The program is rated Ineffective. There were no statistically significant impacts on perceptions of helpfulness in others, likelihood of seeking help, perpetration, victimization, and abusive or fearful dating experiences. However, there was a statistically significant increase in knowledge of dating violence in treatment group students.

This is a rape prevention program for college students, designed to teach about the prevalence of sexual assault, distinguish between rape myths and facts, identify risky situations, and teach techniques to use in a risky situation. The program was rated Ineffective. The program had a statistically significant effect on self-efficacy and self-protective dating behaviors, but did not impact sexual victimization, sexual aggression, attitudes toward women, rape empathy, or sexual communication.

A health education program for 7th and 8th graders designed to delay sexual behavior and promote healthy dating relationships. The program is rated Promising. The program was shown to statistically significantly reduce emotional and physical dating violence victimization. However, the program did not have a statistically significant effect on physical perpetration of dating violence.

This dual intervention aims to reduce peer violence and sexual harassment in middle schoolers by emphasizing consequences and increasing surveillance of unsafe areas. The program is rated Promising. The intervention group had statistically significant reductions in sexual victimization and in violence victimization and perpetration compared with those in the control group. There were no statistically significant effects on sexual harassment perpetration, or knowledge, attitudes, or intentions.

This community-based advocacy intervention seeks to extend and improve social support to women experiencing domestic/intimate partner violence. The program is rated Promising. Participants showed a statistically significant increase in accessing community resources, engaging in activities to meet their needs, in quality of life, and a reduction in re-abuse. However, there were no statistically significant impacts on continued involvement with their assailants, and perceived social support.

This is a brief early intervention and secondary prevention model, designed to prevent the development of chronic posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), for children aged 7–18 years who have recently experienced a potentially traumatic event. The program is rated Promising. Compared with the comparison group, the intervention group was statistically significantly less likely to have a PTSD diagnosis or receive a partial/full PTSD diagnosis; they also showed a lower severity of PTSD symptoms.

This is an abuse assessment tool for medical staff to aid in the detection and referral of abuse in pregnant women. The program is rated Promising. With regard to increased detection of abuse, seven percent of the intervention group women were identified as abused and 53 percent received referrals, while zero percent of the comparison group women were identified as abused and zero percent received referrals, at the 12-month follow up. These differences were statistically significant.

This program consists of a specialized police unit, which was designed to prevent recidivism among people convicted of domestic violence offenses and to assist victims of domestic violence through the process of prosecution and recovery. The program is rated Promising. The treatment group assigned to the Domestic Violence Unit had a statistically significant lower likelihood of recidivating, compared with the control group, who were assigned to standard patrol.

This interactive classroom curriculum is designed to reduce youth dating violence by addressing bullying, unsafe sexual behavior, and substance use. The program is rated No Effects. The program had small, statistically significant effects on decreasing dating violence and sexual harassment/assault victimization. However, there were no significant effects on sexual harassment/assault perpetration, peer violence perpetration or victimization, sexual activity, substance use, or prosocial attitudes.

This is a prevention program for middle and high school students, which is designed to stop or prevent dating violence perpetration and victimization. This program is rated Effective. The intervention group showed statistically significant reductions in psychological, physical, and sexual abuse perpetration, and physical abuse victimization, compared with the control group at the 4-year follow up; however, there were no significant differences between groups on sexual abuse victimization.

This is an empowerment training program for pregnant women in China who have been abused. The program is rated Promising. For the experimental group, there were statistically significant declines in levels of psychological abuse, minor physical violence, physical functioning, physical and emotional role limitation, and postnatal depression. However, there were no statistically significant effects on severe physical violence, sexual abuse, and other health-related, quality-of-life measures.

This is a woman-focused behavioral intervention designed to reduce alcohol and drug use, gender-based violence, and sexual risk. The program is rated Ineffective. There were no statistically significant differences between the treatment and comparison groups in sexual abuse by a boyfriend, being beaten by a boyfriend, or daily drug use. However, compared with the comparison group, the treatment group was statistically significantly less likely to report emotional abuse by a boyfriend.