Supporting sexual assault survivors through on campus education/liaison programs: a descriptive case study

2019-03-25Recent 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