Sexual and Gender Minority Inclusivity in Bystander Intervention Programs to Prevent Violence on College Campuses: A Critical Review

Sexual and gender minority (SGM) individuals are at increased risk for experiencing sexual violence. Bystander intervention training programs are a first-line prevention recommendation for reducing sexual and dating violence on college campuses. Little is known regarding the extent to which SGM individuals are represented in the content of bystander intervention programs or are included in studies examining the effectiveness of bystander intervention programs. The present critical review aimed to fill this gap in knowledge. Twenty-eight empirical peer-reviewed evaluations of bystander intervention programs aimed at reducing dating violence or sexual assault on college campuses were examined. Three studies (10.7%) described including content representing SGM individuals in the program. Personal communication with study authors indicated that—although not mentioned in the publication—many programs describe rates of violence among SGM students. When describing the study sample, six studies (21.4%) indicated that transgender, nonbinary, or students classified as “other” were included in the research. Approximately two thirds of studies (67.9%) did not describe participants’ sexual orientation. No studies reported outcomes specifically among SGM individuals, and two (7.1%) mentioned a lack of SGM inclusion as a study limitation. Work is needed to better represent SGM individuals in the content of bystander intervention programs and ensure adequate representation of SGM individuals in studies examining the effectiveness of bystander intervention programs