IDENTIFYING THE MYTHS, BARRIERS, AND FACILITATORS OF SEXUAL ASSAULT REPORTING

Sexual assault has existed for thousands of years. Social consequences of not reporting include no justice for victims and allowing perpetrators to reoffend. Yet less than 36% of victims report their sexual assaults to law enforcement. The project’s aim was to create awareness of the myths, barriers, and facilitators of sexual assault reporting to law enforcement. An educational tool, Sexual Assault Reporting: Guide for First Responders, was created, validated by an expert panel, and then tested with law enforcement officers for effect on rape myth acceptance. Phase one involved a pretest with demographic, personal, and work-related questions and the 22- item Updated Illinois Rape Myth Acceptance Scale (IRMA). Phase two involved an educational training with the brochure and a posttest, using a modified version of the Updated IRMA to evaluate the effectiveness of the training and brochure. Despite overall average Updated IRMA score increase (less rape myth acceptance at posttest), MANOVA analysis revealed no significant difference in mean scores (pre to posttest) for 19 officers who took both. Two items specific to drinking and victim appearance, extremely common rape myth stereotypes, showed average increased scores of almost 1, indicating more rejection of these rape myths at post-test. Overall, in this small evaluation of the pamphlet, results were encouraging and demonstrated that the educational training using the brochure, Sexual Assault Reporting: Guide for First Responders, may lead to increased rape myth rejection. Further evaluations with larger samples, especially of wider geographic nature, are warranted