Can an Evidence-based Sexual Assault Resistance Intervention Also Prevent Intimate Partner Violence (IPV)? A Randomized Controlled Trial Sub-Study of the Efficacy of IDEA3 for Reducing IPV in Undergraduate Women

About 1 in 4 undergraduate women experience intimate partner violence (IPV) before graduation, and 1 in 5 women experience sexual assault (SA). IPV and SA are linked to academic or professional consequences for women who are victimized in college, including decreased class attendance, difficulty concentrating on schoolwork, withdrawing from classes, and dropping out of higher education entirely. The Enhanced Assess, Acknowledge, Act (EAAA) program is the only intervention proven to reduce the one-year incidence of campus SA in a randomized controlled trial (RCT) by 50%. A trial sub-study showed that EAAA also reduced IPV victimization by over 50%. EAAA is a theory-based 12-hour group intervention that increases women's abilities to assess a situation (cognitive appraisal to recognize empirically supported "red flags"), quickly acknowledge the potential for assault (e.g., overcoming self-doubt that one may be misreading the situation), and act to resist SA using evidence-based strategies. However, uptake of this effective in-person program has been limited by the cost and burden for college campuses to implement the program themselves. The researchers are currently testing an online adaptation of EAAA known as Internet-Delivered EAAA (IDEA3) in a Canadian-funded RCT, to evaluate a version of EAAA that will be more feasible to implement widely. An online format would lower costs and allow a central non-profit to deliver the program nationwide, with students from any campus participating via Zoom. While the trial was designed to evaluate the effect of IDEA3 on SA, the researchers will add an IPV sub-study to the trial. This sub-study will determine the efficacy of IDEA3 in reducing the one-year incidence of IPV, as compared to a consent workshop control condition, in US undergraduate women. The results of the study will provide key data that can be used to scale an evidence-based solution to this critical and timely issue.

This is an add-on sub-study to NCT06058455. Participants recruited in September 2024 and later into NCT06058455 will be invited to participate in this sub-study at their 12-month survey. Participants will be invited to fill out a survey on experiences of intimate partner violence (IPV) over the prior 12 months. This sub-study will enable us to determine the efficacy of IDEA3 in reducing the one-year incidence of IPV, as compared to a consent workshop control condition, in undergraduate women.