Sexual violence is an important public health issue affecting significant numbers of university students across Australia and internationally. In response, online modules have been widely implemented and there is an urgent need to better understand their effectiveness. The aim of this study was to evaluate an online sexual violence prevention and response education module designed for and implemented in one Australian university.

Methods

We used a mixed-methods approach that included pre/post module completion surveys of key measures relating to sexual consent, being a bystander, and response to disclosures as well as knowledge of resources and support services. We conducted post module completion semi-structured interviews.

Results

Results indicated potential effectiveness of the module on beliefs about sexual consent, confidence intervening when witnessing potentially harmful situations, willingness to report incidents, confidence supporting a peer who discloses an incident, and knowledge of support services. Qualitative results indicated support for the online module as an accessible, private and self-paced tool for sexual violence education. Interactive, relevant and engaging content that can be applied in real-life contexts was noted as key for effectiveness.

Conclusions

This exploratory study suggests there may be potential for online modules to be effective, as one aspect of universities' sexual violence prevention and response strategies—particularly modules aimed at addressing primary, secondary and tertiary prevention. Further rigorous research is required to strengthen best practice in the development and implementation of online modules as part of whole-of-campus strategies.

So What?

Universities across Australia and internationally are grappling with sexual violence response and prevention in light of high prevalence rates among students. Online modules may be one effective tool when implemented as part of a wider strategy.

1 INTRODUCTION

Consistent with emerging evidence from developed countries around the world,^{1, 2} university students in Australia report significant rates of sexual violence. A recent national survey of 43 819 students from 38 Australian universities found that one in six students had been sexually harassed and one in 20 students had been sexually assaulted since starting university.³ Previous research indicates that the life-time prevalence rates for women who are undergraduate students may be significantly higher.⁴ Mirroring national statistics, sexual violence affects certain groups of university students disproportionately, including students who identify as women, students with diverse gender identities and sexualities, international students, students with a disability and First Nations students.³ Sexual violence, used as an umbrella term inclusive of sexual assault, sexual harassment, stalking and rape, results in significant physical and mental health harm. For university students specifically, sexual violence has negative implications for academic achievement and thus career and economic consequences.^{1, 2, 5, 6}

Building on decades of activism by community organisations and student unions across the country, the Australian Human Rights Commission produced a national report on sexual violence at Australian universities.⁷ In response, most universities across Australia committed to addressing sexual violence including through strengthening support and reporting processes for survivors and implementing prevention and education initiatives.⁸ Results from a recent follow-up national survey do not indicate significant shifts in outcomes from the 2017 report (albeit not entirely comparable due to different research methods used).³ Findings demonstrate a need for increased understanding and evidence about what constitutes effective sexual violence prevention and response in university settings. A growing body of literature points to the importance of a holistic, comprehensive, ‘whole-of-campus’ approach to sexual violence prevention.^{1, 2, 9} Further, a public health approach that incorporates action across primary, secondary and tertiary levels of prevention can work to move beyond responsive towards transformative change—that is, ensuring strategies are addressing root causes to halt violence before it occurs rather than only responding to harm after it has happened.^{10, 11} Relatedly, emerging literature demonstrates the need to recognise and address the structural, socio-cultural, and intersecting causes (including but not limited to sexism and patriarchy, racism, gender and sexuality discrimination, ableism and ageism) that drive sexual violence and allow sexual violence to go unchallenged.^{12, 13}

Since 2017, many universities across Australia have made online modules aimed at consent education available or mandatory for students. There are clear practical and logistical advantages to online modules, and recent evaluative studies, particularly from the USA, suggest online modules show promise in relation to promoting bystander intervention among university students.^14-16 Yet, complex, online sexual violence prevention modules are under evaluated and there is limited research exploring the effectiveness of online modules addressing primary, secondary and tertiary levels of prevention (including addressing foundational causes of sexual violence, consent, bystander intervention and compassionate response together).² This study aims to contribute to addressing this gap through a small, exploratory study examining the effectiveness of an online module designed for and implemented in one large Australian university (>50 000 students including >20 000 international students, across three main campuses in urban contexts).

1.1 The module

The module was designed as part of a larger strategy to strengthen sexual violence prevention and response across the university.¹⁷ This strategy is underpinned by three key principles of sexual violence prevention: first, that sexual violence is a gendered issue cemented in unequal distribution of power within our society¹²; second, social systems of power (eg, sexism, racism, homophobia) intersect with individuals' identities (eg, gender, sexuality, cultural background, age) to create unique and exacerbated experiences of sexual and other forms of violence¹⁸; and finally, that a whole-of-university approach is required.^{1, 9}

The module content was initially developed by a team of experts including student leaders, a health promotion practitioner, a psychologist, a student counsellor and student wellbeing officers with recognition that a localised and bespoke approach was required. The module was designed using a public health framework and the aim was to engage students in critical reflection and education about consent in sexual relationships (primary prevention), being an ethical bystander including recognising and standing up to harmful social norms (primary and secondary prevention), responding compassionately to disclosures of sexual violence from peers, and increasing awareness of internal and external supports (tertiary prevention). Activities were designed to facilitate active engagement from learners and included knowledge tests as well as opportunities to critically reflect on own beliefs and behaviours as well as on social and structural foundations of sexual violence. Learning activities were diverse and varied, including for example: interactive case studies, quizzes and knowledge tests, flip charts and matching games, videos, links to external resources, and reflective written activities. Each section began and ended with a scale, asking learners to consider their level of competence and/or confidence with knowledge and skills related to the topic before and after completing each section. The module was designed to ensure engagement with activities, halting learners from moving on to following sections until activities were completed.

The module was designed to take approximately 45 minutes to complete (pilot testing indicated the module could take learners between 30 minutes and 1 hour); it could be completed at the learner's pace over any number of sessions; and could be re-visited at any time. The final module content and design included input from a wide range of stakeholders including students, academics and experts in the field, representatives from residential colleges associated with the university, and a youth-led community organisation specialising in gender equity. Before being launched, the module underwent two rounds of pilot testing with students, with feedback incorporated into the final version. The module was tested on devices of various sizes (computer, tablet and smartphone) and was compatible with screen-readers. The module was launched in 2020 and promoted across the university, including via digital billboards, slides at the beginning of lectures in a range of courses, during orientation activities, and via the university's student services website. Each Faculty as well as each residential college associated with the university received an individualised marketing package to promote the module to their students. The module was voluntary and as of February 2023, 5589 students had completed the module.

1.2 Research questions

Does the online module increase students' immediate confidence and perceived skills in:

understanding and gaining sexual consent
being an ethical bystander
supporting a peer who discloses an experience of sexual violence
knowledge of sexual violence resources and support services

What are students' perceptions of the module as an educational tool for sexual violence prevention?

2 METHODS

We used a mixed methods approach, useful for conducting evaluations of health promotion programs,¹⁹ which included pre and post module completion surveys and post module completion semi-structured interviews. In designing this study, we wanted to understand if the module was a relevant tool to support students in primary, secondary, and tertiary levels of sexual violence prevention. We also aimed to capture students' perceptions of participating in sexual violence education at university and completing the module specifically.

2.1 Pre and post survey

The first phase of the study included pre and post module completion surveys with participants recruited through a first-year psychology student voluntary research participation pool. Participants completed four key measures before doing the online module. Being developed in the USA, we made minor tweaks to language used in the measures to ensure understanding and relevance to the Australian context, for example changing the emergency number called from the USA to 000. Because the module aimed to develop understanding, skills and confidence related to sexual consent, we used the Revised Sexual Consent Scale (SCS-R). The SCS-R contains five subscales which measure participants' beliefs and behavioural intentions about obtaining sexual consent from their sexual partners.²⁰ The five subscales are: lack of perceived behavioural control, positive attitudes towards obtaining consent, indirect behavioural approaches to consent, sexual consent norms and awareness, and discussion of sexual consent. Participants responded on 7-point scales indicating their agreement with each statement. Because the module aimed to shift harmful social norms and attitudes that support and condone sexual violence, we used the Updated Illinois Rape Myth Acceptance Scale (Rape Myth Acceptance Scale). The Rape Myth Acceptance Scale measures rejection of subtle rape myths.²¹ Participants responded on a five-point scale with higher scores indicating greater rejection of each rape myth. Because the module aimed to encourage safe bystander intervention, we used the Bystander Efficacy Scale. The Bystander Efficacy Scale contains three subscales which assess participants perceived inability to intervene as a bystander, attitudes towards intervening as a bystander, and perceptions of the positive and negative aspects of intervening as a bystander to protect someone else from physical or sexual violence.²² A higher score on the first subscales indicates a greater perceived inability to intervene, and a higher score on the second subscale indicates more favourable attitudes towards intervening. Responses on the positive and negative aspects of intervening ranged from −5 to +5, with positive scores indicating that the benefits of intervening were weighted more heavily than the negatives. Because the module aimed to raise awareness of reporting and support options, participants responded on a 7-point scale to a question about their awareness of resources and support with higher scores indicating greater awareness. We also used a measure of willingness to report an incident. Three single item measures adapted from Daigneault, Hébert²³ assessed how willing participants were to report sexual misconduct to the university using a 7-point scale; with higher scores indicating greater willingness. Finally, because the module aimed to increase confidence responding to disclosures of sexual violence, participants responded on a 7-point scale to a question asking to rate their confidence in supporting a peer who discloses an incident of sexual violence; with higher scores indicating greater confidence. To ensure participants completed the module prior to undertaking the post survey, we designed an additional attention check. Before beginning the post survey, participants were asked to enter a specific word from the concluding page of the module.

2.1.1 Statistical analysis

Analyses reported in our findings are paired t tests comparing participants' scores on the key measures before and after they completed the module. Cohen's d statistics are provided to indicate effect sizes, where d = .2 can be considered a small effect, .5 a medium effect and .8 a large effect.²⁴

2.2 Semi-structured interviews

A small sample of students were recruited to participate in semi-structured interviews designed to explore their thoughts and perceptions of the module. This included open-ended questions encouraging participants to describe ways in which the module was useful and engaging (or not), as well as participants' perceptions about accessing sexual violence prevention education at university (see Appendix 1 for interview guide). Participants who completed the first phase were invited to also complete an interview and digital flyers were used to recruit students more widely. Interviews were conducted via a videoconferencing platform and lasted between 20 and 30 minutes. Interviews were recorded with only the audio used as data.

2.2.1 Qualitative analysis

The audio recordings from each interview were transcribed verbatim. We used an inductive approach to thematic analysis, particularly useful for applied, practice-focused health research.²⁵ Two researchers independently read each transcript conducting open coding to identify broad themes. These initial themes were discussed among the research team to generate a final set of themes and subthemes. Each transcript was then re-read and coded for each specific theme, with the final coding corroborated by the research team.

2.3 Ethical considerations

This study received Institutional Human Research Ethics Approval from the University of Queensland (2020002158). All participants received an information sheet, including contact details of the research team, before providing informed consent. Participation was voluntary and participants could withdraw at any time. No identifying information was collected. All participants received a debrief sheet that included the details of specialised sexual violence support organisations who provide access to free counselling and other support (both internal to the university and external, and included organisations providing specific support for young people, people with diverse gender identities and sexualities, First Nations peoples, and people from diverse cultural backgrounds). Participants recruited via the 1-year voluntary research participation pool received partial course credit equivalent to 1% (1 out of 100 marks) which was applied to a foundational psychology course.

3 RESULTS

3.1 Pre/post survey

Two hundred and thirty-four participants clicked on the link to attempt the study. Of these, 30 (12.8%) were ineligible to participate as they had already completed the module. A further 34 (14.5%) did not complete the post module survey and 57 (24.4%) did not pass the attention check. That is, they did not accurately record a specific word located on the concluding page of the module when requested to. Given the high number of participants who failed this attention check we re-ran the analyses reported below to include any participant who gave a response to the attention check item (ie, any participant who entered a word when asked, regardless of whether it was the one requested from the final page of the module). These reduced exclusions based on failing the attention check item to 14 (6.0%). With this larger sample, the pattern of results obtained was identical to that reported below; however, some effect sizes were smaller.

Data for inclusion in analyses were obtained from 113 undergraduate students. Most participants identified as women (70.8%), with 28.3% identifying as men and 1.0% preferring not to provide their gender. Most participants were enrolled as domestic students (80.5%), and a small proportion of participants indicated they had a disability (3.5%). No participants identified as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander Australians. The median reported time to complete the module was 28 minutes.

3.1.1 Willingness to report, awareness of support services, and confidence supporting a peer

Participants reported greater willingness to report sexual misconduct they may experience after completing the module compared to before the module (see Table 1). Participants' willingness to encourage a friend to report sexual misconduct to the university did not change. This may be because participants' willingness to encourage friends to report to the university was high before completing the module. Participants were significantly more aware of the resources and services available at the institution to support sexual misconduct survivors after completing the module compared to before completing the module. Finally, participants were significantly more confident responding to a peer who discloses an experience of sexual misconduct after completing the module, compared with before.

TABLE 1. Summary of pre/post module completion results.

	Pre module completion M (SD)	Post module completion M (SD)	Statistical test of difference, effect size
Willingness and awareness
Willingness to report experienced sexual misconduct	5.64 (1.51)	6.22 (1.13)	t(111) = −5.26, P < .001, d = −.49
Willingness to encourage a friend to report sexual misconduct	6.49 (1.04)	6.56 (.83)	t(112) = −.89, P = .373, d = −.08
Awareness of resources and services	3.42 (1.57)	5.54 (1.56)	t(97) = −11.82, P < .001, d = −1.19
Confidence responding to a disclosure	5.37 (1.20)	6.40 (.85)	t(112) = −8.59, P < .001, d = −.81
Bystander efficacy
Perceived inability to intervene to prevent violence	21.82 (14.61)	12.92 (12.49)	t(107) = 10.62, P < .001, d = 1.02
Favourable attitudes towards intervening to prevent violence	33.08 (3.33)	35.17 (4.02)	t(107) = −5.20, P < .001, d = −.50
Positive aspects of intervening outweigh negative aspects of intervening	.86 (.96)	1.31 (.97)	t(105) = −5.43, P < .001, d = −.53
Consent and rape myths
Rejection of rape myths	4.30 (.80)	4.59 (.63)	t(108) = −4.85, P < .001, d = −.47
Feeling ineffective in gaining sexual consent	2.00 (.97)	1.61 (.85)	t(107) = 4.81, P < .001, d = .46
Positive attitudes towards establishing sexual consent	5.98 (.88)	6.52 (.80)	t(111) = −6.26, P < .001, d = −.59
Willingness to use indirect ways to obtain sexual consent	5.51 (2.00)	5.45 (2.20)	t(105) = .39, P = .700, d = .04
Support for norms about indirectly establishing sexual consent	3.93 (1.21)	3.05 (1.52)	t(108) = 7.20, P < .001, d = .69
Willingness to think about and discuss sexual consent with friends	4.59 (1.40)	4.88 (1.37)	t(109) = −3.61, P < .001, d = −.34

3.1.2 Attitudes and perceived efficacy to intervene as a bystander

Overall, the module had moderate to large effects in increasing participants' favourable attitudes towards intervening as a bystander and increasing participants' perceptions about their capability to intervene as a bystander to protect others from physical or sexual violence. Participants reported lower perceived inability to intervene to prevent physical or sexual violence being perpetrated against someone else after completing the module, compared to before the module. Participants reported more favourable attitudes towards intervening as a bystander to prevent physical or sexual violence being perpetrated against someone else after completing the module, compared to before the module. Participants also reported that the positive aspects of intervening as a bystander outweighed the negative aspects to a greater extent after they completed the module compared to before the module (see Table 1).

3.1.3 Reduction in rape myth acceptance and improved beliefs about sexual consent

On average participants rejected subtle rape myths to a greater extent after they completed the module compared to before (see Table 1). This indicated that the module had a small to moderate effect in reducing participants' endorsement of problematic beliefs about how sexual misconduct is perpetrated. Analysis suggests that completing the module had a small to moderate effect in increasing participants' positive attitudes towards obtaining sexual consent in their personal relationships and increasing participants' openness to thinking about how they discuss sexual consent. More specifically, participants reported feeling more effective at obtaining sexual consent from their sexual partners after completing the module, compared to before. Participants also reported more positive attitudes towards establishing sexual consent after completing the module, compared to before.

There was no difference in participants' intention to use indirect ways (eg, non-verbal signals or body language) to obtain sexual consent based on completing the module. However, participants reported reduced support for norms about indirectly establishing sexual consent after completing the module, compared to before the module (suggesting they were more supportive of social norms that promote direct and affirmative consent) (see Table 1). Participants reported more willingness to think about and discuss sexual consent with friends after completing the module, compared to before. This indicated that the module had a small to moderate effect on improving participants willingness to think about and discuss sexual consent with their friends.

3.2 Semi-structured interviews

Thirteen participants (nine identifying as women and four as men) were interviewed. All participants were undergraduate, domestic students enrolled in: health and behavioural sciences (eight), science (four) or arts (one). Participant age ranged from 17 to 31 years (median age 18 years). Three reported previous experiences with online sexual misconduct prevention training, while some mentioned receiving education on consent in other formats.

3.2.1 Sexual violence education at university

All participants supported sexual violence education at university. Participants acknowledged that consent education in particular should ideally be provided earlier in life but discussed how university was an important life stage for many young people and a unique opportunity to provide this type of education:

I think it's really important that universities do provide [sexual violence prevention education]. You know, as I said I didn't really learn about a lot of these things in high school, and had the university not provided, like a learning tool like this, I probably never would have. (P03, woman)

Participants noted that students' diverse backgrounds and differences with previous consent education meant that an accessible online module addressing the foundational aspects of sexual violence prevention was important:

[B]ecause it's online it makes it accessible to everybody. I guess just having a clear widespread message everyone gets. (P07, man)

Participants noted that sexual violence prevention education was an ongoing process, highlighting that the module was useful even if students had engaged in some prior consent or relationship education:

I think it's very essential. … I think it's good to reinforce it at university, but I think people should be educated about it from an earlier age, which obviously you don't have much control over before university. I think it's good for the people who were never educated about it to learn and then people who were educated about it can kind of brush up, and have any extra things, have any extra questions answered. (P08, woman)

Participants indicated that sexual consent was not commonly discussed among their peers, and that students needed education to prevent sexual violence from occurring not only education to inform their responses to incidents:

I think it's good for awareness for people, as some people might not know where that line is. And just going over. It's not really a topic to talk about openly with people, unless something does go wrong. (P05, woman)

Importantly, even participants who reported having previously completed comprehensive sexual violence education found the module to be informative and useful:

[I]t kinda just pushed me toward the [institution's] website which I went through a bit and I found that really informative, with the on-campus support. That's more new to me than the whole idea of consent, and yeah that's the whole takeaway that I got. (P04, woman)

3.2.2 Relatable and relevant content with focus on application to real life contexts

Participants commonly described the module as ‘informative’. Specifically, the explicit focus on affirmative consent, ethical responses to non-verbal cues, and the bystander intervention guide were noted as the most important elements of the module's content:

It was really good, it went into, like specifics…a lot better than anything I've seen before. It was definitely good to brush up on consent, and I really liked that there was the implied kind of like behaviours, like looking away and that kind of stuff that mean that someone probably wasn't like enthusiastically giving their consent. Those are sometimes things that people can overlook a little bit. Yeah, I learnt a lot in it and I didn't expect to. (P08, woman)

Supporting the quantitative findings, participants stated that the module increased their confidence to intervene when witnessing a potentially harmful incident or hearing a harmful or derogatory comment:

The ethical bystanding was my biggest [learning]. … Before I wouldn't really have the guts to do some of the stuff, like stand up for some things … but the [module] said it doesn't harm to do [or say something], … you're either helping someone or you're making no difference, instead of doing nothing and then something [bad] could happen, you know. (P12, woman)

While the module did explore legal aspects of sexual violence, participants noted the significance of the social and cultural components discussed throughout the module stating that these were of particular relevance and likely to resonate with students:

I think the more socially oriented format is probably better just because if it was ‘don't commit this because it's a crime’ … I don't know that a lot of people would hear that and actually be like ‘oh it's a crime, I shouldn't do that’ … I think people are actually more concerned about things like their social standing, their friendships, their reputation and I think, for example being ostracised from their friendship group would be a bigger concern than legal repercussions because it's more likely to actually happen and actually have a bigger effect. (P09, woman)

One participant noted that, for them, the module was important for challenging harmful social norms:

Even if it's common it's not necessarily ok, is something I remember. And if it's, you know, you think it justifies ‘that's just them being like that’ it doesn't necessarily make it ok. (P01, man)

Several participants commented on how the module encouraged critical reflection on learners' own behaviours and understandings, while also sparking curiosity that led them to further their knowledge:

There were some multiple-choice questions, I think, as well, which were good to sort of make you evaluate your perception on it and situations and such. (P05, woman)
Well, I got curious after doing that and I looked things up on my own. (P02, man).

The use of interactive activities and relatable scenarios that challenged learners to apply information to real-life contexts was noted by many participants as a positive element of the module that supported their learning:

I think the amount of like reading versus like doing an interactive activity … was a really good amount to each and it did keep me quite engaged. It wasn't just like a page to read like some of them are, it had like information-apply it, information–apply it, information and that's my response. (P08, woman)

3.2.3 The online module format for sexual violence prevention education

Participants stated the online format was helpful as it supported privacy, accessibility, self-paced learning and ability to go back and refer to information:

You know, it's private, it's convenient, you can do it at anytime, anywhere. It's so much more convenient and easy to access, and you can go back and look at it again, too. I definitely feel like there's a lot of benefits that come with it being an online module. (P03, woman)

I like the online because you can go at your own pace, there's always in person… but I liked online because you digest it as it comes, rather than all in one go. (P11, woman)

Participants highlighted their belief that the module should be integrated into university processes to ensure that all students, regardless of their interest in the topic, engaged. In particular, participants noted this was important for students who may not have awareness about their own need for education and understanding:

But I feel like with women, I haven't met a lot of women who are dicks about consent, it's usually guys who are really oblivious because their whole bubble is just other males and they've all been really lucky and they just haven't had anything happen to them. So they just stay in that bubble and they don't understand when they're making someone uncomfortable or when to start pushing and asking questions. (P13, woman)

As one participant stated:

Like there were so many things I didn't even know I was missing out on. (P04, woman)

Most participants supported such a module being mandatory, noting the low personal toll completing the module took and the importance of all students to engage with the content:

The easiest way to get it out there is to make it compulsory, and that's not a tough ask either because it's not something that's taking an undue amount of time, or anyone's day, or making people upset. (P01, man)

I feel like if we have a mandatory consent module even if people don't enjoy having to do it, people are still going through it and learning those skills and how to help people, especially ‘cause these skills are so vital, and touch on situations that everyone is likely to face, if not that year but in the future. And I think that those skills are very important for people to learn, if they're ever facing that situation. (P03, woman)

While supportive of the module, two students noted hesitations around making such education mandatory highlighting implications this could have on students' active engagement with the content:

I think, like in my personal opinion, it should be compulsory for all students but are they going to resent it, or maybe take a bit less on board if they're forced to do it and it's just another chore or an addition to the assessments they already have? But I think it's quite important if people were at least made to do it and pick notions up and take them on board which would be a good thing but I'm not sure… (P09, woman)

3.2.4 Recommendations for improvements: Visibility, follow-ups and self-care

Demonstrating the importance of a visibility, marketing, and integration of the module into university processes, almost half of the participants had not known about the module prior to seeing the study advertised and others noted they found it difficult to find on the university system. Promoting the module during lectures, at events, through student unions, via posters and digital billboards, and with merchandise were all suggested as potentially helpful promotional avenues by participants (noting that the majority suggested the most effective means would be to make the module mandatory):

I cannot imagine a situation where it's not compulsory and it's still useful. I think it being compulsory is part of it being useful, because everyone can suffer from sexual assault no matter who you are… not just certain groups, or things like that. (P02, man)

Participants acknowledged the importance of following up the module completion with ‘refreshers’ as well as social marketing campaigns on campus. For example, two participants suggested that an anonymous question and answer forum post completing the module would be helpful:

Yeah, maybe a forum just…just building up a bit. Like, either questions, like sort of questions around the module if there was any need for clarification about things just as an idea if anybody was confused. (P11, woman)

Importantly, one participant noted the need for such modules to include a stronger focus on self-care if receiving a disclosure from a peer:

I know there was support services and we can find that there, but just a bit of detail about how to manage with someone telling you something like that, and the kind of impact that it would have on you as well as … just more detail on how to deal with it yourself and just how to work through those emotions and responses, I guess. (P08, woman)

Overall, the interview participants reported strong support for sexual violence education in university contexts and indicated online modules were an acceptable mode to ensure all students have access to relevant, foundational information. Participants highlighted the importance of engaging content that was applicable to real life contexts. Further, participants suggested strong visibility of the module with integration of related campaigns and follow-up education were important for increasing the effectiveness and reach of the module. Participants drew attention to the need for ensuring self-care was foregrounded when educating young people about compassionate response to disclosures of sexual violence from peers.

4 DISCUSSION

Online modules are potentially cost-effective and practical tools for reaching large numbers of students, and thus it is important that we develop a better understanding of their possible role in universities' sexual violence prevention and response strategies. We found that the module we studied may have increased knowledge about support services and potentially had a positive effect on ability and confidence to support a peer who discloses an incident of sexual violence. This is an important finding given research demonstrating that peers are a common first point of disclosure for many young people and that initial responses to disclosure can have implications on help seeking and recovery.²⁶ Importantly, our study suggests potential positive impacts beyond response, at primary and secondary levels of prevention including recognising and gaining sexual consent, and confidence to safely intervene when witnessing a potentially harmful situation.

Literature demonstrates that online modules should be theoretically driven, relevant for the population, and engaging.^{2, 27} The online module explored in this study drew on the public health framework for violence prevention, which ensured the module covered foundational issues of inequity and power, consent, bystander intervention and compassionate response to disclosures. Providing students with this holistic learning opportunity is an important consideration. Much recent sexual violence prevention action in tertiary contexts in Australia and internationally has been focused on consent education; however, consent is only one aspect of sexual violence, which is grounded in patriarchal social norms not only miscommunication.^{28, 29} This module moved beyond consent only education to incorporate social and cultural drivers of sexual violence, as well as compassionate response and help-seeking. Our findings suggest a potential for online modules to take a more complex view of sexual violence and work towards transformative change (ie, shifting underlying social and cultural drivers). Further investigations of such approaches are warranted.

The module was designed in collaboration with both sexual violence experts and the target audience. The positive findings highlight the importance of working with students as well as other experts and stakeholders in the development phase to ensure content and scenarios are relevant and responsive to social and cultural contexts. This is consistent with emerging literature in health promotion that calls for strengths-based, localised and nuanced intervention design to ensure more equitable outcomes.¹⁸ Further, our findings point to the importance of activities that require active participation (rather than traditional knowledge transmission), and opportunities for critical self-reflection.

Our qualitative findings also demonstrated strong support for online sexual violence prevention education among students but a lack of awareness of the module, despite significant promotional activities. This suggests universities must work hard to ensure such modules are visible and easy to access. Notably, many of the marketing suggestions made by participants had already been implemented to some extent at the university. This demonstrates the challenges with reaching student populations and points to the potential usefulness of making such modules mandatory, which was described by some of our interview participants. While evidence supporting mandatory sexual violence training in tertiary contexts is nascent, a number of universities in Australia have moved to make online consent education compulsory for their students.³⁰ One recent study from USA found some positive effects of mandatory face-to-face training for students enrolled in three tertiary education institutions.³¹ Notably, this study suggested that while the training was potentially effective for challenging rape myths and shifting understandings of consent, it had a negative effect on the likelihood of reporting incidents to the universities.³¹ This is demonstrative of the need for universities to work with students to ensure their reporting and support policies and resources are trauma-informed, accessible and relevant. Further research is needed to explore the effectiveness and impact of mandatory sexual violence prevention education in tertiary contexts; this is particularly pertinent given that from 2023, all schools in Australia will be required to provide consent education.³² Any implementation of mandatory education must take a trauma-informed approach, providing survivors with safe and confidential avenues to decide to engage with the training or not and ensuring access to ongoing support where required.

Once-off, brief education such as the module explored in this study is unlikely to create meaningful or lasting change in isolation. Participants from this study indicated the need for follow-up and integration of the module with institutional processes and wider initiatives. This module was implemented as just one small part of a wider strategy that included university-wide actions across primary, secondary, and tertiary prevention and incorporated social marketing campaigns implemented across the university campuses that were relatively well recognised by students.^{33, 34} These campaigns were integrated into the module, which may have supported effectiveness. Indeed, social marketing theory highlights the importance of mixed modes of communication that are developed with the target audience and consider social context in the promotion of behaviour change.³⁵ Our exploratory study also indicates a need for robust research that considers the impact of online modules as part of wider and evaluated within, whole-of-campus strategies.⁹

This was a small and exploratory study, constrained by several limitations. Our sample comprised undergraduate students from one university, largely identifying as women and most studying health and/or psychology. Importantly, our sample did not capture the diversity of the student population including key groups for whom sexual violence affects disproportionately (for example, students with diverse gender identities and sexualities, students with disabilities, and international students).³ This limits the generalisability of our findings. Given sexual violence is predominately perpetrated by men, engaging men in sexual violence prevention is critical.³⁶ Almost 30% of both our quantitative and qualitative samples identified as men; and men in our qualitative sample indicated the module was both useful and engaging and they supported sexual violence prevention at university. While this is a positive indication that the module was acceptable for male students, it will be important to ensure future program design and evaluation are inclusive of men. The quantitative measures used were developed in the USA and thus may be less applicable to the Australian context. Finally, our study did not measure actual behaviour change and did not include a follow-up, rather we captured immediate perceived impacts related to confidence and understandings of consent, being an ethical bystander and responding to disclosures. This is an important area for future research. Despite these limitations, our study contributes to an important gap in understanding the potential role for online modules as part of sexual violence prevention and response in tertiary educational settings.

5 CONCLUSION

While highly controlled, large scale studies will make an important contribution to our understanding of effective sexual violence prevention education, exploratory studies such as this, provide important insights particularly in areas that are under-researched.³⁷ Our findings indicate larger and more comprehensive, rigorous, mixed-methods research should be conducted to allow health promotion and other practitioners to better understand the role that online modules can play in sexual violence prevention and strengthen best practice in the development and implementation of online modules as part of whole-of-campus strategies.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

We would like to acknowledge Blake McKimmie, Andrea Stratchan and Kym Powell for their guidance and/or feedback. Open access publishing facilitated by Griffith University, as part of the Wiley - Griffith University agreement via the Council of Australian University Librarians.

FUNDING INFORMATION

There is no funding attached to this study.

CONFLICT OF INTEREST STATEMENT

In her professional role, Emma Heard was involved in the development and implementation of the module being evaluated by the study; she was not involved in the data collection processes.

ETHICS STATEMENT

This study was approved by the University of Queensland's Human Research Ethics Committee (2020002158).

APPENDIX

A.1 INTERVIEW GUIDE

Tell me about what you thought of the module?
1. In what ways did you find it useful/not?
2. What was the most important thing you learnt?
I'm interested to know what (if any) key messages from the UQ Respect module have stayed with you?
1. What were the key messages in the module?
2. What do you think are the most important messages that a module like this should focus on?
3. Were any of these missing from the module or needed more attention in the module?
Did you find the module engaging? Why/Why not?
1. Which parts or activities did you find engaging and why?
2. Can you think of ways to improve engagement or make the module easier/ more appealing as a learning tool?
3. Did you talk to any friends or family about UQ Respect and the activities? If so, which ones? If not, were there any that you would think about talking to family or friends about?
Do you think online modules have a role to play in promoting and education students about respect? (consent, ethical bystanding and compassionate response?) Why/ why not?
1. Tell me about the pros and cons.
2. What other delivery modes would you like to see?
Tell me your views on universities providing education on topics related to sexual consent, sexual assault and sexual harassment, and support? (prompt: valuable/not)
1. Do universities have a role to play in this education (or should universities focus only on teaching specific disciplines)?
2. Is it valuable to have access to this type of education at university?
3. How would you feel about universities providing education tools that focused on sexual misconduct only from a legal standpoint?—that is, what actions are legally defined as sexual misconduct and the criminal consequences
How can we better reach the student community and encourage participation in this type of training?
1. How did you get to the training link?
2. What are your thoughts on a module like this being mandatory for all students?
3. What are your thoughts on emphasising completion of this module to key groups of students, or within specific areas of student life?

Open Research

DATA AVAILABILITY STATEMENT

Research data are not shared.

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Volume35, Issue1

January 2024

Pages 79-89

Evaluating an online module for sexual violence prevention in a tertiary educational setting: An exploratory study

Abstract

Issue Addressed