Adaptation and Evaluation of a Video Game to Reduce Sexual Violence on Campus, New Hampshire, 2016

Sexual assault is the most common violent crime committed on college campuses today. One in five women have experienced a completed or attempted sexual assault as an undergraduate. In one study, 28% of first-year college women experienced unwanted sexual contact and 7% experienced sexual assault or attempted sexual assault in the first semester of their first year of college, while 7% of college men reported an attempted or completed assault during their college experience. Growing evidence suggests the effectiveness of using online tools and video games for public health intervention and education.
Because of the positive impact of these digital strategies, researchers saw a need to bring this research to sexual violence prevention, where there has been limited use of digital applications. The goal of this project was to design and evaluate the pedagogical effectiveness and cost effectiveness of a video game to reduce sexual and relationship violence. It was hypothesized that the video game could enhance the self-confidence of male and female late adolescents (ages 18-24) to practice safe, appropriate, and effective approaches for intervening in situations where sexual and/or relationship violence (including stalking) is occurring, has the potential to occur, or recently occurred.