Preliminary Feasibility and Acceptability of a Culturally Specific Intervention for Reducing Sexual Revictimization of College Women

Objective: More than 30% of women who experience sexual assault during college experience sexual revictimization (SRV) before graduating. Current sexual assault interventions have been developed with predominantly White samples, and most do not focus on reducing SRV or include effective alcohol reduction techniques. The purpose of the current study was to conduct a pilot randomized controlled trial to assess the feasibility and acceptability of a new intervention designed to reduce SRV in Black and White college women. Method: A sample of 59 women (n = 43, White; n = 16, Black) were randomly assigned to either the intervention or time and attention control condition. Both conditions consisted of two 90-minute in-person group sessions and two 30-minute online self-administered learning units. During the intervention, participants watched culturally specific videos (e.g., created in partnership with the cultural group, culturally congruent with regard to race of actors, vernacular, dress, and social situations) embedded with sexual assault risk cues. Women participated in discussions designed to improve risk recognition and assertive responses to sexual assault threats. All groups were racially homogeneous and had facilitators of the same race. Online intervention units included alcohol reduction strategies (e.g., personalized normative feedback) and safe dating practices. Results: Acceptability and feasibility of the intervention were good and suggested that cultural specificity was important for Black women. However, attrition was higher than expected, and barriers to participating were noted for Black women. Conclusions: These preliminary findings highlight the potential importance as well as the challenges in developing culturally specific sexual assault interventions for college women.