A 12-hour sexual assault prevention training program for first-year college women reduced the number of attempted rapes those women experienced by 64 percent–and the number of completed rapes by 31 percent–two years later, compared with a control group in which women were provided informational brochures, finds a study in Psychology of Women Quarterly. In the study, 893 women at three Canadian universities took part in the Enhanced Assess, Acknowledge, Act program, which taught them to detect and acknowledge risky situations and use forceful, effective verbal and physical resistance strategies. In addition to experiencing a reduced number of attempted and completed rapes, the women also showed decreases in accepting “rape myths”–such as victims are to blame.

Susie Bean Gives