Evaluation of the Safer Bars Prevention Program for Sexual Assault

Mary Koss

Status: Completed

Conditions: Sexual Assault Precursor Behavior

Treatments: Behavioral: Safer Bars

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT04141839

1R01AA027263-01

Details and patient eligibility

About

The goal is to evaluate at three sites the implementation of the Safer Bars sexual assault prevention program.

Full description

Sexual violence perpetration is robustly associated with social contexts that support high levels of alcohol consumption. Beginning in 2007, the Arizona Department of Health Services (ADHS) developed and field-tested the Safer Bars curriculum with support from the CDC Rape Prevention and Education (RPE) funding program. Safer Bars is a bystander prevention training for staff of alcohol serving establishments. This application proposes a theory-driven, quasi-experimental effectiveness evaluation based at The University of Arizona. Our approach is significant because few evaluations have measured behavioral outcomes as well as the mediators that explain the observed changes in bystander behavior, or community-level outcomes associated with such interventions. Specific Aims: the specific aims are to: (1) Test a hypothesized mediational model of individual-level behavioral outcomes based on the Theory of Planned Behavior; (2) assess the effect of the program on bar-level risk management safety policies; and (3) examine the community-level impact of the Safer Bars program on reducing the number of police dispatches in areas with high densities of alcohol-serving establishments. Methods: A cluster-randomized trial design with crossover to randomize participants at the bar level into intervention and delayed intervention arms is proposed. Assessments are at baseline, completion of training, and at three and six months post-training. The sample bars will be selected within a three-mile radius of the three major Arizona universities, all of which have a high density of alcohol-serving establishments adjacent to campus. Our analytical model will assess a hypothesized moderated mediational model based in the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB). Outcomes of interest include: (a) the extent to which Behavioral Intent, the central construct of TPB, mediates bar staff performance of intended bystander behaviors at three-month follow-up and the extent to which this relationship is moderated by personal characteristics and bar environment; (b) the effects of the program on bar-level risk management patron safety policies; and, (c) the community-level effects as demonstrated by number of police dispatches in areas with a high density of alcohol-serving establishments at baseline and at the end of the project using GIS data. With evidence of efficacy, Safer Bars is feasible for scale-up without excessive financial burden in other states, which all receive RPE funding.

Enrollment: 709 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 19+ years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Both an employee and a liquor server, security official, or owner/manager of a bar randomly selected to receive Safer Bars training immediately or after an assessment only phase of 4 months and that has not participated in the Safe Bars training in the past 12 months. Accepts healthy volunteers as defined by holding active employment. Employees may opt out of training and/or assessment.

Exclusion criteria

• None. No liquor servers are allowed by law to be younger than 19 years old.

Trial design

Primary purpose: Prevention

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Crossover Assignment

Masking: Single Blind

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709 participants in 2 patient groups

Control

Other group

Description:

Delayed intervention: baseline and 3-month assessment prior to receiving the Safer Bars training.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Safer Bars

Intervention

Experimental group

Description:

This arm with consist of bars randomized to have the Safer Bars training on their premises attended by all their liquor serving staff with assessment directly before and after training (pre/post), and at 3 and 6 months post-training follow-up.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Safer Bars