The effectiveness of American college sexual assault interventions in highly masculine settings: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Sexual assault is prevalent on college campuses, with research showing that one in five undergraduate college women will be victims of sexual assault. Previous research has identified highly-masculine settings in higher education, such as fraternities and male athletic teams, as high-risk populations for sexual assault perpetration, resulting in the development of multiple interventions targeted at these groups. To date the effectiveness of these programs among this subpopulation has not been examined, as such, this systematic review examined the effectiveness of sexual assault interventions aimed towards fraternities and male collegiate athletic teams. To synthesize the existing scientific evidence five databases were searched resulting in a 5859-article screening. A total of 10 articles met full text criteria. Qualitative synthesis of these articles provided evidence to support the effectiveness of these programs in preventing sexual assault from these high-risk and highly masculine groups. A meta-analysis of five intervention effects among fraternity members indicated promising effects in the reduction of rape myth beliefs. Given the disproportionate number of sexual assault intervention programs aimed at fraternity members, future intervention programs should also target men in collegiate athletic teams.