Sexual harassment prevention training: increasing students knowledge and awareness

Zardeckaite-Matulaitiene (Kristina)¹, Ceponyte (Monika)^1
1Vytautas Magnus University

 

Submission type

Poster only

Scheduled

Hallway, 22-07-2016, 16:00 - 17:00

Keywords

Sexual harassment, training, students

Summary

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of brief sexual harassment training on changing perceptions of sexual harassment, reducing sexual harassment myths acceptance and improving identification of different types of sexual harassment situations in the sample of Lithuanian students. 34 university students, aged 19-28 participated in this study. Students participated in 90 minutes sexual harassment prevention training. Self-reported questionnaire consisting of Sexual Experiences Questionnaire, Sexual Harassment Attitude Scale, Illinois Sexual Harassment Myth Acceptance Scale and 8 self-report vignettes created on consultations with Office of the Equal Opportunities Ombudsperson to measure participants’ perception of sexual harassment were given before and after training. Demographic questions were also included. The results revealed significantly less positive attitudes toward sexual harassment after prevention training, participants were also less likely to attribute sexual harassment to romantic relationships, but were more likely to blame women. The results also showed that participants tend to evaluate all sexual harassment situations as more severe after the training, as well as statistically significant increase in knowledge regarding sexual harassment. Current results imply that brief sexual harassment prevention training could be an effective way of increasing awareness and the lack of knowledge about sexual harassment in the academic environment.

Auteurs