Accuracy, Acceptability, and Burden of an Integrated Screening Approach to Facilitate the Delivery of Tailored Sexual Assault Prevention in the U.S. Air Force

ABSTRACT

This paper examines accuracy, acceptability, and respondent burden of integrated screening to facilitate tailored sexual assault (SA) prevention program delivery in a basic military training (BMT) environment. Trainees (n = 5,951) received tailored prevention content based on self-reported sex, sexual orientation, prior SA victimization and perpetration, and past-month post-traumatic stress symptoms. Bivariate analyses examined trainee-reported screener accuracy, acceptability, and burden, including differences by tailoring-targeted subgroups (e.g. men/women). Overall accuracy and acceptability were high (>90%) despite significant subgroup variability. Screening time averaged 10.55 (SD = 1.95) minutes; individuals with prior SA took longer. Missingness increased linearly throughout the screener. Integrated screening is an accurate, acceptable way to deploy tailored SA prevention in BMT. Findings inform data-driven screening improvements and novel applications.

KEYWORDS:

• Military sexual assault
• sexual assault prevention
• sexual and gender minorities
• PTSD
• risk group screening
• tailored prevention
• basic military training

Acknowledgments

The views expressed are those of the authors and do not reflect the official views of the United States Air Force, nor the Department of Defense. Mention of trade names, commercial products, or organizations do not imply endorsement by the U.S. Government.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Ethical standards and informed consent

Because SCC implementation was integrated into required training, both the RTI institutional review board and a military human research protections office concurred that the study should be considered curriculum development and not human subjects’ research. Whereas some form of SAPR training was required, participation in the study-related data collection was not. All data collection procedures followed were in accordance with the ethical standards of the responsible committee on human experimentation [institutional and national] and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2000. Informed consent was obtained from all patients for being included in the study, as implied by their decision to complete data collection instruments.

Notes

¹ This measure was used as a precaution, such that males who endorsed any prior perpetration behavior were automatically assigned the Healthy Relationship and Bystander Intervention training. To keep the screener length balanced, all participants answered these questions, but the SES-P did not inform the female program assignment algorithm. Due to the potential for underreporting (Strang & Peterson, 2017) and overlap with prior victimization, particularly among men (Krahé & Berger, 2017), we did not examine those endorsing prior perpetration as a subgroup in the current study.

Additional information

Funding

This study was supported by the Department of Defense (DoD) and U.S. Department of the Air Force (#FA70141D3007).

Notes on contributors

Samantha J. Goldstein

Samantha J. Goldstein B.S., is a doctoral student in the Health Education and Behavior department at the University of Florida. Her research is focused on the intersection of intimate partner violence and traumatic brain injuries, particularly pathways for primary and secondary prevention to address long-term health consequences and comorbid conditions.

Nichole M. Scaglione

Nichole Scaglione Ph.D., CHES, is an Assistant Professor of Health Education and Behavior at the University of Florida. Her research focuses on the intersection of alcohol and sexual assault risk and the translation of etiological research into evidence-based interventions to reduce alcohol use and sexual assault risk in adolescents and young adults.

Marni L. Kan

Marni Kan Ph.D., is a Senior Research Psychologist at RTI International. She conducts research on the promotion of healthy relationships and behaviors among adolescents, young adults and families, with particular emphasis on adapting and evaluating teen dating violence prevention programs, sexual violence prevention programs, and programs that promote strong family relationships.

Kathryn E. L. Grimes

Kathryn E. L. Grimes MPH, is a Research Public Health Analyst at RTI International. She has over a decade of experience in public health research and program implementation, supporting projects in sexual and reproductive health, violence prevention, and infectious disease detection, prevention, and response.

Marian E. Lane

Marian Lane Ph.D., is an Associate Director in Military Workplace Climate Research at Fors Marsh. Her research focuses on gender- and workplace-related issues such as sexual assault prevention and intervention, harassment, and discrimination in the military, with an emphasis on health and well-being, personnel readiness, workplace climate, and workforce productivity.

Jessica K. Morgan

Jessica Kelley Morgan Ph.D., is a research psychologist and Vice President of Research and Development at Continuous Precision Medicine. Her expertise is in military behavioral health and primary prevention strategies, particularly the administration of psychoeducational content via mobile technologies, including online/web-based interventions and mobile applications.

Sandra L. Martin

Sandra L. Martin Ph.D., MPH, is a Professor and Associate Chair for Research in the Department of Maternal and Child Health at the Gillings School of Global Public Health at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. Dr Martin’s research focuses on violence prevention, including the prevention of intimate partner violence and sexual assault.