- One-day MVP programme produced significant pre to posttest improvements in activist outcomes for women, men, and the three student leadership groups.
- Training effects waned at three months, women gained more than men, and gender ideology interacted with peer group to shape gains.
- Participant gender ideologies and leadership experience varied, informing recruitment and outreach, and sustaining activist education requires attention to peer group characteristics.
Violence Vict. 2026 Jul 15:VV-2025-0113.R1. doi: 10.1891/VV-2025-0113. Online ahead of print.
ABSTRACT
Over the past 2 decades, bystander-focused violence prevention programs have proliferated across various sectors, yet bystander programs that are expressly gender-transformative remain understudied, particularly on U.S. college campuses. Casey et al. argue that outreach and recruitment efforts and whether these programs foster identities as social change agents over time are especially understudied components of gender-transformative programs. Based on a non-quasi-experimental, single-group, repeated-measures design without a control group, this pilot study engages these questions by investigating participant characteristics and leadership program outcomes of one gender-transformative bystander program-the Mentors in Violence Prevention (MVP) program-as applied to student leaders in athletics, fraternity and sorority life, and residential life. We found that student leaders came to the training with varying gender ideologies and leadership experience that are important considerations in future outreach and recruitment efforts. The 1-day MVP program also produced significant improvements from pre- to posttest in activist outcomes for women and men and for the three student leadership groups. Yet, on several program outcomes, training effects waned 3 months later, women benefitted more than men, and gender ideology interacted with peer group to shape program gains. The article concludes with reflections on the implications of these findings for gender-transformative work with college peer groups often labeled “at higher risk” for sexual assault; the centrality of gender, gender ideology, and other peer group characteristics to recruitment and outreach efforts; and future research and practical applications for sustaining activist education on college campuses.
PMID:42457380 | DOI:10.1891/VV-2025-0113
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