Adapting and Evaluating the Flip the Script with EAAATM program for Online Facilitation
Dr. Sarah Peitzmeier (University of Michigan) and I (with colleagues Katie Edwards & Misha Eliasziw) conducted pilot research (CDC pilot funding through the UM Injury Prevention Center) to assess whether an online adaptation of EAAA was feasible, acceptable, and showed promise for effectiveness in this context. It was and did.
We now (Co-Principle Investigators: Senn, Peitzmeier; Co-Investigators: Barata, Edwards, Eliasziw; Collaborator: Hobden) have (2022-2027) Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) funding to conduct the Randomized Control Trial — “A Randomized Controlled Trial of the Efficacy of IDEA3 — An evidence-based sexual assault resistance intervention for undergraduate women adapted for internet delivery.” The study will take place at four sites in Canada and the United States.
Adapting and Evaluating the Flip the Script with EAAATM program for Adolescent Girls
Funded by a Public Health Agency of Canada (2018-2023) grant awarded to Co-Primary Investigators Sara Crann and Charlene Senn (and Co-I Misha Eliasziw), this project involves two phases of research. Phase 1 (now complete) involved two mixed-method studies and consultations with project partners and youth to adapt the EAAA program for the social and developmental context of adolescence. The adapted EAAA program (A-EAAA, Flip the Script for Girls) is designed specifically for cis and trans girls between 14 and 18 years old (who have not graduated high school). Research reports from the Phase 1 studies are available below. Phase 2 will rigorously evaluate the adapted program using a randomized controlled trial (RCT) with 900 girls in four communities in Ontario (Windsor-Essex, London-Middlesex, Haldimand-Norfolk-Brant, and Kingston-Frontenac). While we were delayed due to COVID, participant recruitment into the RCT will begin in early 2023.
Phase 1 Research Reports
Study 1 Research Report: “Girl, You Got This!” Project: Study 1 Report [pdf]
Study 2 Research Report: “Girl, You Got This!” Project: Study 2 Report [pdf]
If you are a teen girl, parent of a teen, high school teacher, or school administrator interested in learning more about the A-EAAA program or have questions about the research, please contact Dr. Sara Crann, Adjunct Assistant Professor, University of Windsor at Sara.Crann@uwindsor.ca.
Sexual Assault Resistance Education for University Women: The Enhanced Assess, Acknowledge, Act (EAAA) Sexual Assault Resistance Program also known to students as Flip the ScriptTM program
Grant (2016-2020) and Next Steps – Knowledge Mobilization and Implementation
EAAA Implementation Research – Examining factors affecting program effectiveness — on 5 Canadian campuses (2016-2021)
I (with co-investigators Barata, Radtke, Eliasziw, Thurston & McVey and collaborator Deb Chard, Wen-Do Women’s Self Defence) received funding from the CIHR to study the implementation and scale-up of the EAAA program on five Canadian university campuses. This research examined the impact of decisions that campuses make in how to recruit participants and deliver the program as well as a number of other factors in maintenance of the fidelity and effectiveness of the program. Our first publication on the success of our transfer of training is now available.
EAAA Randomized Controlled Trial – Efficacy on 3 Canadian campuses (2011-2016)
A randomized controlled trial (RCT) funded by a 2011-2016 Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) Operating grant) evaluated the efficacy of the EAAA Sexual Assault Resistance program on three Canadian university campuses. Over 900 women were randomly assigned to receive either the EAAA intervention (resistance group) or brief exposure to brochures (control group). Women’s experiences of sexual assault were assessed before the intervention and again at one week, 6, 12, 18, and (for half the sample) 24 months after the intervention. Compared to women in the control group, women in the resistance group were 46% less likely to have experienced a completed rape and 63% less likely to have experienced an attempted rape in the year following the intervention. We now know that the reductions in sexual assault and positive outcomes on self-confidence, attitudes, and knowledge are maintained for at least 2 years. Further, women who experience a sexual assault following their participation in EAAA blame themselves less than women who have not attended EAAA.
The results of this research were first published in the June 11, 2015 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine. A three-minute video describing the study results can be viewed on NEJMs youtube channel.
The two-year and secondary outcomes were published in the Psychology of Women Quarterly in 2017.
Our 2020 publication in Psychology of Women Quarterly demonstrates how the Flip the Script with EAAATM program works to accomplish its dramatic benefits. The program was carefully designed to reduce woman-blaming/self-blaming attitudes and beliefs and succeeds in achieving that goal (see Senn, Gee, & Saunders, 2008; Senn et al., 2017). Our recent publication makes EAAA’s challenge to rape culture more explicit (Radtke et al., 2020 in Violence Interrupted: Confronting sexual violence on university campuses). The program works for survivors as well (see our article in Women & Therapy). See what creative strategies were used by women who took the program in the year following their participation.
The EAAA program is the culmination of over 10 years of research, development and pilot testing. Maintaining fidelity is critical to keeping the program effective. Publication on fidelity monitoring during the RCT.
The full study protocol as well as a description of the baseline sample was published in separate issues of BMC’s Women’s Health, BMC Women’s Health.2013, 13:25. DOI: 10.1186/1472-6874-13-25 and BMC Women’s Health 2014, 14:135 doi:10.1186/s12905-014-0135-4, respectively.
The EAAA is now available to universities and colleges through the SARE Centre non-profit and a Train-the-Trainer model on a cost-recovery basis. See SARECentre.org for more detail.
Charlene Y Senn 