New Toolkit Addresses Alcohol's Role in Campus Sexual Assault

 

Existing research and guidance from organizations, including the American College Health Association, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the California Coalition Against Sexual Assault, stress the importance of consistency between alcohol use/abuse prevention efforts and sexual assault prevention efforts that use individual, relationship, community, and policy-level strategies. However, there is limited guidance for sexual assault prevention specialists on how to do so. To address this gap, the Campus Advocacy and Prevention Professionals Association (CAPPA), with funding from an Innovative Research Award through the Prevention Innovations Research Center at the University of New Hampshire, released Addressing Alcohol's Role in Campus Sexual Assault: A Toolkit by and for Prevention Specialists (PDF). This resource integrates research and practice evidence to help institutions of higher education design alcohol and sexual assault prevention programming uniquely tailored to their campuses.

 

CAPPA's toolkit navigates the nuances of the role that alcohol may play in campus sexual assault (CSA) and also looks at the campus culture at large to determine how power, privilege, and oppression relate to alcohol and sexual violence. The authors use a conversational, advice-guide approach to discuss prevention efforts through a trauma-informed and community-engaged lens. Beginning with a brief overview of alcohol's role in CSA that considers perpetration, consent, bystanders, policy, and prevention efforts, it moves into discussing key areas identified by prevention specialists including social norms, social justice, social ecology, trauma-informed messaging, and partnerships. Each of these sections is followed by suggested questions to be used as conversation starters and next steps that can be taken by prevention practitioners to engage stakeholders in collaborative efforts on addressing alcohol's role in CSA. Companion resources, advice from the field, and a vision for the future are also included.

 

To develop this toolkit, the authors synthesized the best available evidence through reviewing the best available research and practice literature and engaging in a participatory action research project alongside CAPPA. The participatory action research consisted of:

The authors then created a draft of their findings and consulted with interview participants for feedback. Lastly, 11 expert reviewers provided feedback that was incorporated to create the final version.

 

Visit CAPPA's website and the Prevention Innovations Research Center's website to learn about their efforts to end sexual and relationship violence.

Financial Preparedness is Part of Emergency Preparedness

 

When we discuss emergency preparedness, people most often think about physical safety, particularly after natural disasters or unexpected emergency incidents. However, there is an important aspect of emergency preparedness that is often overlooked, financial preparedness.

 

Americans are faced with unexpected bills all the time, which take resources, time, and money away from other priorities. These unexpected bills, such as broken water heaters, flat tires, and unexpected medical bills, may come more frequently than large-scale natural disasters, yet we may not be financially prepared for them. Since 2004, FEMA and Operation Hope have been regularly collaborating to help people learn about and build financial preparedness through the Emergency Financial First Aid Kit (EFFAK). The 2018 EFFAK (PDF) provides readers with important information on organizing and securing important documents, managing finances, dealing with credit scores, and describing what to expect should a disaster strike their community. The information was developed with feedback from financial experts, families, and community leaders.

 

Financial literacy is a basic component of preparedness and the EFFAK provides resources to help improve financial literacy, including how to start saving and numerous checklists and forms to help collect relevant documents and information. A 2014 assessment of financial literacy by the Programme for International Student Assessment by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development found that U.S. high school students "ranked below average in the percentage of students who reached a baseline level of financial literacy" and this lack of knowledge continued into college years and beyond affecting decisions about student loans, budgeting, credit card and general debt, emergency funds, and investing. Helping college students learn financial literacy by using the EFFAK is a way to prepare them for the future.

 

It's clear that income impacts preparedness. As noted in the EFFAK, "Research shows that as an individual's income goes up, they are more likely to take action to prepare. However, we also know that as a person's income decreases, they are less likely to set aside money for emergencies. So, it is clear that a lack of income and savings is a major obstacle to building a rainy-day fund, stockpiling supplies, or buying insurance." FEMA and Operation Hope have identified four simple steps to financial preparedness:

By working through the four sections of the EFFAK - household identification, financial and legal documents, medical information, and household contacts - readers will have a centralized record of household information whenever they need it and will be able to rebuild their lives more quickly in case of a disaster or emergency. Building resiliency through preparedness helps individuals and their community during the recovery period.

Earlier versions of the EFFAK are available in Spanish (2014 edition) and reader enabled (2015 edition). The 2018 EFFAK is available in print for free from FEMA. Please call (800) 480-2520 and ask for publication number 1075.

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