Publication Date

2012

Document Type

Masters Thesis

Department

School for Social Work

Keywords

Violence-Prevention, Rape-Prevention, Mentoring, Bystander effect, Peer counseling of students, Bystander behavior, Mentors in Violence Prevention, MVP, Sexual violence, College, University programming, School social work, Sexual assault prevention, Peer facilitators, MVP facilitators

Abstract

This study explores how a sample of college students trained to be peer facilitators of the Mentors in Violence Prevention (MVP) program describe the impact of their training. Participants (N=7) were undergraduates from a medium size New England University who attended an MVP Train the Trainer program, which consisted of 25-30 hours of training on facilitation skills and exposure to the MVP curriculum. Participants of this study were asked open-ended questions on the messages of the MVP program, their concept of being an empowered bystander, their use of training, and ways they identify themselves as more empowered bystanders. The findings indicate that participants' concepts of an empowered bystander and the messages they gleaned from the program were consistent with the MVP curriculum. A major finding was that after being trained, most participants did not go onto facilitate MVP programs. However, participants provided a range of examples of how they have used their training in everyday situations indicative of their behavior as bystanders post-training. Findings having to do with the diversity amongst trainees that attended the Train the Trainer are also presented. Discussion highlights the multiple benefits of the training and explores the problematic issue of facilitators not having programming opportunities. Discussion also suggests that social workers in a university or community setting may find value in offering the MVP program or other bystander approach prevention programs for the purpose of augmenting clinical services and as a measure of primary prevention of sexual violence

Language

English

Comments

iv, 94 p. Thesis (M.S.W.)--Smith College School for Social Work, Northampton, Mass., 2012. Includes bibliographical references (p. 78-89)

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