NCJ Number
88471
Journal
Crisis Intervention Volume: 12 Issue: 2 Pages: 43-59
Date Published
Unknown
Length
17 pages
Annotation
Training improved the knowledge, attitudes, and competence of the volunteers who were trained to counsel rape victims in Erie County, N.Y.
Abstract
The study compared 45 volunteers from the Volunteer Supportive Advocate Program with 20 college students who served as controls. The volunteer training occurred in groups of 8 to 15 and included films, presentations, discussions, and role playing. The subject filled out four questionnaires designed to assess the training during the first and last training sessions, which took place 3 weeks apart. The questions measured knowledge regarding rape, attitudes toward rape, attitudes regarding the role of the advocate, and competence in rape crisis counseling. The volunteers were more knowledgeable than the controls at both time periods. Training produced a substantial further increase in knowledge for the volunteers, whereas the controls did not increase in knowledge over the 3-week period. The volunteers saw women as being less responsible for the prevention of rape than did the controls. Training tended to reduce the volunteers' attribution of blame to the victim, while the control subjects' blaming of the victim increased slightly. The two groups were similar in their views of the advocates' role both before and after the training period. The volunteers showed an initial greater competence in overall counseling ability. They increased their competence with training, while the controls showed no change between the pretest and the posttest. Some of the initial hypotheses concerning attitude change resulting from training received no empirical support or were refuted, however. Twelve references are listed.