The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA

Abstract #43815

Brijen Shah¹, Shoma Brahmanandam¹, Aarti Nasta¹, Katherine Richman¹, Kathleen Wittels¹, and Lori A. Boardman, MD². (1) Brown Medical School, Brown University, Providence, RI 02912, (401)863-1000, Brijen_Shah@brown.edu, (2) Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Women and Infants' Hospital of Rhode Island, 101 Dudley Street, Providence, RI 02905

According to the U.S. Department of Justice, 16% of college women were sexually victimized during the 1997 academic year, while fewer than 5% of completed and attempted rapes were reported to law enforcement officials.1 We designed our study to (1) assess the incidence of sexual victimization among a convenience sample of college women attending a private northeastern university and (2) describe both victims and non-victims’ knowledge and use of available resources, including health services, as well as campus and local police departments. Upper-class undergraduate women were eligible to complete a survey designed for this study. Respondents (n=293) were asked to complete demographic information, report instances of sexual victimization (including rape, sexual coercion and unwanted sexual contact) that occurred during the 1999-2000 academic year and indicate whether they would or did use either university and/or outside resources available to sexual assault victims. Of the women who participated, 33% (92/281) affirmed one or more episodes of sexual victimization, with 6% (15/274) reporting a completed rape and 4% (11/293) an attempted rape. Among victims, drug or alcohol-related impairment leading to unwanted sexual activity occurred in 39%. Utilization of available on- and off-campus resources was uncommon among victims (25% and 6%, respectively); 11% contacted health services, while only 6% reported an event to university security. Fear, embarrassment and guilt, as well as lack of confidentiality were the most commonly cited reasons for failure to use resources. Increasing campus awareness of sexual victimization and removing barriers to access for victims should remain university goals.

Learning Objectives:

• To understand the prevalence of sexual victimization of college women in the U.S.
• To understand the barriers to reporting sexual victimization.
• To identify ways of improving awareness of sexual victimization on college campuses.

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.