Abstract
This chapter outlines a strategic plan for implementing comprehensive bystander prevention efforts to address sexual and relationship abuse. The models of bystander action we have used for prevention have led us to be overly focused on intra-individual decision making and prevention strategies narrowly concentrated on one or two pieces of how and why bystanders act. A broader view considers bystanders’ actions across time, both in the unfolding of the immediate risky situation, but also by considering bystander action across the lifespan. Bystander action coils also span different settings and different bystander roles. We need sets of prevention strategies for all of these time points and settings so that bystander actions spread across ecological niches. We need interventions that focus on community-level variables related to action. We need broader environments ready to have ongoing conversations with bystanders about what worked and what did not to work against entrenched stories that highlight only barriers to action. We need to consider building collective efficacy so that bystander intervention is not just about one’s own actions but about how individuals can support other bystanders who step in. This chapter describes a set of ideas for next steps in this work including revising helping scripts, expanding our view of bystanders’ roles, and better anticipating consequences of bystander actions.
My friend was raped and I did not know how to go about it. I tried to I took her to [the crisis center] and my friends and I talked to her about it, but I wasn’t really there for her enough.
I wasn’t equipped to handle the situation.
[the prevention program] kind of was a starting point. And then it was kind of like. I-I kind of like figured out like..saw how much of a problem it was where I wouldn’t have been aware of that before.
I would have like talked about it sophomore and junior year too
—College students reflecting on bystander action related to sexual and relationship violence
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Banyard, V.L. (2015). Prevention Springs from Action Coils: A Strategic Plan for Comprehensive Bystander-Focused Prevention. In: Toward the Next Generation of Bystander Prevention of Sexual and Relationship Violence. SpringerBriefs in Criminology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-23171-6_6
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