Rape Prevention and Education (RPE) Program:
The Primary Prevention of Sexual Violence
Sexual violence is any type of sexual contact or
behavior that occurs without the explicit consent of
the recipient. Sexual violence is a significant public
health issue that affects millions of people in the
United States. Data show that about 1 in 5 women
and 1 in 15 men have experienced rape or
attempted rape in their lifetime (Basile 2016, 7).
All survivors respond to sexual violence in their own
way. While no two survivors have the same
response, sexual violence victimization is associated
with multiple short- and long-term health
consequences, including physical and psychological
injury such as clinical depression, anxiety, fear, post-
traumatic stress disorder, and isolation. Health
consequences may also be chronic, including
reoccurring sexual health problems, chronic disease,
and other medical conditions such as high
cholesterol and increased risk for heart attack.
Sexual violence victimization is also associated with
increased risk-taking behaviors such as smoking and
excessive alcohol use (Basile 2016, 8).
Sexual violence, like any other form of violence,
affects a community’s wellbeing. Sexual violence can
create climates of fear, isolation, anger and disbelief.
Additional community effects include: decreased
quality of life, diminished productivity and lost jobs in
addition to financial costs of physical recovery,
mental health issues, and criminal justice.
No person or community has to suffer from the
violence of sexual assault. Sexual assault is
preventable. Washington’s RPE program takes a
robust, community-oriented approach to preventing
sexual assault.
RPE models of prevention
Stopping violence before it begins, known as primary
prevention, is the foundation of the RPE program. The
program focuses on addressing the root causes of sexual
violence by supporting comprehensive programming that
spans multiple levels of the social ecology.
The Social Ecological Model (SEM) is a model of
behavior change based on the theory that individuals,
relationships, communities, and society all influence each
other. The RPE program works across multiple levels of the
social ecology to prevent sexual assault in Washington. As
part of the SEM, the RPE program focuses on reducing risk
factors and on increasing protective factors in a
community.
The RPE program’s goals in Washington
• Prevent sexual violence from occurring in the first place
• Reduce risk factors linked to sexual violence
• Enhance protective factors linked to sexual violence
• Change behaviors, cultural values and community norms
that contribute to sexual violence
Individual
Build skills with school and community-based youth to
develop leadership skills, identify boundaries and
understand interpersonal consent
Relationship
Support parents in developing skills to talk to
youth and solve problems
Opportunities to build and maintain positive relationships
between young people and with caring adults
Foster safe spaces for peer-to-peer education and mentoring
Community
Partner with groups across sectors to advance prevention efforts
Improve and sustain safe environments and create spaces that
strengthen social connections
Influence institutional policies that support strong sanctions
against sexual violence perpetration
Societal
Change social norms to support gender equity
and non-acceptance of violence
Primary prevention of sexual violence
requires change at all levels
For more information:
Kirstin McFarland, Sexual Assault Prevention Specialist
[email protected], 360-236-2859
Injury and Violence Prevention Program
Washington State Department of Health
971-021
RPE funds local efforts to
prevent sexual violence
About 70 percent of the federal RPE dollars in
Washington support seven local programs to
implement comprehensive strategies focused on the
primary prevention of sexual violence. Current RPE-
funded local programs are:
• The Oasis Youth Center (Tacoma)
• Asian Counseling and Referral Service (Seattle)
• Centro Latino (Tacoma)
• Harborview Center for Sexual Assault and Traumatic
Stress (Seattle)
• ARC of Spokane
• YWCA of Clark County
• Rural Resources (Colville)
Local Programming for Rape Prevention
in Washington State
In Washington, local programs address culturally
specific sexual violence prevention in several ways,
including:
• Working with high school athletic coaches to
implement the Coaching Boys Into Men curriculum
• Facilitating prevention groups for youth to develop
leadership skills and healthy relationships, and to talk
about topics logically connected to sexual violence
such as rigid gender roles, consent, and respect
• Supporting youth-facilitated mentoring programs for
youth to connect with their peers
• Implementing prevention programming for parents
and caregivers
Washington’s evaluation efforts
Washington’s RPE program is working to increase
evaluation capacity at the local level. Capacity-building
activities focus on developing logic models, assessing
short-term outputs, identifying barriers and facilitators
to program implementation, making data informed
adjustments to programming, and measuring
programmatic reach. Some local programs have
identified outcomes to measure in addition to capacity
building requirements.
Key sexual violence prevention partnerships
DOH partners with the state Department of
Commerce’s Office of Crime Victims Advocacy (OCVA)
and the Washington Coalition of Sexual Assault
Programs (WCSAP) to implement Washington’s RPE
program. OCVA oversees contracts with local sexual
assault programs to conduct prevention activities
within their communities. WCSAP provides technical
assistance and training to local programs. The
Department of Health provides leadership and
oversight and works with Evaluation Specialists to lead
evaluation capacity-building efforts for local programs.
Representatives from OCVA, WCSAP and DOH serve on
Washington’s Prevention Steering Committee.
Sexual Violence is associated with multiple
risk and protective factors
Risk factors are contributing factors associated with a
higher likelihood of sexual violence perpetration. Risk factors
exist across all levels of the social ecology, and are not
necessarily direct causes of sexual violence. These risk
factors can be changed; RPE-funded local programs identify
community specific risk factors and work to reduce them.
Risk factors associated with sexual violence perpetration
include both the characteristics of individuals, as well as their
physical and social environments. Risk factors interact with
one another to increase or decrease the risk of sexual
violence over time and within specific contexts. Current
evidence indicates that the following are some of the key risk
factors for perpetrating sexual violence:
Early sexual initiation
a general acceptance of
violence in the community
excessive alcohol use
hyper-masculinity
traditional gender-role
norms
social isolation and lack
of social support
weak laws and policies
related to sexual
violence
exposure to parental
violence
Meanwhile, protective factors may lessen the likelihood of
sexual violence victimization or perpetration. Protective
factors buffer against risk, and span across all levels of the
social ecology. While less is known about protective factors,
evidence indicates that the following factors are all
associated with a lower risk of sexual violence perpetration:
emotional health
connectedness
academic achievement
greater empathy
growing up in an environment
where adults demonstrated
the use of reasoning to
resolve family conflict