PHC6534: Trauma-Informed Sexual Assault Prevention at the University of Florida

My grant proposal focuses on the prevention of sexual assault at the University of Florida--specifically within the undergraduate female population. The program's activities place an emphasis on health education and are modeled according to the social ecological model developed by the CDC to effectively target the individual, relationship, community, and societal levels at UF. As such, the program intends to employ a trauma-informed approach in adapting each principle of the Six Key Principles of a Trauma-Informed Approach; however, specific emphasis will be placed on the safety, peer support, and the empowerment, voice and choice principles. Specifically, the program plans to host bystander intervention, healthy relationship modeling, and healthy sexuality courses biweekly on campus to give students the opportunity to develop prevention skills that mitigate the incidence of sexual assault. Moreover, the program also aims to engage the UF student and faculty leaders through the development of campus-based sexual violence awareness campaigns. Then working with the Gainesville community, the program seeks to strengthen enforcement and response to sexual violence reports through collaboration with both the UF Police Department (UFPD) and Gainesville Police Department (GPD). With a goal of sexual assault prevention, my program primarily implements both primary and secondary health promotion strategies at the UF campus to build community capacity and resilience. As a result, the program's goal will be to facilitate a 5% reduction in the incidence of sexual assault on UF campus over a four-year time span. In doing so, the target population will express competence in performing bystander intervention through self-assessment. The program also intends to increase personal skills in bystander intervention, healthy relationship and sexuality as well as sexual assault awareness.