Can the IDEA3 Intervention Prevent Intimate Partner Violence?: A Substudy to the IDEA3 Randomized Controlled Trial

NCT ID: NCT07218159

Last Updated: 2025-10-21

Basic Information

• Recruitment Status: ENROLLING_BY_INVITATION
• Clinical Phase: NA
• Total Enrollment: 289 participants
• Study Classification: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Start Date: 2025-09-29
• Study Completion Date: 2027-05-31

Brief Summary

The goal of this study is to understand if the Internet-Delivered Enhanced Assess, Acknowledge, Act (IDEA3) sexual assault resistance program works to prevent intimate partner violence in undergraduate women. Participants who were in a prior trial by the study team (the IDEA3 parent trial) and joined in September 2024 or later will be invited to also join this study at the conclusion of the parent study. Participants in this study will fill out one additional survey. Researchers will compare intimate partner violence victimization between the control group and the intervention group.

Detailed Description

About 1 in 4 undergraduate women experience intimate partner violence (IPV) before graduation, and 1 in 5 women experience sexual assault (SA). IPV and SA are linked to academic or professional consequences for women who are victimized in college, including decreased class attendance, difficulty concentrating on schoolwork, withdrawing from classes, and dropping out of higher education entirely. The Enhanced Assess, Acknowledge, Act (EAAA) program is the only intervention proven to reduce the one-year incidence of campus SA in a randomized controlled trial (RCT) by 50%. A trial sub-study showed that EAAA also reduced IPV victimization by over 50%. EAAA is a theory-based 12-hour group intervention that increases women's abilities to assess a situation (cognitive appraisal to recognize empirically supported "red flags"), quickly acknowledge the potential for assault (e.g., overcoming self-doubt that one may be misreading the situation), and act to resist SA using evidence-based strategies. However, uptake of this effective in-person program has been limited by the cost and burden for college campuses to implement the program themselves. The researchers are currently testing an online adaptation of EAAA known as Internet-Delivered EAAA (IDEA3) in a Canadian-funded RCT, to evaluate a version of EAAA that will be more feasible to implement widely. An online format would lower costs and allow a central non-profit to deliver the program nationwide, with students from any campus participating via Zoom. While the trial was designed to evaluate the effect of IDEA3 on SA, the researchers will add an IPV sub-study to the trial. This sub-study will determine the efficacy of IDEA3 in reducing the one-year incidence of IPV, as compared to a consent workshop control condition, in US undergraduate women. The results of the study will provide key data that can be used to scale an evidence-based solution to this critical and timely issue.

This is an add-on sub-study to NCT06058455. Participants recruited in September 2024 and later into NCT06058455 will be invited to participate in this sub-study at their 12-month survey. Participants will be invited to fill out a survey on experiences of intimate partner violence (IPV) over the prior 12 months. This sub-study will enable us to determine the efficacy of IDEA3 in reducing the one-year incidence of IPV, as compared to a consent workshop control condition, in undergraduate women.

Conditions

Intimate Partner Violence (IPV)

Study Design

• Allocation Method: RANDOMIZED
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Primary Study Purpose: PREVENTION
• Blinding Strategy: NONE

Study Groups

IDEA3 sexual assault resistance intervention

IDEA3 curriculum will be delivered by pairs of trained facilitators over Zoom to reach up to 8 pairs of female-identified university students in four, 3-hour units. The four units will be spread over two to four weeks' time.

Group Type: EXPERIMENTAL

IDEA3 Sexual Assault Resistance Intervention

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

Internet-delivered EAAA (IDEA3), adapted from an in-person sexual assault resistance education intervention: Enhanced Assess, Acknowledge, Act (EAAA) intervention that was found in a randomized trial to reduce sexual assault victimization by about 50% at follow-up. IDEA3 designed for female identifying university students and focuses on resisting sexual assault committed by males in 4, 3-hour units: 1-ASSESS builds ability to detect risk with male acquaintances and develop risk reduction strategies. 2-ACKNOWLEDGE explores overcoming emotional barriers preventing women from acknowledging risk and employing effective resistance strategies with males. 3-ACT shows effectiveness of resistance strategies and teaches verbal and physical self-defense in common situations. 4-RELATIONSHIPS \& SEXUALITY adapts the Our Whole Lives curriculum to increase women's comfort in talking about sex/sexuality and identify sexual values/desires.

Consent workshop

Randomized participants who do not receive the intervention will receive one 60-minute session consisting of an internet delivered (Zoom) consent workshop.

Group Type: ACTIVE_COMPARATOR

Consent workshop

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

Participant pairs assigned to the control arm will receive a 60-minute session consisting of a 60-min interactive, virtual consent workshop. The workshop will include information on a) what consent is, including the idea that consent is about bodily autonomy and applies to interactions beyond sex, b) how to give and ask for consent, and c) examples of what it looks like to ask for and give/not give consent. This presentation will be given by a well-trained Research Assistant.

Interventions

IDEA3 Sexual Assault Resistance Intervention

Internet-delivered EAAA (IDEA3), adapted from an in-person sexual assault resistance education intervention: Enhanced Assess, Acknowledge, Act (EAAA) intervention that was found in a randomized trial to reduce sexual assault victimization by about 50% at follow-up. IDEA3 designed for female identifying university students and focuses on resisting sexual assault committed by males in 4, 3-hour units: 1-ASSESS builds ability to detect risk with male acquaintances and develop risk reduction strategies. 2-ACKNOWLEDGE explores overcoming emotional barriers preventing women from acknowledging risk and employing effective resistance strategies with males. 3-ACT shows effectiveness of resistance strategies and teaches verbal and physical self-defense in common situations. 4-RELATIONSHIPS \& SEXUALITY adapts the Our Whole Lives curriculum to increase women's comfort in talking about sex/sexuality and identify sexual values/desires.

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

Consent workshop

Participant pairs assigned to the control arm will receive a 60-minute session consisting of a 60-min interactive, virtual consent workshop. The workshop will include information on a) what consent is, including the idea that consent is about bodily autonomy and applies to interactions beyond sex, b) how to give and ask for consent, and c) examples of what it looks like to ask for and give/not give consent. This presentation will be given by a well-trained Research Assistant.

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

Eligibility Criteria

Inclusion Criteria

• 1st- and 2nd-year university students at one of the 4 sites
• female-identifying students
• students between ages of 17-24 at the time of enrollment into the parent trial
• able to attend one of the scheduled program groups
• able and willing to be matched with another eligible student

Exclusion Criteria

• None

• Minimum Eligible Age: 17 Years
• Maximum Eligible Age: 26 Years
• Eligible Sex: ALL
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Sponsors

University of Windsor

OTHER

Sponsor Role: collaborator

University of Guelph

OTHER

Sponsor Role: collaborator

University of Central Florida

OTHER

Sponsor Role: collaborator

University of Michigan

OTHER

Sponsor Role: collaborator

Tufts University

OTHER

Sponsor Role: collaborator

University of Maryland, College Park

OTHER

Sponsor Role: lead

Responsible Party

Sarah Peitzmeier

Associate Professor of Behavioral and Community Health

Responsibility Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Locations

University of Central Florida

Orlando, Florida, United States

University of Maryland

College Park, Maryland, United States

University of Michigan

Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States

University of Guelph

Guelph, Ontario, Canada

University of Windsor

Windsor, Ontario, Canada

Countries

United States; Canada

Other Identifiers

REB# 23-063

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id