Mapping Evaluated University Primary Prevention Interventions Against a Whole-of-University Framework: A Scoping Review

While sexual violence on university campuses is a widespread issue, universities have been slow to implement interventions to respond to or prevent sexual violence. Primary prevention interventions address the root causes of sexual violence, and universities offer a unique opportunity for implementing them through a whole-of-university approach. Using a scoping review method, we mapped existing peer-reviewed literature from high-income countries on university sexual violence prevention programs. We searched Medline, PsycINFO, SOCIndex, Proquest, and Scopus. Studies were included if they were a sexual violence primary prevention program in a university setting. We included 40 articles and mapped these to a whole-of-university framework and found that programs were mostly categorized in the domains of teaching and learning or student life. There was an overreliance on programs targeting values and behavior, with limited focus on larger structural change. In general, studies were predominantly from the United States, and interventions were piecemeal and often one-off education programs, with limited longitudinal evaluations. Primary prevention was inconsistently conceptualized across the studies. We recommend a concerted focus on a primary prevention, whole-of-university approach.