Evaluating sexual violence bystander intervention in alcohol-serving venues: a quasi-experimental protocol for assessing individual, interpersonal, and venue-level intervention effects

Alcohol is a leading risk factor for sexual violence (SV) victimization, perpetration, and reduced bystander intervention. Social environments where heavy drinking occurs (e.g., bars), and the staff who work within them, represent unique targets for SV prevention. Bar-based bystander programs have proliferated across the United States, yet evaluations have often been constrained in their methodological rigor and scope of outcomes, limiting our knowledge about what strategies work, how, and for whom. To address these limitations, we have developed a protocol to evaluate individual, interpersonal, and venue-level outcomes of a community-based bystander intervention program. Delivered by local victim services providers or community-based violence prevention organizations, bar-based bystander intervention programs train staff at alcohol-serving venues to recognize, assess, and effectively intervene in situations involving SV. Community partners also work with venue staff and leadership to assess and enhance anti-violence policies and safety of the physical environment. We have designed a quasi-experimental Type I hybrid effectiveness-implementation design with 15 intervention venues in the target study community and 15 venues in a matched comparison community. Our multi-level assessment approach includes collecting quantitative and qualitative effectiveness and implementation data from venue staff, patrons, management, and implementation partners, and conducting observations of intervention training and the venue environment. These activities will measure potential impacts, and moderators of impact, on bar staff, patrons, and environment (e.g., physical environment and social climate). This paper provides a rigorous evaluation design and multi-level assessment plan to enhance our understanding of bar-based SV prevention outcomes and community-based program implementation. Grounded in rigorous evaluability and pilot testing of a single program, this evaluation approach could be replicated or adapted for use in other communities and implementation frameworks. Findings have the potential to move the violence prevention field toward an efficient and highly accessible prevention approach that has the potential for community-level reductions in SV. This quasi-experimental protocol was pilot tested for feasibility following institutional review board review and approval under a formative research cooperative agreement with the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC/NCIPC U01CE003216) and thus did not require a clinical trial registration. The authors have received a subsequent rigorous evaluation award to support a full-scale evaluation (CDC/NCIPC; U01CE003755), which enhanced the current protocol by using a matched-pair randomization approach within the described hybrid Type I effectiveness-implementation study (Trial Registration: NCT07527988).