University of Kentucky

Founded in 1865 by John Bowman as the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Kentucky, the University of Kentucky (UK) is a public, research-extensive, land-grant university dedicated to improving people’s lives through excellence in teaching, research, health care, cultural enrichment, and economic development. Located in Lexington, Ky., in 2008 UK enrolled 26,054 students, including 18,942 undergraduates.

Background

The Green Dot Violence Prevention Strategy was implemented at UK in 2006. Dorothy Edwards, former director of the Violence Intervention and Prevention Center at UK and founder of the Green Dot strategy, said, “Though the initial intention was to focus exclusively on the UK community for the first five years, the primary tenets of the program philosophy have resonated far beyond UK's borders. The intersection of renewed hope, application of the latest science, and a program that was both specific and adaptable across populations has proved appealing to diverse communities across the country. Within three years, the Green Dot Strategy has spread to rape crisis centers, domestic violence programs, prevent child abuse programs, high schools, statewide coalitions, colleges, military installations, church groups, and a broad range of community organizations across 35 states in the United States and abroad. The rapid spread is fueled by a renewed hope in the possibility of change. The momentum created by the widespread adoption of the Green Dot strategy cannot be overstated. This united effort is amazing. It is our goal to work with communities around the globe to help create the culture change necessary to measurably reduce violence.”

The Green Dot strategy is a comprehensive approach to violence prevention that capitalizes on the power of peer and cultural influence. Informed by social change theory, the model targets all community members as potential bystanders and seeks to engage them, through awareness, education, and skills practice, in proactive behaviors that establish intolerance of violence as the norm, as well as reactive interventions in high-risk situations—resulting ultimately in the reduction of power-based personal violence. The program targets socially influential individuals from across community subgroups. The goal is for these groups to engage in a basic education program that will equip them to integrate moments of prevention within existing relationships and daily activities. By doing so, new norms will be introduced and those within their sphere of influence will become proactively involved.

Efforts are prioritized based on several factors: (1) Where is the greatest risk and vulnerability within any community? The initial focus is on the areas of most urgent need. (2) Who are those individuals and groups that carry the most social influence? The target is individuals who can most efficiently disseminate new, positive norms of bystander involvement. (3) Who has access to individuals and organizations across the social ecology? In addition to creating change within individual social networks, efforts target bystanders who can facilitate change within media, government, religious organizations, businesses, and so on across all levels of the socio-ecological model.

The strategy uses images of red dots and green dots to illustrate the current rates of violence and the impact that mobilized bystanders can have to reduce these rates. A red dot is simply a moment in time when an individual makes a choice to commit an act of power-based personal violence (dating violence‚ sexual violence, stalking, bullying, child abuse, or elder abuse)—or a choice to tolerate or perpetuate this violence. A red dot can be a rape, hit, or threat. A red dot can also be a moment of inaction when an individual chooses to do nothing in the face of a potentially high-risk situation. Current rates of power-based personal violence reflect the accumulation of individual decisions and actions made by individuals across any given community.

Green dots are any behavior‚ choice‚ or conversation that promotes safety for all and actively and visibly express intolerance for any form of violence. Examples of green dot behavior include pulling a friend out of a high-risk situation, checking in with a family member to express concern about a potentially abusive romantic relationship, posting a message on Facebook, coordinating a training on bystander intervention, displaying an awareness poster, and making a visible and vocal commitment to violence prevention.

Research Basis of Green Dot

According to a report on the research foundation of the Green Dot Prevention Strategy, it is an approach that is built on the theory and research of key scientists from across disciplines. “Hundreds of published articles have been reviewed for the best data available in order to construct the strongest possible attempt at prevention. . . . [T]he key components of the Green Dot strategy are built upon research conducted in the areas of violence against women, bystander intervention, diffusion of innovation, perpetrator patterns, and marketing/rebranding.”

A review of the literature within the field of violence against women suggests that little has been done that has resulted in effective, consistent, measurable prevention. However, an examination of the outcome/evaluation research does provide some clear indicators of prevention strategies that have not been effective. For example, a meta-analysis of sexual assault education programs found that historical awareness or education programming has not resulted in a reduction of sexual violence. One-time-only educational programs, large-scale events, and the dissemination of printed educational materials are not effective means to reduce violence. Traditional program content, including facts, statistics, myths/facts, and definitions have also failed to demonstrate a decrease in violence. Additionally, there is little to support prevention programming that focuses exclusively on risk reduction targeting women, and there has been little demonstrated effectiveness in approaching all men as potential perpetrators with messages related to obtaining consent.

“While there are clear indicators of what not to do, there is an absence of demonstrated effective prevention programming available within the violence against women literature. However, the research gleaned from an examination of outside disciplines provides theoretical and empirical support for the Green Dot model,” said Edwards.

Within the field of social psychology, there are decades of research documenting basic principles of bystander behavior that have a broad impact on individual and group choices. This body of research seeks to understand why individuals choose to intervene or remain passive when they are in the role of bystander in a potentially risky, dangerous, or emergency situation. Bystander influences include (1) diffusion of responsibility: when faced with a crisis situation, individuals are less likely to respond when more people are present because each assumes that someone else will handle it; (2) evaluation apprehension: when faced with a high-risk situation, individuals are reluctant to respond because they are afraid they will look foolish; (3) pluralistic ignorance: when faced with an ambiguous, but potentially high-risk situation, individuals will defer to the cues of those around them when deciding whether to respond; (4) confidence in skills: individuals are more likely to intervene in a high-risk situation when they feel confident in their ability to do so effectively; and (5) modeling: individuals are more likely to intervene in a high-risk situation when they have seen someone else model it first. Understanding bystander dynamics has created the opportunity to have a realistic conversation about the things that make it difficult for a bystander to intervene. Green Dot allows participants to generate realistic solutions that take obstacles to action into consideration.

According to The Green Dot Background Summary Report, diffusion of innovation theory is based on the premise that behavior change in a population can be initiated and then will diffuse to others if enough natural and influential opinion leaders within the population visibly adopt, endorse, and support an innovative behavior. Because violence against women exists on a scale that clearly reaches the scope of a public health concern that requires broad-based, community-level change, it is imperative that a critical mass of individuals endorse and engage in targeted behaviors that are proactively and visibly intolerant of violence.

A growing body of research gives insight into the behaviors and patterns of perpetrators. Research on batterers demonstrates the mechanisms most often used to exert power and control over a target, from the earliest warning signs to the most extreme forms of violence. Literature examining the behaviors of sexual offenders, particularly offenders known to the victim, give profound and clear insight into their patterns—including how they target, assess, and isolate a victim. There is also significant research delineating the characteristics, risk factors, and psychosocial and psychological attributes of physical, sexual, and emotional child abusers. If social diffusion theory speaks to “who” and bystander theory speaks to “what,” then understanding how perpetrators operate in targeting, assessing, and victimizing speaks to “how.” The Green Dot strategy focuses on engaging bystanders in active interventions when they see a high-risk situation; the perpetrator literature is valuable in clearly delineating what constitutes a high-risk situation. By knowing what a perpetrator is likely to do, a bystander can be alerted to behaviors that require intervention. Green Dot strives to cue bystanders to the earliest possible warning signs that a situation may be high risk.

The marketing/rebranding research informs Green Dot’s strategy to engage a critical mass of individuals in violence prevention efforts. The evidence is clear and consistent that there is a significant gap between the espoused “brand” of violence against women prevention (i.e., inclusive, want men to join the movement, urgently relevant to all of us) and the brand perceived by the community (i.e., man-hating, choir-only, not their issue). Despite good intentions, this branding crisis is resulting in the violence against women prevention movement remaining a largely choir-based, women’s-only movement that has gained little traction in terms of broader community support in the past several decades. By better understanding and addressing the explicit and implicit concerns of the “consumer” (community members we are trying to engage) prevention efforts can be presented in a way that will reduce the obstacles that prevent more from joining prevention efforts. Another key application of the marketing research involves the importance of working closely with key stakeholders (i.e., current educators, advocates, and direct service providers) to ensure they are fully engaged and supportive of the rebranding and that any pockets of resistance are addressed.

Program Dissemination

UK has engaged in an extensive dissemination process. “Thus far, training instructors on the Green Dot Strategy has occurred through two different mechanisms. (1) We hold four-day trainings at a central location, and invite individuals and organizations to attend. (2) We provide the four-day training on-site, allowing the institution or organization to train a broader base of people. After the initial training, ongoing support is provided through monthly conference calls, personal phone-calls and Web-based support. As the Green Dot strategy continues to spread across the globe, and we are able to increase funding, it is our objective to strengthen the training and technical assistance support infrastructure through increasing the number of qualified trainers, expanding Web-based support, providing more frequent trainings, and offering personalized professional development opportunities (ensuring instructors feel competent in every area necessary for successful implementation),” said Edwards in an interview on the Changemakers Web site.

Evaluation

There has been one, two-year study completed of Green Dot on a college campus. This study, funded by the U.S. Department of Education, showed positive initial results. It found that those involved in a Green Dot training significantly increased their bystander behaviors; bystanding intention scores were significantly higher for those receiving Green Dot; rape myth acceptance scores were significantly lower in the Green Dot–trained group; rates of violence among men (men used sexual or physical violence or stalking) were significantly lower among those receiving the Green Dot speeches.

“While this initial study is promising, it is essential that additional research be conducted with more scientifically rigorous designs to ensure Green Dot is having its intended effect. Toward this end, there is currently a five-year, CDC-funded study being conducted in high schools across Kentucky, evaluating the impact of Green Dot. In addition, there are multisite studies being conducted at the college level,” said Edwards.

For More Information

To learn more about Green Dot at the University of Kentucky, go to www.uky.edu/StudentAffairs/VIPCenter/greendot.html. To learn more about the Green Dot Prevention Strategy, go to www.livethegreendot.com.