The Development and Piloting of a Digital Checklist to Increase Access and Usage of Campus Online Sexual Violence Resources

Abstract

As colleges seek to respond to campus sexual assault, administrators are making policies, programs, and resources related to sexual violence available to students and members of the school community online. Keeping this content current and accessible can be challenging in the context of rapidly changing information and competing priorities across campuses. In response to this challenge, we developed a free, online protocol for campus leaders to quickly assess gaps in their online sexual violence resources. The “Digital Checklist” delineates action steps that campus administrators can take to determine whether information related to campus sexual assault is easily located, current, relevant, and accessible. We found that while schools made an effort to increase the availability of information online, the checklist helped identify gaps that, if remedied, would allow more students to access that information. The overall goal for the checklist is to provide schools with actionable, real-time, and trackable data regarding the utility and accessibility of online sexual violence information and resources and to complement other campus sexual assault prevention and intervention efforts.