Concerned friends of intimate partner violence survivors: Results from the myPlan randomized controlled trial on college campuses

Background: Nearly half of intimate partner violence (IPV) survivors experience their first abusive relationship at college age (18-24 years), and most often these young people disclose the violence to friends. Existing "bystander" interventions targeting college campuses focus on training peers to safely intervene and have been effective in sexual assault prevention; similar interventions have rarely been tested for IPV intervention. Therefore, we evaluated the effectiveness of an interactive, personalized safety decision and planning tool, myPlan app, on decisional conflict, attitudes toward IPV, confidence in intervening, and supportive safety behaviors with concerned friends of abused college women. Methods: We recruited college students (age 18-24, N=293) of any gender who indicated they had a female-identified friend who had recently experienced IPV (“concerned friends”) from 41 Oregon and Maryland colleges/universities. Participants were randomized to myPlan (n=147) or control (usual web-based resources; n=146) and outcomes (e.g., decisional conflict, confidence to intervene, safety/support behaviors, attitudes toward IPV) were measured at baseline and 12-months later. Results: Concerned friends described the person being abused as a close/best friend (79.1%). Most (89.2%) reported concern that their friend would be seriously hurt by her abusive partner, with 22.7% reporting extreme concern. Intervention participants had a greater reduction in decisional conflict related to clarity in their own values immediately after their first use of myPlan. At 12-month follow-up, groups did not differ significantly in terms of percentage of safety/support strategies used, whether strategies were helpful, or attitudes toward IPV. Both groups reported increased confidence to intervene, but the intervention group had a significantly greater increase in confidence to talk with someone about concerns in their own relationships than the control group. Conclusions: A technology-based intervention, myPlan, was effective in reducing decisional conflict and clarifying values about supporting a friend in an unsafe relationship. Information on IPV and related safety strategies delivered through the myPlan app or usual web-based resources both increased confidence to intervene with a friend. College students in the myPlan group were more likely to talk with someone about concerns about their own relationship, demonstrating the potential of myPlan as a tool for IPV prevention or early intervention. Trial Registration: Clinicaltrials.gov ID: NCT02236663