Effectiveness of an Online Intervention Using a Feminist Approach on Gender Equality Promotion and Sexual Violence Prevention in China

Effectiveness of an Online Intervention Using a Feminist Approach on Gender Equality Promotion and Sexual Violence Prevention in China: A Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial

This paper presents the findings of a clustered randomized controlled trial (cRCT) that evaluated the effectiveness of an online feminist sexual health intervention among Chinese young adults, providing insights into the impacts of this innovative approach and contribute to the growing body of literature on feminist interventions for sexual health and equality promotion.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Sexual Violence
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Sexual health intervention; Behavioral: Sexual Violence Prevention

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 422
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• Hong Kong
  • Hong Kong, Hong Kong, 000000
    • The University of Hong Kong

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Adult
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

1. Young adults aged between 18-29 years old who possessed a mobile phone
2. Had prior experience in using social media
3. Were able to read and understand Chinese

Exclusion Criteria:

1. Those with a physical impediment (e.g., blindness) preventing them from accessing the mobile content

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Prevention
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Placebo Comparator: General Sexual Health intervention; Participants will receive their general online sexual health education programming.	Behavioral: Sexual health intervention; This general online sexual health education consisted of online videos, quizzes and game that covered a wide range of diverse topics on love, sex and relationships such as healthy and respectful relationships, body self-esteem, sexual identity and orientation, sexual rights and decision making, in addition to the conventional focus on sexual dysfunction and disease aversion.
Experimental: Feminist Sexual Health Intervention; Participants will receive online feminist sexual health program.	Behavioral: Sexual Violence Prevention; The intervention included a game, five short videos, two posters, and five online quizzes, which were provided with a frequency of two posts per week and a final real-time online workshop. Materials included content on the spectrum of gender and sexual identities and orientations, gender and sexual roles, consent and communication, body positivity and self-acceptance, sexual pleasure and desire, as well as risky sexual behavior associated with dating app use and the legal issues and risks of sexual assault, such as precautionary steps and available resources.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Rape myth acceptance	Illinois Rape Myth Acceptance Scale -Short Form, which consists of 17 items (1=not at all agree, 7=very much agree) assessing respondents' belief in rape myths (e.g., "Rape happens when a man's sex drive gets out of control"). The scores range from 17 to 119, with lower scores indicating less subscription to rape myths.	From enrollment to the end of treatment at one week and three months

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Sociocultural Attitudes toward Appearance	Sociocultural Attitudes toward Appearance Questionnaire-3 consisted of eight items assessing the degree to which an individual accepts and internalizes societal standards of beauty. Examples include "I tend to compare my body to people in magazines and on TV" and "Women who appear in TV shows and movies project the type of appearance that I see as my goal." Each item is rated on a five-point Likert scale. The scores range from 8 to 40, with lower scores indicating less endorsement of sociocultural beauty standards.	From enrollment to the end of treatment at one week and three months
Sexual Attitudes Scale	Sexual Attitudes Scale is a 22-item scale that includes: Permissiveness (six items); Responsibility (four items); Pleasure (four items); Instrumentality (four items); and Communion (four items). The factor items were rated on a five-point Likert-type scale ranging from 1 (strongly agree) to 5 (strongly disagree). After reverse-coding the negatively worded items, the item scores of each factor are summarized to obtain a total score for the factor. High scores indicated a high level of acceptance of the factor. The scores range from 22 to 110.	From enrollment to the end of treatment at one week and three months
Sexual Desire Inventory	Sexual Desire Inventory is a self-reported scale developed to assess sexual desire. It has 14 items in two aspects: Dyadic Sexual Desire (DSD)and Solitary Sexual Desire (SSD). Items1,2,10 and14 are rated on 8-point scales with responses from 0 (Not at all or Always) to 7 (> once a day or < one day) and Items 3-9, 11-13 are rated on 9-point scales with responses from 0 (No desire, Not important at all, or Extremely low desire) to 8 (Strong desire, Extremely important, or High desire). High scores indicated a high level of sexual desire. The scores range from 0 to 108.	From enrollment to the end of treatment at one week and three months

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: The University of Hong Kong

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): May 12, 2023
• Primary Completion (Actual): February 10, 2024
• Study Completion (Actual): March 2, 2024

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: March 28, 2024
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: April 5, 2024
• First Posted (Actual): April 9, 2024

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): April 9, 2024
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: April 5, 2024
• Last Verified: March 1, 2024

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Other Study ID Numbers: EA230308

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No