Free Bird: Preventing Sexual Assault on College Campuses

Sexual assault affects hundreds of thousands of individuals every year. College students are especially at risk as women ages 18-24 are 3 times more likely to be a victim of sexual assault than other females (Campus Sexual Violence, n.d.). Because victims of sexual assault can experience negative sequelae for weeks, months, and even years after the incident occurs, it is critical to provide them with easily accessible help and guidance. For my thesis project, I investigated how sexual assault influences these victims' lives as well as what help is readily accessible to them. After researching sexual assault in college students and reading through many websites, articles, and journals, I researched the types of information provided to sexual assault victims through the websites of national sexual violence organizations. I then coded the websites of Arizona colleges and universities (N = 10) for the topics covered in their sites. Because several of these colleges had inadequate material on their websites, I developed a website that would provide additional information to sexual assault survivors. The idea of Free Bird is to establish a safe space for victims of sexual assault to find information that will allow them to heal along their journey. I learned a lot while completing this project, and I hope that the creation of this website will allow others to become more educated on the topic and realize what a problem sexual assault is in our society today.