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Health Promotion and Wellness

Approach

Health Promotion and Wellness efforts aim to address sexual violence by applying the public health framework with an emphasis on primary prevention programs. The intent of primary prevention is to build knowledge and awareness of health issues within a community. The focus is on the greater good for the population being served, and in this area we aim to create a campus culture that respects all and does not tolerate any form of violence (examples: all forms of gender-based violence, hazing, micro-agressions, cyber stalking and bullying).

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Prevention

In a public health framework most align with three levels of prevention. Health Promotion and Wellness work around gender-based violence and health and well-being mainly addresses priority health issues within the sphere of primary prevention. For better understanding, it is important to review primary, secondary and tertiary prevention together.

  • Primary Prevention: aimed at the general population, primary prevention seeks to reduce incidences by preventing risk and vulnerability. Examples include education and legislation about proper seat belt use, regular exams and screenings to monitor risk factors for chronic illness, fluoride in drinking water, and education about health behaviors such as good nutrition, the negative effects of tobacco, and understanding risks associated with those populations most vulnerable to experiencing interpersonal violence.
  • Secondary Prevention: targets an existing risk factor and seeks to remove or reduce it. Examples include an education course for underage individuals who receive a policy violation for consuming alcohol, recommending regular screenings for those diagnosed with chronic illnesses like Diabetes and high blood pressure, providing workplace modifications for injured employees, and implementing bystander empowerment programs to disrupt potential sexual assaults for example.
  • Tertiary Prevention: implemented when a condition exists and seeks to minimize further complications or negative outcomes. Examples include rehabilitation for alcohol addiction, cardiac rehabilitation after a heart attack, psychotherapy and/or support groups to help heal after experiencing trauma such as acts of interpersonal violence.
Additional information

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Socio-Ecological Model

Health Promotion and Wellness mainly dedicates its resources to primary prevention efforts through the lens of the Socio-Ecological Model(SEM). The SEM is based on research demonstrating the effectiveness of addressing health issues through multiple levels of strategies ranging from individual to societal. Illinois State University, community entities, state and national agencies develop and implement policies, campaigns, resources and initiatives that address the complex health issue at each of the levels of the Socio-Ecological Model. For this approach is the most effective and comprehensive way to resolve complex health issues like interpersonal violence, alcohol abuse, and food insecurity. The SEM demonstrates how the involvement of the entire community plays such a pivotal role in the well-being of people, places, and the culture.

Diagram Illustrating Socioecological Model Applied to Violence Prevention at Illinois State University

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Contributors to Violence

Research on violence has increased our understanding of factors that make some individuals more likely to commit violence

Below are factors that increases the likelihood that a person will commit a violent act. These risk factors are not direct causes of violence, instead, risk factors contribute to violence.

  • Individual Risk Factors

    • Alcohol and drug use
    • Delinquency
    • Empathic deficits
    • General aggressiveness and acceptance of violence
    • Early sexual initiation
    • Coercive sexual fantasies
    • Preference for impersonal sex and sexual-risk taking
    • Exposure to sexually explicit media
    • Hostility towards women and female identifying individuals
    • Adherence to traditional gender role norms
    • Hyper-masculinity
    • Suicidal behavior
    • Prior sexual victimization and/or sexual criminal history

  • Societal Risk Factors

    • Poverty
    • Lack of employment opportunities
    • Lack of institutional support from police and judicial system
    • General tolerance of sexual violence within the community
    • Weak community sanctions against sexual violence perpetrators

      • Protective Factors: anything that decreases the likelihood of a person committing or perpetrating an act of violence. Research in this area is ongoing; however, there are a few protective factors that have been identified.

    • Parental use of reasoning to resolve family conflict
    • Emotional health and connectedness to others within a community
    • Academic achievement
    • Empathy and concern for how one’s actions can impact another person

  • Interpersonal/Relationship Risk Factors

    • Family environment characterized by physical violence and conflict
    • Childhood history of physical, sexual, or emotional abuse
    • Emotionally unsupportive family environment
    • Poor parent-child relationships, particularly with fathers
    • Association with sexually aggressive, hypermasculine, and delinquent peers
    • Involvement in an intimate relationship that is abusive

  • Community/Organizational Risk Factors

    • Poverty
    • Lack of employment opportunities
    • Lack of institutional support from police and judicial system
    • General tolerance of sexual violence within the community
    • Weak community sanctions against those who perpetrate gender-based violence.

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Red Flags

Watch out for people that:

  • Do not listen to you, ignore what you say, talk over you or pretend not to hear you. Such individuals may have little respect for others and would be more likely to hear "no" as meaning "convince me."
  • Ignore your personal space boundaries, such as standing or walking too close or touching you without permission.
  • Push you to drink beyond your tolerance level or wait to make a sexual advance until you are extremely intoxicated. Alcohol is the #1 drug used to commit sexual violence.
  • Express anger or aggression frequently. Hostile feelings can easily be translated into hostile acts.
  • Uses hostile or possessive language about others, such as “bitch”, “whore”, or “stupid” or other derogatory language. They may refer to their partner as their possession. This shows that the individual may not see others as human-beings, but as objects that they own and can do with as they wish.
  • Do what they want regardless of what you want. A person may do this in little ways--for example, by making all the decisions about what you both will do.
  • Decide where to go without asking your opinion; later they may be likely to make the decision about whether you are ready to have sex with them.
  • Try to make you feel guilty, or accuse you of being "uptight" if you resist their overtures.
  • Act excessively jealous or possessive.
  • Prevent you from seeing or talking to friends or family members, by keeping you isolated and separated from your support network.
  • Have stereotypical or unrealistic ideas about gender roles. Such perpetrators are not likely to take objections to sex seriously.
  • Drink heavily. A "mean drunk" can often get aggressive, angry, or violent if they are rejected.

Resource:
Friends Raping Friends, Could it Happen to You? The Project on the Status and Education of Women, Association of American Colleges, 1997

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