A Qualitative Analysis of Student Experiences of Opportunities and Actions for Bystander Intervention Across Various Levels of Threat

Purpose: Bystander interventions (BI) are a promising and increasingly employed social approach to public health problems in college settings. One missed opportunity to enhance the efficacy of many BI programs is a need for input from the intervention target, such as students. We seek to address this research gap by using college students’ experiences to identify additional attributes of bystander opportunities and actions. Methods: This study utilized data collected between 2017 and 2019 from students in 11 large colleges participating in the Multi-college Bystander Efficacy Evaluation. Students were asked to report behaviors they used after witnessing five concerning situations with the option to write in behaviors not represented in response options. Additionally, students were asked to indicate if they witnessed any other concerning situations and, if so, to describe the situation. Data from 5,154 students that responded to the open-ended prompts were analyzed using a content analysis approach to identify additional opportunities and actions. Results: Respondents were predominantly White (68%), heterosexual (79%), and cisgender women (70%). Open-ended responses suggested four domains for BI opportunity in college settings: interpersonal violence, stranger violence, substance-related situations, and bias-related situations. We identified four threat assessment levels related to opportunities: apprehension, specific risk, active harm, and institutional issues; and three categories of actions: help-seeking, intervening on one’s own, and preventing. Conclusions: Our multi-college assessment identified additional bystander-related opportunities and actions grounded in student experiences. Recommendations are offered to improve the design and evaluation of BI programs.