La Trobe to lead sexual violence prevention project

LA Trobe University Rural Health School researchers will benefit from $7.45 million in Federal Government funding to lead a new project to identify the most effective sexual violence prevention programs.

Organisations that run sexual violence interventions will be able to apply for up to $600,000 in funding to work with La Trobe’s Reducing Gender-Based Violence Research Group (ReGEN), in what will be known as the Partners in Prevention of Sexual Violence Project.

Twelve organisations will be selected to develop their projects over a six-month period and up to 10 of these will then be selected for full implementation and evaluation.

ReGEN director and principal research fellow Professor Leesa Hooker said the funding would help to bridge an existing gap.

“At the moment, we don’t really have any evidence-based interventions to prevent sexual violence,” she said.

“Once this work is carried out, we will have a better evidence base about what works in relation to preventing sexual violence. This knowledge can then be used to inform the development of future interventions to reduce rates of sexual violence across Australia.

“We expect that the outcomes of this project will be able to be used to change community attitudes and behaviours on an issue that has a devastating impact on far too many people.”

Australian Bureau of Statistics data shows that more than one in five women and around one in 16 men have experienced sexual violence since the age of 15.

LGBTQIA+ people also face significant rates of sexual violence.