Combatting sexual assault: an evaluation of a prevention program

Few guidelines exist for the planning or evaluation of community-based sexual assault prevention initiatives. Records from the Safety Van Program, as well as survey data from 60 users and 60 non-users characteristic of the target group, were used to explore the complex relationship between awareness, fear of assault and service use. Findings from the evaluation address issues such as basing program expansion on utilization rates, and using incidence rates to justify service need.