College coaches' influence on student-athlete engagement in sexual violence prevention: promoting readiness to help and awareness of campus resources

Increasing one's readiness to help (Baynard 2010) and awareness of campus resources (Hayes-Smith and Levett 2010) is vital to the success of bystander intervention, which has been identified as a promising strategy for engaging student-athletes in sexual violence prevention (Moynihan et al. 2015). While studies suggest that high school coaches may play an influential role in promoting engagement in sexual violence prevention with their student-athletes (Miller et al. 2013), there is a lack of research on the potential influence of college coaches. This exploratory study examines college coaches' impact of discussing sexual violence with student-athletes on engaging in sexual violence prevention. Data collected from a Mid-Atlantic Division I university indicate that student-athletes who discussed sexual violence with their coach were more likely to take action to prevent sexual violence and more familiar with campus resources than those who did not. Implications for research and practice will be discussed.