Promising Practice Programs & Responses for Sexual Assault

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What is the Promising Practice database?

The Australian Centre for the Study of Sexual Assault (ACSSA) is seeking to develop a national collection of programs and/or approaches that aim to improve our understanding of, as well as our responses to, sexual assault. The objective of the Promising Practice Database is to provide a collection of information on sexual assault programmes that aim to either prevent sexual assault (primary, secondary or tertiary levels of prevention – see below), or improve responses to sexual assault, particularly but not exclusively systems responses (e.g. legal, medical). The programs will be incorporated into a public access database and will be available via this website. The database will also be used to inform the work of other service providers who are developing or refining best practice models in responding to sexual assault.

How are programs assessed?

Promising practice is assessed according to the way the program meets the following criteria. The program must (compulsory criteria):

Have a clear focus: have a clearly defined conceptual framework, clear aims, and clear desired outcomes;
Take account of contemporary research and practice developments in the field of sexual assault;
Position diversity as key to the development, understanding and delivery of good practice models;
Demonstrate a sensitivity towards the barriers faced by victim/survivors in disclosing and reporting sexual assault, and other difficulties, if relevant; and
Include processes of accountability and evaluation.

A promising practice may also (optional criteria):

Be replicable (that is, able to be used by others); and
Have been evaluated as successful.

Reponses to these criteria form the basis of submissions for inclusion on the Promising Practice Database.

The Promising Practice Database is intended as a resource to inform practitioners and policy workers about current and past initiatives. ACSSA does not independently evaluate programs. Our process of assessment involves ensuring that the program/resource is consistent with the stated criteria.

Levels of prevention

Prevention can operate at several levels - below is a brief explanation.

Primary prevention - preventing violence before it occurs
Primary prevention interventions are those that seek to prevent violence before it occurs. Interventions can be targeted to the whole population or to particular groups that may be at higher risk of being the perpetrators or victims of violence. Some primary prevention interventions (such as social marketing campaigns) focus on changing behaviour or building the knowledge and skills of individuals. However, primary prevention can also focus on changing environments so that they are safer for women. Interventions that do not have a particular focus on violence, but address its underlying causes (such as gender inequality and poverty), are also primary prevention interventions.

Early intervention (secondary) - taking action on early signs of violence
Early intervention is targeted to individuals and groups who exhibit early signs of perpetrating violent behaviour or of being subject to violence. They can be aimed at changing behaviours or increasing the skills of individuals and groups. Early intervention may also be targeted to environments in which there are strong signs that violence may occur or has begun to occur (eg subcultures, such as peer groups or sporting clubs in which there is a strong culture of disrespect of women).

Intervention (tertiary) - providing support and treatment to victims of violence and adopting measures to prevent re-offending and repeat victimization
Intervention strategies are implemented after violence occurs. They aim to deal with the violence, prevent its consequences (such as mental health problems) and to ensure that violence does not occur again or escalate. Intervention includes things such as crisis accommodation and social support for victims of violence and criminal justice and therapeutic interventions for perpetrators.

It is not always possible to make a clear distinction between these strategies. For example a policy reform, such as a police code of practice mandating arrest of perpetrators of domestic violence, is clearly designed to facilitate intervention after violence has occurred. However it can also have a primary preventative effect (by communicating to the wider community that violence against women is a serious issue) and an impact on early intervention by deterring potential perpetrators. (see VicHealth (2005) A Public Health Model for the Prevention of Violence Against Women (PDF 48 KB)

What is the process for submissions?

If you or your organisation has developed and/or has been involved in conducting a sexual assault related program or initiative we would like to invite you to share your program with us. ACSSA welcomes practices from service providers, policy and program developers, educators and trainers, researchers and others working to address sexual violence. Practices are assessed against the above criteria.

For information about the Promising Practice database, including how to submit a proposal for consideration, please contact ACSSA

Questionnaire and form guide (DOC 135 KB) - includes the questionnaire and a comprehensive submission guide.

Copyright statement for ACSSA Promising Practice Programs database

Copyright of individual entries in the Promising Practice Programs database is held by the organisations that have provided the information. Items may be printed or downloaded for personal use only for the purpose of private study, research, criticism or review, as permitted under copyright legislation. For any further dissemination written permission must be obtained from the organisation.

The complete Promising Practice Programs database compilation is copyright to the Commonwealth of Australia. If you wish to reproduce parts of the database or the complete database please read the requirements in the AIFS copyright statement.