# Bystander Activation Intervention to Address Gender-Based Harassment

> **NIH VA I21** · BALTIMORE VA MEDICAL CENTER · 2024 · —

## Abstract

Project Background: Harassment is a recognized problem in VA facilities. Recent national studies of women
Veterans receiving Veterans Health Administration (VHA) health services found that 25% reported experiencing
harassment at the VA in the past year. Most often, these incidents involved sexual harassment (e.g., catcalls,
being stared at/watched, or sexual/derogatory comments) or sexist harassment (e.g., someone questioning
their identity as a Veteran or their right to care). Women Veterans who experience harassment are significantly
more likely to feel unsafe and unwelcome at the VA; and to delay or underutilize care, which may place them at
risk for poorer health outcomes.
Significance/Impact: Harassment has the potential to negatively impact the dignity, privacy, sense of
security, safety, and health of women Veterans. Recognizing this, VA has launched several initiatives:
Women’s Health Services’ “End Harassment” campaign and, most recently, VHA Executive in Charge, Dr.
Stone’s “Stand Up to Harassment Now!” campaign. However, to date, there are no evidence-based
interventions to address harassment of service users in healthcare setting such as the VA. The current study
attempts to expand the VA’s efforts to address harassment by developing and evaluating a bystander
activation intervention that can be used to increase awareness of gender-based harassment (GBH) and
confidence in and willingness to help/intervene among a range of individuals within the system (e.g. Veterans,
VA staff and leadership). By addressing harassment and the discomfort it creates, this intervention may
reduce disparities in access to and the quality of care of women Veterans.
Innovation: The lack of evidence-based interventions to address harassment in healthcare settings
represents a significant gap in VHA’s ability to provide high-quality, gender-sensitive, comprehensive health
care to women Veterans. The project attempts to address this gap by actively partnering and collaborating with
Veterans and other stakeholders to develop and evaluate a novel, Veteran-informed bystander harassment
intervention that, if effective, has the potential to make VA settings more comfortable, safe and welcoming for
women Veterans.
Specific Aims: The specific aims of this study are 1) to develop a Veteran-informed harassment bystander
activation intervention. 2) to conduct a pilot trial to examine the feasibility, acceptability, potential efficacy, and
information regarding implementation of the intervention with Veterans and VA staff.
Methodology: We will create a bystander activation harassment intervention using participatory action
research (PAR) methods. First, 20 women who have experienced harassment and are receiving services at
the VAMHCS will develop photonarratives using Photovoice PAR methods that convey experiences of
harassment at VA and its impacts. We will also conduct focus groups with male Veterans, female Veterans,
and VA staff to inform the adaptation of existing by...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10066098
- **Project number:** 1I21HX003187-01
- **Recipient organization:** BALTIMORE VA MEDICAL CENTER
- **Principal Investigator:** AMY L DRAPALSKI
- **Activity code:** I21 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** VA
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** —
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2020-12-01 → 2022-11-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10066098

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10066098, Bystander Activation Intervention to Address Gender-Based Harassment (1I21HX003187-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10066098. Licensed CC0.

---

*[NIH grants dataset](/datasets/nih-grants) · CC0 1.0*