# Safer Bars: A Cluster-Randomized Effectiveness Evaluation of Alcohol-related Sexual Violence Prevention through Bar Staff Bystander Training

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA · 2021 · $614,259

## Abstract

Abstract
Background and Significance: Sexual violence perpetration is robustly associated with social contexts that
support high levels of alcohol consumption. Beginning in 2007, the Arizona Department of Health Services
(ADHS) developed and field-tested the Safer Bars curriculum with support from the CDC Rape Prevention and
Education (RPE) funding program. Safer Bars is a bystander prevention training for staff of alcohol serving
establishments. This application proposes a theory-driven, quasi-experimental effectiveness evaluation by an
independent team at The University of Arizona. Our approach is significant because few evaluations have
measured behavioral outcomes as well as the mediators that explain the observed changes in bystander
behavior, or community-level outcomes associated with such interventions. Specific Aims: the specific aims
are to: (1) Test a hypothesized mediational model of individual-level behavioral outcomes based on the
Theory of Planned Behavior; (2) assess the effect of the program on bar-level risk management safety policies;
and (3) examine the community-level impact of the Safer Bars program on reducing the number of police
dispatches in areas with high densities of alcohol-serving establishments. Methods: A cluster-randomized trial
design with crossover to randomize participants at the bar level into intervention and delayed intervention arms
is proposed. Assessments are at baseline, completion of training, and at three and six months post-training.
The sample bars will be selected using Geographical Information System (GIS) mapping of “hot spots” for
police dispatches within a three-mile radius of the three major Arizona universities, all of which have a high
density of alcohol-serving establishments adjacent to campus. ADHS will focus their program delivery on bars
within these identified geographic parameters. Our analytical model will assess a hypothesized moderated
mediational model based in the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB). Outcomes of interest include: (a) the
extent to which Behavioral Intent, the central construct of TPB, mediates bar staff performance of intended
bystander behaviors at three-month follow-up and the extent to which this relationship is moderated by
personal characteristics and bar environment; (b) the effects of the program on bar-level risk management
patron safety policies; and, (c) the community-level effects as demonstrated by number of police dispatches in
areas with a high density of alcohol-serving establishments at baseline and at the end of the project using GIS
data. With evidence of efficacy, Safer Bars is feasible for scale-up without excessive financial burden in other
states, which all receive RPE funding.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10072020
- **Project number:** 5R01AA027263-03
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA
- **Principal Investigator:** Kelly Cue Davis
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $614,259
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2019-04-01 → 2023-12-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10072020

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10072020, Safer Bars: A Cluster-Randomized Effectiveness Evaluation of Alcohol-related Sexual Violence Prevention through Bar Staff Bystander Training (5R01AA027263-03). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10072020. Licensed CC0.

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