This study aimed to improve the attitudes that lead to mental and physical violence by providing an education program using DVD video teaching materials and web-based learning to prevent sexual violence. The education programs showed an improvement effect and resulted in an improved attitude toward promoting healthy conflict resolution. The educational programs also improved dangerous attitudes toward sexual violence from persons in the community or through the Internet.
An improvement in attitudes that lead to mental and physical violence after taking DVD or web-based education program
Adolescents showed improvement in attitudes that lead to mental and physical violence after taking the education program using DVD video teaching materials to prevent violence. The same improvement effect was shown with the web-based violence prevention learning program. These results are in line with those of an American violence prevention program using a support group that showed that junior high and high school students could reduce violence in male-female relationships and friendships following an education program [
13]. In comparison, in a study implementing violence prevention education via the Internet for junior high school boys in Japan, attitudes that lead to physical violence improved following the education program, but attitudes that lead to mental violence did not [
15]. In the latter study, data on gender was not collected, and the issue of teenage gender dysphoria was not considered. However, in the overall results of adolescent study participants, an improvement effect in attitudes that lead to physical violence and attitudes that lead to mental violence was observed. A likely factor that increased the educational effect of the programs was the greater interest shown by adolescents after presenting data on how an adolescent can become a perpetrator or victim of sexual violence from persons in the community or through the Internet and the realization that this issue closely affects them.
In 2018, 39.4% of boys and 43.1% of girls were reported to have sent messages to someone they first contacted on a mobile phone or through the Internet, and 13.0% of boys and 19.6% of girls sent photos to someone they first contacted on a mobile phone or through the Internet [
19]. In recent years, the use of smartphones has increased considerably among adolescents. An Internet usage environment survey of adolescents in 2016 found that the Internet usage rate of adolescents between 10 and 17 years was 80.3% for junior high school students (smartphone ownership rate 42.7%) and 97.7% for high school students (smartphone ownership rate 92.3%) [
5]. By 2018, these percentages were 95.1% (smartphone ownership rate 70.6%) for junior high school students and 99.0% (smartphone ownership rate 97.5%) for high school students [
5]. Utilizing the Internet to provide education programs led to an improvement in attitudes that lead to mental and physical violence, and strengthening these education programs to reduce violence should be considered a priority.
Attitude toward healthy conflict resolution that leads to mental and physical violence after taking DVD or web-based education program
Adolescents strengthened their attitudes toward healthy conflict resolution after receiving an education program using DVD video teaching materials to prevent violence. The same effect was shown with the web-based learning program to prevent violence. Ball et al. reported that a violence prevention program carried out in the USA among high-risk high school students using a support group reduced problems in male-female relationships and friendships following the intervention, and increased skills for healthy conflict resolution [
13]. In terms of attitudes toward healthy conflict resolution, a recent study reported that discussion with other individuals could be strengthened after online education on violence prevention in junior high school girls in Japan, but no effect was observed for other items [
15]. In the present study, gender was not differentiated; however, overall, an improvement effect was observed in all items regarding attitudes toward healthy conflict resolution, including empathy, self-expression, discussion with others, and attack avoidance. A factor that likely impacted the improved educational effect was the DVD-based and web-based programs’ use of drama-style videos (including empathy, assertiveness, discussion with others, and attack avoidance) as life skills training. This mode of learning makes it easier for adolescents to imagine an actual situation with a visual demonstration of how bad relationships lead to violence and how good relationships lead to conflict resolution. A 2000–2010 review of US and Canadian dating DVs reported 53 risk factors and 6 protective factors. Empathy, age, IQ, academic performance, maternal and child relationships, and school relationships were indicated as protective factors [
20]. Consequently, enhancement of empathy is thought to lead to the prevention of DV. A program that added education for the prevention of sexual violence in addition to DV was shown to be effective in improving discussion between close friends and men and women promoting an attitude of mutual respect and avoidance of attacks. It is presumed that this prevents them from becoming a perpetrator or victim of sexual violence. Results of this study in Japan could clarify that recognition of DV is related to the awareness of male-female relationships with mutual respect [
21]. It is thought that adolescents interested in male-female relationships need to understand what actions correspond to violence and learn about relationships based on mutual respect as well as how to avoid attacks from close friends and intimate partners. Therefore, increased opportunities to learn about attitudes that promote healthy conflict resolution may reduce the chances of adolescents becoming involved in violence.
In particular, the web-based learning program achieved an improvement of attack avoidance on attitude toward healthy conflict resolution. In recent years, a study assessing DV prevention education in college students using web-based learning observed an increase in their understanding of dating DV [
22]. However, this study did not include teenage junior high school students or high school students who are commonly victims of dating DV and did not cover education for the prevention of sexual violence [
22]. In Japan, DV and sexual violence are not included in the educational guidelines for junior high school students or high school students, and implementation of preventive education is currently insufficient. However, adolescent physical, mental, and emotional development also involves an increasing interest in the opposite sex and sexuality, which is affected by various environments created by their surrounding human relationships and the Internet [
19,
23]. Early implementation of violence prevention education using web-based learning for adolescents who are likely to be involved in a sexual relationship, before they become a perpetrator or victim of sexual violence, is essential to encourage the development of equal roles in male-female relationships. Cultivating attitudes that promote healthy conflict resolution is vital.
To lower the risk in 40 South African men and women who were at high risk for sexual violence and HIV transmission, a community-based intervention (SASA!) was implemented to improve communication skills between men and women [
24]. Improvement in male-female relationships was assessed using an interview survey 2 months after the intervention program [
24]. Another program—Creating Lasting Family Connections (CLFL) program—was implemented targeting 175 African American women to increase communication skills, relationship management, and rejection skills. This program reported an improvement in three skills and that violence from intimate partners had been reduced in the following 3 months when compared to the 44 persons in the control group [
25]. Accordingly, social skills training utilized sexual violence prevention education for unmarried men and women in adolescence and adulthood to improve male-female relationships, and reducing violence is now considered effective both in Japan and abroad. However, there are still few empirical web-based learning studies that use online programs to prevent persons from becoming a perpetrator or a victim of sexual violence. Choi et al. implemented a program in 55 Korean Americans, the Korean Clergy for Healthy Families (KOCH) program, which included skills to enhance knowledge of intimate partner violence (IPV), methods to solve IPV, and self-efficacy in the context of IPV: 27 persons took this online program, and 28 were included as a control group. The intervention group was reported to have increased knowledge of IPV, self-efficacy, and also improved behavioral skills for prevention and intervention following the program; however, the difference between the two groups was not statistically significant [
26]. Currently, health literacy is attracting attention in Japan as a means to maintain and improve the quality of life throughout the life course. Health literacy is the primary health power that collects, judges, executes, evaluates, modifies, and continues to execute health information; it is a skill to change lifestyles to be healthier, to reduce diseases and poor health conditions, and to live a comfortable life [
27]. More recently, the need for sexual health literacy among adolescents who begin sexual behavior has been identified [
28]. Through our web-based learning program, we would like to support adolescents in Japan and overseas to live a healthy and comfortable life by acquiring the needed knowledge, cultivating healthy attitudes for conflict resolution, and be able to implement them.
Dangerous attitudes toward sexual violence that lead to mental and physical violence after taking DVD or web-based education program
Improvement in the dangerous attitudes that lead to sexual violence in adolescents was observed following the education program using DVD video teaching materials to prevent violence. This improvement effect was also observed for the web-based violence prevention learning program. According to the routine activity approach, crime stems from three factors: a motivated offender, a suitable target, and the absence of a capable guardian [
9]. The risk of sexual violence in an adolescent’s daily routine, such as commuting to school, should be assumed. Studies in Japan of junior high school students report experiences of unwanted sexual harm in their daily routine, such as coerced sexual acts, groping, approached by a stranger, or stalking, with 12.7% of boys and 24.5% of girls reporting these experiences [
12]. The number of recognized cases of indecent assault and actual status of sexual assault on men and women, as reported by the National Police Agency, is shown as data on the graph. In our educational program, the improvement effect is likely increased by using examples and videos that highlight the risk of sexual violence to both men and women in their daily routine, such as commuting and using the Internet.
Research limitations and challenges
During the process to obtain study approval from the educational institution, the inclusion of a control group without any education program was not allowed. The Internet’s influence should also be considered, and it is conceivable that a web-based learning program might have been affected by the Internet learning environment and information from the Internet. Future studies should carefully consider interventional and assessment methods to minimize the potential influence of the Internet learning environment and information on the web. In terms of the research using DVD video teaching materials, there are limitations in the generalization of the results owing to the implementation of the questionnaire in a limited area. Further explanation of web-based learning programs and expansion to a wider range of subjects are needed. Consideration of the educational contents of the program and assessment methods that can be used both in Japan and overseas is required. In Japan and overseas, of the disruption that is being caused by the COVID-19, the development of a sexual violence prevention education program is needed.