Gathering Evidence to Inform Environmental and Situational Prevention of Sexual Violence on College Campuses: A Scoping Review of Methods for Risk Assessment

Sexual violence (SV) is pervasive, particularly on college campuses. The physical and social environments that shape SV risk are considered important intervention targets, yet less is known about how to identify and characterize such environments to intervene effectively. A scoping review was conducted to describe the range of strategies characterizing environmental and situational SV risk. The review identified 286 full-text studies that were published in English between 1990 and 2023 and described findings on environmental and situational risk factors for SV or other types of gender-based violence (GBV). Five primary strategies emerged: map marking, safety audits/walking tours, qualitative methods, incident reports, and surveys. Map marking and safety audits/walking tours focused on perceived SV risk rather than experiences, which may perpetuate biases and fail to generate effective solutions. Qualitative methods generated rich environmental and situational data but had limited generalizability. Incident reports were commonly used for spatial analysis; limitations include underreporting and biases in cases reported. Behaviorally based self-reported SV survey data is the gold standard in measuring SV incidence; survey-based measures had limited precision and their use in characterizing environmental and situational SV risk has been limited to date. While modifying social and physical environments represents a promising prevention approach, methods to characterize risk environments are in their earliest phases, and caution is recommended to avoid overreliance on risk perception. Actionable limitations include precision gaps and potential biases, suggesting the value of mixed methods, and pairing high-quality SV survey data with more precise measures of environmental and situational SV risk.