The “Step Up, Step In” (SUSI) program is a social marketing campaign guided by social norms theory that aims to promote norms that protect against sexual bullying, sexual harassment, and sexual violence. SUSI implementation is funded by the Georgia Department of Public Health under CDC’s Rape Prevention and Education (RPE) initiative. It has been implemented in 42 schools across 19 counties in Georgia since 2014. However, social marketing campaigns, including SUSI, have not been evaluated for their ability to prevent sexual violence among adolescents. The purpose of this 3-year project is to conduct a formative and summative evaluation of the SUSI campaign to prevent sexual bullying, harassment, and violence among both cisgender-heterosexual and sexual/gender minority students in Gwinnett County high-schools. Led by Dr. Dennis Reidy in the School of Public Health at Georgia State University, his project is a collaboration among researchers and stakeholders at Rhode Island Hospital, Michigan State University, Kennesaw State University, Georgia Department of Public Health, the Gwinnett County Health Department, and Gwinnett County Schools.
Here is a complete list of the investigators on the project:
Principal Investigator: Dennis Reidy, Ph.D. Georgia State University
Co-Investigators: Lindsay Orchowski, Ph.D. Rhode Island Hospital
Joanne Smith Darden, Ph.D. Michigan State University
Heather McCauley, Ph.D. Michigan State University
Heidi Scherer, Ph.D. Kennesaw State University
Jennifer McMahon-Howard, Ph.D. Kennesaw State University
Xiangming Fang, Ph.D. Georgia State University
Donna Smith, Ph.D. Georgia State University