School District Leader Perspectives on Surveying Middle School Youth About Sexual Violence

Schools are important contexts for preventing sexual violence (SV) among adolescents. Evaluating whether programming is effective requires surveying youth about SV experiences. However, school communities often have concerns about asking students, particularly those in middle school, about these experiences. This study sought to understand the types of concerns that school district leaders have related to surveying middle school students about SV and to identify ways to mitigate these concerns.

We conducted semi-structured interviews with superintendents and school board members (n = 19) across Washington State and used inductive thematic analysis.

Concerns regarding surveying students about SV centered around 3 main themes: community norms and misconceptions, parental/caregiver discomfort, and survey language and administration. Concerns were particularly salient for sixth-grade students. Suggestions for mitigating concerns included: providing clear motivation and reframing messaging to community members, involving parents and students in the survey process, and modifying survey language and administration.

Researchers administering surveys to middle school students on sensitive topics including SV may face pushback and must consider flexible approaches to allow research and evaluation to be conducted.