Our Approach
The Social Ecological Model
The Social Ecological Model, advocated by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as a model for primary prevention of sexual assault, recognizes that individuals do not exist in isolation. Instead, they exist within complex interplays of contextual factors, both micro and macro, that the model describes as “individual, relationship, community, and societal.”
MCSR’s comprehensive Healthy Masculinity Action Project (HMAP)—consisting of unique programming and campaigns devoted to promoting the practice of healthy masculinity—addresses every level of the model. Here are some examples of how MCSR’s special initiatives, especially the Men of Strength (MOST) Club, incorporate all four levels of the Social Ecological Model:
Individual
MCSR trains and prepares Men of Strength (MOST) Club facilitators to support MOST Club members’ individual efforts to build their own healthy definitions of masculinity.
RELATIONSHIP
MOST Club facilitators and members positively influence teachers, family, and other students through practicing healthy masculinity.
MCSR’s 3-day Healthy Masculinity Training Institute prepares prevention trainers to conduct workshops and trainings that increase bystander intervention skill development through healthy masculinity.
COMMUNITY:
MOST Club facilitators and members design and implement Community Strength Projects, such as organizing a school-wide conversation on healthy masculinity.
MCSR launched the “Where Do You Stand?" bystander intervention campaign, designed specifically for young men in the community.
SOCIETAL:
MOST Club members collaborate with other student groups to review and provide feedback regarding their state’s sexual assault and dating violence policies for schools, influencing norms at the societal level.
Download the CDC’s Sexual Violence Prevention: Beginning the Dialogue to learn more about the social ecological model.
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