Running head: SWIPE RIGHT FOR HEALTHY RELATIONSHIPS 1

Semester Project: Swipe Right for Healthy Relationships

Savannah E. Matherly

Western Carolina University

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PLANNING

Program Name: Swipe Right for Healthy Relationships!

Program Purpose: The purpose of the Swipe Right for Healthy Relationships program is to

provide Noble Hall residents with an opportunity to have an open dialogue

regarding romantic and intimate relationships so that they can become

versed in the different forms of abuse, gain confidence in seeking healthy

relationships, and identify resources available to support themselves or

others who may be in unhealthy relationships. BaShaun Smith, the

Director of Residential Living, will review and have open discussion on

love languages, red flags within these type of relationships, and toxic

masculinity.

Program Goals: 1. Residents will learn the different love languages and how it informs

what individuals need from their partners in relationships by taking the

love languages test.

2. Residents will gain knowledge of red flags within unhealthy

relationships through an open discussion with the Director of Residential

Living, BaShaun Smith.

3. Residents will gain an understanding of the different types of abuse in

unhealthy relationships, specifically with how they intertwine with toxic

masculinity and social media.

4. Residents will be able to support themselves and others in unhealthy

relationships by identifying resources on Western Carolina University’s

campus.
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Program Outcomes: 1. Residents will take the love languages test and determine their love

language so that they can apply it to their relationships and know what

they need from their partner.

2. Residents will distinguish between the different types of abuse in

unhealthy relationships and how to advocate for themselves and others

who may experience it.

3. Residents will be asked to participate in a discussion about how red

flags, toxic masculinity, and social media impact relationships to further

understand how to foster healthy relationships.

As stated above, the purpose of this program is to provide Noble hall residents at Western

Carolina University (WCU) a program that gives residents intentional dialogue with a

professional staff member regarding healthy relationships so that they can understand the types

of abuse, how to advocate for themselves, and support those in unhealthy relationships by

recognizing the red flags and offering on-campus resources. This program is being implemented

by the Noble residence hall staff and the Director of Residential Living, BaShaun Smith, as well

as being sponsored by the Department of Residential Living. When planning the Swipe Right for

Healthy Relationships program, it is important to understand and align the event’s goals and

outcomes with the mission of the Department of Residential Living. Below is the area’s mission

statement:

Department of Residential Living’s Mission Statement

We provide clean, safe, and healthy living environments that enhance and support

the educational mission, goals, and creed of the WCU. We strive to create living

and learning communities where students feel valued as individuals and where
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diversity and fellowship with others can be celebrated. While maintaining a high

level of quality service, we also encourage and provide opportunities for personal

growth and development of character, leadership, honesty, respect, and pride.

(Western Carolina University, n.d.)

From the mission statement shown above, some very similar goals and values are

included. These include: providing healthy living environments, opportunities for personal

growth, and fostering value and respect among residents’ self-worth. Looking at these

components versus the mission statement of the Swipe Right for Healthy Relationships program,

both echo similar values and both directions align fairly well. The Swipe Right for Healthy

Relationships program aims to similarly foster a healthy living environment for residents by

teaching on healthy relationships, value within the individual and self-advocacy, and respect and

honesty for one another.

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IMPLEMENTING

I first began planning this program on October 17, 2018. I first created a rough outline of

five program outcomes and goals I was interested in the program accomplishing, as well as

creating the title, Swipe Right for Healthy Relationships, for the event. I then proceeded to ask

the Director of Residential Living, BaShaun Smith, if he would be interested in speaking at the

program. After he agreed to participate, I then worked with him to set a date and time that would

work best within his schedule, as well as the schedule of Noble hall programming. We both

agreed on hosting the event on November 28, 2018 at 6:00 PM in the second-floor central lobby

of Noble. After these last few details were solidified, I created the flyer for marketing purposes

(Appendix A).
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After I created the flyer and began posting it to Noble’s social media accounts and the

Residential Living Facebook groups (Appendix B), along with emailing it to residents, I had to

logistically plan the budget and what materials would be needed. I decided to serve pizza at this

event, so I used Noble’s pizza budget code to order four cheese and four pepperoni pizzas from

Papa John’s on campus (Appendix C). This food option was the most reasonable option based on

Noble’s current budget, as our food and non-food is running low and I wanted to save it for

Noble resident assistant (RA) programming (Appendix D). Due to the constraints in budget, the

rest of the items utilized were from the Department of Residential Living’s free printing and

office supplies. I printed 50 copies of “The Five Love Languages Test” by Dr. Gary Chapman

for the residents to take the test for discussion purposes within the program (Appendix E). I also

printed 50 copies of a note-taking sheet I made in Canva for the residents during the event in

case they wanted to take notes from BaShaun’s discussion (Appendix F). BaShaun also grabbed

blue sheets of paper from the office and cut them into quarter sheets so that he could utilize them

during his discussion with the residents. Lastly, I brought a couple boxes of pens, plates, and

napkins that I already had in Noble’s programming closet.

Once the materials and food for the event were sorted out, I then set up a meeting with

BaShaun to develop our program goals and outcomes for the program. After our first meeting

had to be cancelled, we met on November 20 and ironed out the details of the program

(Appendix G). BaShaun planned to begin the program by having the residents take “The Five

Love Languages Test” so they could discover what love language described them. Each love

language then was broken up into small groups so that residents could discuss with those that had

the same love language as them how they viewed it in their relationships and share advice. After

this, BaShaun was going to lead the residents in an open discussion on love languages, red flags
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within unhealthy relationships, and toxic masculinity and social media. He conducted this by

giving each resident a quarter sheet of paper to write down a red flag. BaShaun then would

randomly choose from the stack and lead a conversation on whatever red flag he chose. He asked

them if any of them have seen this play out in their own relationships or relationships around

them, what it means to them, and how they can combat these, either with their love language or

with resources on campus. During his discussion, BaShaun was going to also interject some of

his personal experience and wisdom on healthy relationships.

After the event was planned, I began writing my paper and established both the program

outcomes and goals, which are listed above. I even made sure that my program goals and

outcomes aligned with the mission statement of the Department of Residential Living, since they

were collaborating and sponsoring our program. Once I had these planned, I then created the

assessment survey that I would send to all of the residents that attended the program.

EVALUATING

For the event, I created a post-evaluation assessment survey (Appendix H) on Qualtrics

that was emailed to each resident whom attended at the conclusion of the program (Appendix I).

The survey began by asking three demographic questions, such as gender, age, and classification,

as I was curious how the program impacted various student demographics within Noble since it

is a mixed student population. The assessment included both quantitative and qualitative

questions, as well as asking for specific feedback on the event. The questions, themselves, were

tailored to determine if residents actually learned what they were supposed to from the event, or

if the program outcomes and goals were met. Such questions asked about the residents’
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comprehension of love languages, red flags in unhealthy relationships, resources and support on

campus, and toxic masculinity.

The table below shows whether the program outcomes of this event were evaluated and

met.

Small Group Interactive Red

Learning Outcomes Love Languages Test Discussion Flags Discussion
Residents will take the
love languages test and
determine their love X X
language so that they can X
apply it to their
relationships and know
what they need from their
partner.
Residents will distinguish
between the different
types of abuse in X X
X
unhealthy relationships
and how to advocate for
themselves and others
who may experience it.
Residents will be asked to
participate in a discussion
about how red flags, toxic
masculinity, and social
media impact
relationships to further
understand how to foster
healthy relationships.
X = Outcome met

RESULTS

I had a total of 39 residents attend the Swipe Right for Healthy Relationships program in

Noble. Out of the 39 who attended, six residents completed the assessment survey, giving me a

15.38 percent response rate. As shown in Appendix J, each demographic and quantitative

question asked within the assessment is graphed to visually depict the results. The demographics
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reveal 33.33 percent of respondents were male and 66.67 percent were female. The age ranged

from 19 to 22, with the average age of respondents being 20.17. Classification of respondents

also varied between the 2 nd – 4th year range. Overall, all six, 100 percent, residents responded

with “Definitely yes” to learning about the different types of love languages from the event. All

of the residents who completed the survey were able to reflect on how they would utilize their

love language in a relationship; the most utilized words were, appreciate, love, and time. 83.33

percent of the respondents answered, “Definitely yes” that they learned about red flags in

relationships during the program. Overwhelmingly the theme for the red flag that were asked to

list in question six dealt with space within a relationship. 66.67 percent, residents reported

“Definitely yes” that they learned about supporting someone who is in an unhealthy relationship,

whereas 33.33 percent reported “Probably yes.” All six, 100 percent, residents said they learned

about resources available on campus to help someone in an unhealthy relationship. Responses to

the question of whether or not the residents learned about toxic masculinity during the program

were: 16.67 percent for “Definitely yes,” 33.33 percent for “Probably yes,” and 50 percent for

“Might or might not.” Lastly, 83.33 percent of residents who completed the survey said they

would attend the event again in the future.

REFLECTION & RECOMMENDATIONS

Based on the information received from the residents, I feel confident enough to say that

this program was successful in teaching the residents about their love language and how to apply

it to their relationships, as well as different types of abuse within relationships and how to offer

support to those experiencing unhealthy relationships. After reviewing the qualitative responses

(Appendix J), I feel as if the residents were able to truly reflect on the discussion from the
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program and gain new knowledge about themselves and others. Overall, as seen in the learning

outcome matrix above, two of the learning outcomes were met from this program. I did not deem

the last learning outcome, “Residents will be asked to participate in a discussion about how red

flags, toxic masculinity, and social media impact relationships to further understand how to

foster healthy relationships,” as met because 50 percent of the respondents said they may not

have actually learned about toxic masculinity from the event. Also, our discussion with BaShaun

was very intentional and dependent upon the residents’ questions and interactions, so some of

our topics were not met due to lack of time. Since we ran out of time, we did not get to speak on

social media like we intended during our original planning meeting. Despite not meeting this

outcome, I still feel this program was a huge success as we had high attendance (Appendix K)

that is not typical for Noble and the residents were truly engaged in conversation (Appendix L).

Based on the feedback (Appendix M) provided from the survey, as well as not having enough

time to discuss all of the topics related to our learning outcomes, I would recommend this

program be longer in the future to allow for more questions and different types of unhealthy

relationship behaviors to be discussed. Another limitation from the execution of this program

was the low response rate. Unfortunately, my assessment did not get as many responses that

reflected the amount of the residents who attended the event, so I would recommend actually

moving the assessment to paper for next year. With a paper assessment, the surveys can be

distributed to all of the residents in attendance at the end of the event to ensure that the response

rate is 100 percent and that professionals can receive more accurate feedback and/or results.
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Appendix A

Marketing Flyer
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Appendix B

Social Media Posts on Noble Accounts and in the Residential Living Facebook Groups
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Appendix C

Papa John’s Order Form

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Appendix D

Noble Hall Pizza, Non-Food, and Food Budgets

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Appendix E

“The Five Love Languages Test” by Dr. Gary Chapman

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Appendix F

Canva Notes Handout

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Appendix G

Meeting with BaShaun and Planning Notes

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Appendix H

Program Assessment Qualtrics Survey

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Appendix I

Email of Assessment to Program Attendees

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Appendix J

Assessment Survey Results

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Appendix K

Attendance Sheets
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Appendix L

Photos from Event

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Appendix M

Feedback Listed in Assessment Survey