Wheaton College's for-credit self-defense class was taught exclusively by Marilyn Scribner. Scribner's class, being an explicitly Christian co-ed course and running for over 40 years, offers a unique research opportunity for several reasons:

1. Research has shown that self-defense classes can improve students’ self-esteem and self-efficacy, but very few research projects explore how such classes might influence faith or spirituality.

2. Few researchers have been able to explore the impact a class has across generations or its long-term effects on participants over the course of their lifetimes.

3. Few self-defense studies have been able to include co-ed components since most research centers on women-only self-defense classes.

Yet all of these components can help us shape better faith-based, holistic, preventative tools to address violence against women around the world.