Bullying in Different Contexts by Claire P. Monks & Iain Coyne

Author:Claire P. Monks & Iain Coyne
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 2011-06-17T16:00:00+00:00

Implications for intervention and prevention

The development and implementation of intervention and prevention programmes is only relatively recent and is derived directly from the studies of risk factors for dating violence. Interventions have focused on communication strategies and conflict resolution orientated towards the constructive resolution of problems and increasing awareness of dating violence and its consequences.

Most prevention and intervention programmes have been developed from and within the educational context (Avery-Leaf et al., 1997; Lavoie et al., 1995) and have been primary intervention programmes. Knowledge of their effectiveness is still controversial, as a result of methodological problems which have limited the generalisability of the results. On many occasions these programmes have been implemented with a small number of adolescents; in others the intervention period has been very short or the pre–post evaluation has been carried within a limited timeframe and without the analysis of a comparison control group (Werkele and Wolfe, 1999; Whitaker et al., 2006). However, we describe here two programmes which have been implemented and evaluated satisfactorily, whose design has tried to overcome those methodological problems highlighted and which have presented promising results in changing the attitudes and beliefs of young people, as well as in reducing violent behaviour.

The Safe Date Project (Foshee et al., 1998, 2004) is a community intervention programme which involved 14 schools from North Carolina and was conducted with adolescents aged between 14 and 15 years. The programme focused on challenging sexist attitudes, increasing knowledge about dating violence, developing conflict resolution strategies and the establishment of networks of support and help for those involved in dating violence. The students involved in the study were randomly assigned to a control group or the experimental group, and the evaluation of the effectiveness of the intervention was conducted one month post-intervention, one year later and two to three years later. The focus of the evaluation was on the change in sexist attitudes and attitudes towards violence, as well as the reduction of physical, relational or sexual violence in the dating relationships. The results were mixed. On one hand, the one-month post-test assessment revealed a significant decrease in aggression towards partners, as well as higher levels of knowledge and sensitivity and less tolerance towards this type of violence. However, results relating to a decrease in violent behaviour were not found in the follow-up one year later. Further, a follow-up several years later concluded that the decrease in dating violence was maintained up to four years after the end of the programme (Foshee et al., 2004).

The Youth Relationships Project (Wolfe et al., 2003) is a community project whose results have also been promising. This programme focused on those young adolescents who were at particular risk, specifically those who had a history of family abuse. The young people who took part in the programme received group sessions aimed at improving their conflict resolution skills and emotional well-being and communication skills, as well as their knowledge about abusive relationships, and aimed at decreasing their tolerance towards these. In spite of the fact that

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.