engleski

Prevention of teen dating violence: Effectiveness of the large-scale school-based intervention

Teen dating violence is associated with severe mental health consequences and is one of the strongest risk factor for partner violence in adulthood (Lormand et al., 2013 ; Miller et al., 2013). Prevalence ranges from 25 % to over 80 %, depending on the type of violence, sample characteristics and method of assessment (Ajduković, Löw & Sušac, 2011 ; Haynie et al., 2013 ; Niolon et al., 2015). Over the past two decades several teen dating violence prevention programs were developed (e.g. Foshee et al., 1998). However, only a few have been rigorously evaluated (Niolon et al., 2016). The aim of the study was to evaluate the effectiveness of the large-scale teen dating violence preventive intervention (Ajduković et al., 2011), which is delivered to 5000 third grade secondary school pupils each year in different parts of Croatia. The intervention includes four 45-minutes interactive classroom workshops, addressing the following topics: (1) changing unhealthy relationship beliefs and reducing gender stereotypes, (2) violence recognition, (3) interpersonal conflict resolution skills and (4) seeking and providing help. The evaluation included 184 classes from 39 secondary schools randomly assigned to intervention (N = 1503) and control (N = 1446) conditions (63% female, average age 17). After the baseline test, the intervention was delivered in early 2015, with a 6 months follow-up. Instruments with good metric properties (alpha from .74 to .92) were used for effectiveness assessment. Controlling for the results at baseline, the intervention group reported increased recognition of violent behaviors, less justification of partner's controlling behaviors, and more help seeking intentions (p < .01). There was also a significant reduction of specific perpetrating behaviors (p < .05), such as grabbing, slapping, threatening to gain sex, and respective victimization experiences. Although the effect sizes for the overall sample were small, the results suggest that this brief school-based preventive intervention is effective in changing knowledge, attitudes and behaviors associated with risks for teen dating violence. Notably, in some schools the effect sizes were considerably higher, indicating that delivery adherence to the guidelines may be important effectiveness factor.

teen dating violence ; prevention ; school-based intervention

nije evidentirano