56. Dating Violence Prevention Curriculum Effects On Middle School Youth

Abstract

Middle schools serve as a setting to provide prevention services to a convened population of adolescents in a community. Most middle school aged youth have not initiated dating relationships. Evidence supports the need for access to education about healthy relationships and dating violence prevention among a community wide general population. However, many schools and districts face challenges adopting and implementing an evidence-based dating violence prevention curriculum because they rarely acknowledge the time constraints or curriculum demands of local educators. During the 2016-2017 academic school year, trained teachers implemented the Me & You curriculum with school-aged youth among middle schools in a binational, tri-state region. The Me & You curriculum was developed to meet the education standards set by state, school district directives, teacher needs and requests, and the culture of the student body. This study describes the pre- post survey curriculum effects on middle school youth after their participation in a dating violence prevention curriculum developed to meet local needs. The evaluation plan included a pre- and post-test survey, implemented prior to and immediately following curriculum implementation. Survey variables were derived from a compendium of variables for violence prevention and selected to answer evaluation questions about the impact of the curriculum on youth. We calculated descriptive statistics for theoretical constructs related to the curriculum and compiled scales for model and measurement purposes. A paired-samples t-test was conducted on a sample of 1,234 middle school students to determine significant differences in scaled responses, before and after curriculum implementation. Data showed statistically significant differences for the “Relationships with Others” scale before implementation (M=3.90, SD=4.67) and after (M=2.59, SD=2.99); t(531)=5.377, p=0.000; as well as the “Dating Wrong/Right” scale before implementation (M=4.00, SD=1.98) and after (M=2.15, SD=2.00); t(531)=15.098, p=0.000. No statistically significant differences were found for the “Anger Equals Love”, “What Someone Sometimes Deserves”, and “People to Turn to” scales. These results suggest that implementing dating violence prevention curricula can positively affect middle school age students’ perceptions of healthy relationships with others and behaviors that are right and/or wrong with a dating partner. Evidence from this evaluation, along with the tailored approach to meet the school districts’ and teachers’ needs, suggests a valid justification for implementing this program with youth in this community. This program offers the opportunity for the school setting to offer dating violence prevention programs in schools while recognizing this is only one approach and setting to increase awareness and education to promote healthy behaviors while decreasing the rate of teen dating violence.