ResourcesResearch-based Strategies for PeaceRebecca JankeCommunities often lack the best information on how to assess local needs and how to use an assessment to select a violence reduction/intervention program that fits their needs. Despite strong public pressure to implement programs with proven results, without clear standards and guidelines, communities can become lost in the maze of programs that claim effectiveness in deterring violence yet have no factual information or evidence supporting their effectiveness. The Blueprints for Violence Prevention Initiative, designed and launched at the University of Colorado at Boulder, is a comprehensive effort to provide communities with a set of programs whose effectiveness has been scientifically demonstrated. If you are interested in what community programs best support the Montessori classroom in creating a culture of peace and nonviolence The Blueprints for Violence Prevention List is most helpful and insightful. Each intervention has to meet exceptionally high standards to make the Blueprints for Violence Prevention List, which reflects the confidence, necessary for recommending that communities replicate these programs with reasonable assurances that they will prevent violence. As you look at the needs in your community, create interventions and plan your yearly curriculum, know that there are 11 programs, which have made the list. We'll look at the first five in this issue and the last six in the next issue: Prenatal and Infancy Home Visitation by Nurses The most serious and chronic offenders often show signs of antisocial behavior as early as the preschool years. Three risk factors associated with early development of antisocial behavior can be modified: adverse maternal health-related behaviors during pregnancy, child abuse and neglect, and troubled maternal life course. Nurses begin visiting first-time mothers during pregnancy and continue the visits until the child is 2 years old. During home visits, nurses promote the physical, cognitive and social-emotional development of the children and provide support and instruction in parenting skills to the parents. During the first 15 years after delivery of their first child, low-income, unmarried women who received nurse home visits had 31 percent fewer subsequent births, longer intervals between births (an average of 2 years), fewer months on welfare (60 versus 90 months), 44 percent fewer behavioral problems, 69 percent fewer arrests, and 81 percent fewer criminal convictions than those in the control group. Adolescents whose mothers received nurse home visits more than a decade earlier were 60 percent less likely to have run away, 55 percent less likely to have been arrested, and 80 percent less likely to have been convicted of a crime than adolescents whose mothers did not receive visits. When the program focuses on low-income women, program costs are recovered by the time the first child reaches age 4. The RAND Corporation estimated that once the child reaches age 15, cost savings are four times the original investment because of reductions in crime, welfare expenditures, and healthcare costs and as a result of taxes paid by working parents. National Center for Children, families, and Communities.www.nccfc.org. The Incredible Years Parent, Teacher, and Child Training Series Parent Training, Teacher Training and Child Training. This program was designed to promote social competence and prevent, reduce, and treat conduct problems in young children ages 2-8 that exhibit or are at risk for conduct problems. Trained facilitators use interactive presentations, videotape modeling, and role-playing techniques to encourage group discussion, problem solving, and sharing of ideas. Parents in the beginning class are taught interactive play and reinforcement skills, nonviolent discipline techniques, logical and natural consequences, and problem-solving strategies. The advanced class addresses family risk factors such as depression, marital discord, poor coping skills, poor anger management, and lack of support. The last class, the School Support Class focuses on ways to further their child's academic and social competence. The teacher-training component focuses on strengthening teachers' classroom management skills. It seeks to help teachers encourage and motivate students, promote students' pro-social behavior and cooperation with peers and teachers, teach anger management and problem-solving skills, and reduce classroom aggression. The child training component emphasizes skills related to developing emotional literacy, having empathy with others or taking their perspective, making and keeping friends, managing anger, solving interpersonal problems, following school rules, and succeeding at school. It is designed for use as a "pull out" treatment program for small groups of children who exhibit conduct problems. Incredible Years, www.incredibleyears.com. Promoting Alternative Thinking Strategies (PATHS) Taught by teachers of students in kindergarten through fifth grade as part of the regular curriculum, PATHS, is designed to be taught three times per week for at least 20 minutes per session. It includes lessons in self-control, emotional understanding, self-esteem, relationships and interpersonal problem-solving skills. Lessons are sequenced according to increasing developmental difficulty and include activities such as dialoguing, role-playing, storytelling, modeling by teachers and peers, and social and self-reinforcement. Youth are also taught to identify and label their feelings; express, understand, and regulate their emotions; understand the difference between feelings and behaviors; control impulses, and read and interpret social cues. Youth are given activities and strategies to use inside and outside the classroom, and parents receive program materials to reinforce behaviors at home. Compared with the control groups, youth in the PATHS program have done significantly better in recognizing and understanding emotions, understanding social problems, developing effective alternative solutions and decreasing frequency of aggressive/violent solutions. Teachers reported significant improvements in children's self-control, emotional understanding, ability to tolerate frustration and use of conflict resolution strategies. Among special needs youth, teachers reported decreases in internalized symptoms (sadness, anxiety and withdrawal) and externalized symptoms (aggressive and disruptive behavior). Prevention Research Center for the Promotion of Human Development, www.prevention.psu.edu. Bullying Prevention Program Bullying causes its victims humiliation, unhappiness and confusion. Many tend to lose their self-esteem and become anxious and insecure; often their concentration and learning suffer and they may fear and refuse to go to school. Many who suffer persistent bullying as youth feel the impact of that experience into adulthood. Moreover, bullies often begin acting out in other ways, such as vandalizing property, shoplifting, skipping school and using drugs. School bullies also are at increased risk for committing crime in adulthood: 60 percent of males who were bullies in grades 6-9 were convicted of at least one crime as adults, compared with 23 percent of males who did not bully, and 35 to 40 percent of these former bullies had three or more convictions by age 24, compared with 10 percent of those who did not bully. The program's major goal is to reduce bullying among elementary, middle and junior high school children by reducing opportunities and rewards for bullying behavior. School staff is largely responsible for introducing and carrying out the program, and their efforts are directed toward improving peer relations and making the school a safe and pleasant environment. Bullying Prevention increases awareness of and knowledge about the problem, actively involves teachers and parents, develops clear rules against bullying behavior, and provides support and protection for bullying victims.
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