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. 2023 Dec;24(5):3593-3614.
doi: 10.1177/15248380221134294. Epub 2022 Nov 30.

Exploring the Activities and Target Audiences of School-Based Violence Prevention Programs: Systematic Review and Intervention Component Analysis

Andrew J Rizzo  1 , Noreen Orr  2 , Naomi Shaw  2 , Caroline Farmer  2 , Annah Chollet  3 , Honor Young  4 , Vashti Berry  2 , Emma Rigby  5 , Ann Hagell  5 , Chris Bonell  6 , G J Melendez-Torres  2
Affiliations

Exploring the Activities and Target Audiences of School-Based Violence Prevention Programs: Systematic Review and Intervention Component Analysis

Andrew J Rizzo et al. Trauma Violence Abuse. 2023 Dec.

Abstract

Adolescents are at an increased risk for experiencing dating and relationship violence (DRV) and gender-based violence (GBV). School-based interventions remain an important and frequently used method for DRV/GBV prevention. A clear understanding and description of the different components of school-based interventions specific to DRV/GBV is needed to organize and advance the array of prevention efforts being utilized in school settings. We conducted an intervention component analysis to create a taxonomy for school-based interventions addressing DRV and GBV. We searched 21 databases in July 2020 and updated searches in June 2021, alongside extensive supplementary search methods. We included randomized controlled trials (RCTs) in adolescents of compulsory school-age that were implemented within the school setting which partially or wholly focused on DRV and GBV topics. Our analysis included 68 studies describing 76 different school-based interventions. Through an iterative coding process we identified 40 intervention components organized within 13 activity categories, including both student-directed components and non-student-directed components such as activities for school personnel and family members of students. We also identified components addressing higher levels of the social-ecological model including structural-social and structural-environmental aspects of DRV/GBV which prior reviews have not considered. This taxonomy of components and synthesis of intervention efficacy for DRV/GBV school-based interventions provides a framework for comparing past intervention evaluations and constructing new interventions to address these issues at multiple levels within a community.

Keywords: anything related to sexual assault; dating violence; domestic violence; intervention; sexual assault; youth violence.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of Conflicting InterestsThe author(s) declared the following potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: Chris Bonell was principal investigator, and Honor Young and G.J. Melendez-Torres co-investigators, of one of the trials included in this systematic review.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
PRISMA flowchart.
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References

Further Reading

    1. *Achyut P., Bhatla N., Khandekar S., Maitra S., Verma R. K. (2011). Building support for gender equality among young adolescents in school: Findings from Mumbai, India. International Center for Research on Women.
    1. *Avery-Leaf S., Cascardi M., O’Leary K. D., Cano A. (1997). Efficacy of a dating violence prevention program on attitudes justifying aggression. Journal of Adolescent Health, 21(1), 11–17. 10.1016/s1054-139x(96)00309-6 - DOI - PubMed
    1. *Bando R., Hidalgo N., Land A. (2019). Education with a social focus on gender attitudes: Experimental evidence from secondary education in El Salvador. Journal of Economics, Race, and Policy, 2(4), 225–239. 10.1007/s41996-019-00037-x - DOI
    1. *Chamberland A., Cantin-Drouin M., Damant D. (2014). Assessment of the impact of Saisir: A dating violence prevention program. Canadian Social Work Review/Revue Canadienne de Service Social, 31(1), 125–139.
    1. *Cissner A. B., Ayoub L. H. (2014). Building healthy teen relationships: An evaluation of the Fourth R Curriculum with middle school students in the Bronx: U.S. Center for Court Innovation.

References

    1. Abraham C., Michie S. (2008). A taxonomy of behavior change techniques used in interventions. Health Psychology, 27(3), 379–387. - PubMed
    1. *Achyut P., Bhatla N., Verma H., Uttamacharya S. G., Bhattacharya S., Verma R. (2016). Towards gender equality. The GEMS journey thus far. An evaluation report of the Gender Equity Movement in Schools (GEMS) program in Jharkhand. International Center for Research on Women.
    1. Adeosun I. (2015). Adolescents’ disclosure of sexual violence victimization in nigeria: Prevalence, barriers and mental health implications. International Neuropsychiatric Disease Journal, 4(4), 153–160. 10.9734/INDJ/2015/19291 - DOI
    1. Anderson M., Jiang J. (2018). Teens, social media and technology 2018. http://publicservicesalliance.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Teens-Socia...
    1. *Arnab S., Brown K., Clarke S., Judd B., Baxter J., King R., Joshi P., Newby K., Bayley J. (2012). Serious game for Relationships and Sex Education (RSE): Promoting discourse on pressure and coercion in adolescent relationships. Proceedings of the European Conference on Games Based Learning, 1, 611–614.

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