Ending Violence

Guide to Effective Programs
for Children and Youth

ENDING VIOLENCE

OVERVIEW

Ending Violence is a dating violence prevention program focused on legal issues. In an experimental study designed to test the intervention’s impact on Hispanic youth, students in classrooms assigned to receive the Ending Violence curriculum were compared with students in classrooms assigned to a control group. Immediately after the intervention, students assigned to receive the Ending Violence curriculum were significantly more knowledgeable about laws related to dating violence than were students assigned to the control group. This increase in knowledge persisted six months after the intervention. The program had some immediate impacts on acceptance of dating violence and intention to seek help if involved with dating violence, but these impacts did not persist at the six-month follow-up. During the follow-up period, intervention students were not any less likely than control students to be the victims and/or the perpetrators of dating violence.

DESCRIPTION OF PROGRAM

Target population: high school students

Ending Violence: A Curriculum for Educating Teens on Domestic Violence and the Law was developed by Break the Cycle, a nonprofit organization that offers free legal services to youth involved in dating violence. Ending Violence teaches youth about domestic violence, healthy relationships, and legal rights. The curriculum, taught by lawyers over the course of three one-hour sessions, stresses that intimate partner violence is illegal. Students learn that the law protects victims of domestic violence and can punish perpetrators. Students are also provided with information and resources intended to increase their help-seeking behavior, if involved with dating violence. Sessions include videos, discussions, games, and role plays.

EVALUATION(S) OF PROGRAM

Jaycox, L. H., McCaffrey, D., Eiseman, B., Aronoff, J., Shelley, G. A., Collins, R. L., & Marshall, G. N. (2006). Impact of a School-Based Dating Violence Prevention Program Among Latino Teens: Randomized Controlled Effectiveness Trial. Journal of Adolescent Health, 39, 694-704.

Evaluated population: 2540 students from ten high schools in the Los Angeles United School District served as the study sample for this investigation. 92% of students were Hispanic.

Approach: Los Angeles United School District schools operate on a track system. Within schools, tracks have separate schedules, student populations, teachers, and administrators. Each track was assigned to either the treatment or the control condition. Students in tracks assigned to the control condition received LAUSD’s standard health condition. Students in tracks assigned to the treatment condition received the Ending the Violence intervention. Thee separate cohorts of students took part in the study.

Ending the Violence was administered over the course of three consecutive days. All students completed pre-test surveys one day before the course began and filled out post-test surveys one day after the course ended. Students were surveyed again six months later.

Results: Immediately following the intervention, students assigned to receive the Ending Violence intervention knew significantly more about laws related to dating violence than did students assigned to the control group. Intervention students were significantly less accepting of female-on-male dating violence than were control students, but the two groups did not differ from one another on their acceptance of male-on-female dating violence. Intervention students were significantly more likely to report an intention to seek help if involved in a violent relationship and were significantly more likely to perceive assistance sources as helpful.

Six months after the intervention, students assigned to receive the Ending Violence intervention remained significantly more knowledgeable than control group students about laws related to dating violence. These students were also more likely to view lawyers as helpful in dating violence situations. Intervention students did not differ significantly from control students on acceptance of dating violence, intention to see help if involved in a violent relationship, or perception of assistance sources as helpful, however. Intervention students were just as likely as control students to have been involved in dating violence victimization and/or perpetration during the follow-up period.

SOURCES FOR MORE INFORMATION

More information on Break the Cycle’s programs available at:

http://www.breakthecycle.org/

References:

Program categorized in this guide according to the following:

Evaluated participant ages: 13-15 / Program age ranges in the guide: adolescence

Program components: school-based

Measured outcomes: social and emotional health, education and cognitive development

Program information last updated on 8/31/07