Date of Defense

12-8-1999

Department

Psychology

First Advisor

Dr. Richard Spates

Second Advisor

Dr. Lester Wright

Third Advisor

Kathryn Rahn

Abstract

This study evaluated two different interventions for school violence prevention. One concerned students' knowledge of dating violence and one concerned students' awareness of violence in schools. The first intervention consisted of a two-session workshop delivered by the YWCA staff to middle school students and the second intervention consisted of an awareness campaign directed at the general student body in the same middle schools.

Five different schools were involved in this study. The first school was the control group, which did not receive any type of intervention. The four remaining schools received the "awareness campaign". The teachers of these four schools could also choose to have the sexual assault workshop taught in their classrooms by the YWCA sexual assault team.

Results are analyzed for the control group, the awareness campaign group, and the workshop group. For the control group and the awareness campaign group, percentages were figured for the number of students who answered "yes", "no", or choose to skip the question on the surveys. Similar questions were asked on the control groups' and the awareness campaign groups' surveys. For the workshop group, three questions from the pretest/posttest were used to determine the effectiveness of the program. Chi square analyses were computed for these questions overall and by classes.

The awareness campaign did not produce significant effects and only one of the three questions evaluated from the workshop group showed statistical significance. Many limitations were discovered as this study progressed. There is clearly a need for further research in the area of violence prevention.

Access Setting

Honors Thesis-Campus Only

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