Federal Activities Addressing Violence in Schools
Research Synthesis and Application
Best Practices to Prevent Violence by Children and Adolescents: A Sourcebook
This project has brought together a wide range of experts in the field of youth violence prevention to identify strategies to prevent violence by children and adolescents and to describe "best practices" to implement these strategies. The sourcebook briefly describes four strategies with strong evidence of effectiveness in preventing and reducing youth violence. These are: (1) parent- and family-based strategies that combine training in parenting skills with other educational and therapy components; (2) home visiting strategies that involve nurse visits to homes of high-risk families to impart information, health care, and other support services; (3) social cognitive strategies, training or curricula that address emotional, social, and cognitive development-activities that are usually conducted in a school setting, but also could be offered in community and family settings; and (4) mentoring that matches a child or adolescent with an adult mentor who provides guidance and serves as a role model. The sourcebook provides concrete, practical information to help schools and community groups implement programs that incorporate these strategies and offer resources for further information.
Lead/Funder: National Center for Injury Prevention and Control (NCIPC)
Expansion of Effective Youth Interpersonal Violence Prevention Programs
Researchers at the Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence at the University of Colorado (CSPV) have generated descriptions of specific programs that met a set of evaluation criteria for effectiveness in preventing youth violence. These programs are termed Blueprints for Violence Prevention. The CSPV also provides technical assistance for communities that are implementing these programs and has developed a list of programs that need minor additional support to meet CSPV criteria. OJJDP and NCIPC are supporting dissemination of information on Blueprints programs and replication and evaluation of a promising school-based prevention program. More information is available at www.colorado.edu/cspv/blueprints/.
Lead/Funder: National Center for Injury Prevention and Control (NCIPC), Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP)
Contact:Guidelines for School Programs to Prevent Unintentional Injuries and Violence
These guidelines will help state and local educational agencies and schools promote safety and teach students the skills needed to prevent future injuries and violence. They will provide guidance for all components of a coordinated school health program for all grades (k-12). Strategies were identified through an extensive search of the literature and were reviewed by an expert panel. The expert panel used a three-stage Delphi process to determine which strategies will be recommended in the guidelines. The guidelines were released in December 2001.
Lead/Funder: Division of Adolescent and School Health (DASH),
National Center for Injury Prevention and Control (NCIPC)
Collaborators: Health Resources and Services Administration
(HRSA), Department of Education (ED), Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency
Prevention (OJJDP), National Institute of Child Health and Human Development
(NICHD), National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH),
National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), National Highway Traffic Safety
Administration (NHTSA), Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), Federal
Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services
Administration (SAMHSA), National Institute of Justice (NIJ), National Highway
Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), Office of National Drug Control Policy
(ONDCP).
Health, Mental Health and Safety in Schools Guidelines
MCHB is funding the development of a compendium of health, mental health and safety guidelines for schools. Non-governmental partners in this effort include the American Academy of Pediatrics, the National Association of School Nurses, and a steering committee of 15 health, education, mental health and safety organizations. The compendium will include policies, guidelines, procedures and standards for schools, districts, school boards and other organizations that address health, mental health and safety issues for students and school staff.
Lead/Funder: Maternal and Child Health Bureau (MCHB)
Collaborators: Division of Adolescent and School Health (DASH);
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA): Center
for Mental Health Services (CMHS); Department of Education (ED): Safe and
Drug Free Schools; Department of Justice (DOJ): Office of Juvenile Justice
and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP); Department of Transportation (DOT):
National Highway Transportation Safety Association (NHTSA); Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA); CDC: Division of Oral Health
NIH Expert Panel on Violence Research
The NIH Office of Behavioral and Social Science Research (OBSSR), the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), and National Institute of Nursing Research (NINR) convened an expert panel in October 1999 to assess NIH research on violence. This expert panel drew on a number of previous conferences, working groups, and reports on this topic to examine the many research recommendations that have already been made, assess progress in critical areas of need, and determine appropriate areas for enhanced NIH research. This effort included a focus on the feasibility of systematic research on the effectiveness of combining individual-level interventions with community-level interventions. Such research addresses violence and a range of negative outcomes by building on successful public health interventions (e.g., smoking reduction and HIV risk reduction) based on a strong foundation in the basic behavioral sciences.
Lead/Funder: National Institutes of Health (NIH)
Contact:Partnerships for Preventing Violence Satellite Telecasts
In collaboration with the Prevention Institute and the Harvard School of Public Health, six national, facilitated, interactive satellite broadcasts are being conducted. These Partnership telecasts provide train-the-trainer education addressing violence prevention at the school and community levels. More than 80 facilitated sites participate and hundreds of other sites receive downlinks from the telecasts. More information is available at www.walcoff.com/prevention/.
Lead/Funder: Department of Education (ED), Maternal and Child
Health Bureau (MCHB)
Collaborators: Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency
Prevention (OJJDP), Indian Health Service (IHS), National Center for Injury
Prevention and Control (NCIPC), Division of Adolescent and School Health
(DASH)
(202) 260-1862
Charlotte_Gillespie@ed.gov
Stephanie Bryn
(301) 443-6091
sbryn@hrsa.gov
www.ed.gov/offices/OESE/SDFS
Prevention Evaluation Research Registry for Youth (PERRY)
PERRY currently includes approximately 10,000 citations related to effective youth violence prevention interventions that could be implemented in schools. The Registry is used as the basis for qualitative and quantitative research syntheses and to conduct specialized literature searches both internally and for constituents. PERRY is still under development and is expected to be available to the public by September 2002.
Lead/Funder: Division of Adolescent and School Health (DASH)
Contact:Prevention of Mental Health Disorders
CMHS is actively involved in projects that will prevent or delay the onset of mental disorders. While research is clear about the fact that people with mental illnesses are no more violent than the general population, it also shows that early identification of people at risk of violence, combined with preventive interventions, promotes healthy mental functioning and decreases violence. Among the CMHS prevention efforts are (1) a consensus report on the conceptual and practical issues in measuring the effectiveness of school-based mental health prevention programs; (2) a study to examine the process of implementing a mental health prevention agenda in New York; (3) a monograph and an audio-taped course for CEU credit on training mental health professionals to deliver preventive services; and (4) distribution of 1,000 copies of Depression: On the Edge, a video designed to be used by schools and communities for early detection and prevention of youth suicide.
Lead/Funder: Center for Mental Health Services (CMHS)
Contact:Proposal to Help Convene Three Policy Forums on Crime Issues for State Policymakers
The National Governors' Association Center for Best Practices (NGA Center) is collaborating with the National Institute of Justice to convene three policy forums for Governor's policy advisors. The policy forums will inform Governor's policy advisors and state policymakers about the latest research on crime prevention and about effective administration of juvenile and criminal justice and corrections institutions. The forums will provide opportunities to examine best practices currently being implemented at both the state and local levels that exemplify current research. Participants will have time to share their experiences and outline the political, policy, administrative, and programmatic strategies they have found to be effective. Following each forum, the NGA Center staff will complete an Issue Brief highlighting the issues, research findings, and best practice examined. The Issue Briefs will be disseminated to relevant state policymakers and posted on the Juvenile Crime page of the NGA Web site.
Lead/Funder: National Institute of Justice (NIJ)
Contact:Resilience Initiative
The theoretical basis for the CMHS School Violence Prevention Programs draws heavily on the CMHS Resilience Initiative, a strength-based approach to promoting healthy development and preventing youth violence. This project includes the following: (1) a Working Paper, Resilience: Status of Research and Research-Based Programs; (2) a Resilience Working Group Meeting of 22 outstanding researchers to begin to put a solid scientific basis under the study of the "resilience" construct; (3) producing a public broadcasting system special to disseminate knowledge regarding resilience; (4) using indigenous models of resilience in violence prevention for Native American children and young people; (5) developing a model of resilience and violence prevention for Asian American and Pacific Islander young people; and (6) publishing a summary volume for policy-makers and the general public of Fostering Resilient Children, Youth, Families, and Communities: Strengths-Based Research and Policy, a book being developed by the American Psychological Association's Task Force on Resilience.
Lead/Funder: Center for Mental Health Services (CMHS)
Collaborators: Center for Substance Abuse Prevention (CSAP)
Role of Group Psychotherapy in Preventing Violence
The American Group Psychotherapy Association is researching and writing a report that (1) identifies, describes, and evaluates the relative effectiveness of group psychotherapy techniques to improve the psychosocial functioning of children and adolescents at risk for disruptive behaviors and violence, and (2) identifies and describes model school- and community-based interventions that incorporate group psychotherapy principles into a comprehensive approach to stress and violence reduction.
Lead/Funder: Center for Mental Health Services (CMHS)
Contact:School Violence Prevention: Communications Campaign
CMHS has carried out a variety of activities as part of a communications campaign: The Gallup Organization and Porter Novelli were awarded a communications contract; the American Psychological Association developed the Reason to Hope initiative which includes white papers and violence prevention materials; and a satellite telecommunications program on stress reduction for teachers was conducted in collaboration with the National Education Association.
Lead/Funder: Center for Mental Health Services (CMHS)
Contact:Taking Stock of Risk Factors for Child/Youth Externalizing Behavior Problems
A proliferation of research on child and adolescent conduct problems has occurred over the last 15 years. This resulted in an extensive array of risk factors, processes, and targets for intervention. In order to fully capitalize on this extensive research base and contribute effectively to public mental health, it is vital for the field to take stock of what is known about child and youth conduct problems and to clearly articulate ways for advancing research and interventions. In 1998, NIMH began a process of Taking Stock of Risk Factors for Child/Youth Externalizing Behavior Problems. Externalizing behavior problems refers to a range of rule-breaking behaviors including aggression, defiance, lying, stealing, truancy, delinquency, and criminal acts. The Taking Stock process involves three key objectives: (1) to identify and describe what is known about risk factors and processes that contribute to externalizing behavior problems; (2) to identify gaps in our knowledge about risk factors and processes; and (3) to describe the kinds of research and research methodologies needed to advance the field.
Lead/Funder: National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
Contact:Violence against Gay, Lesbian, and Bisexual Youth
A recent report suggested that the unusually high rate of suicide among gay, lesbian, and bisexual young people is related to the persistent harassment they experience, especially from peers. Violence based on sexual orientation is now widely recognized as a serious problem in the United States. Recent studies suggest that hate crime survivors manifest higher levels of depression, anxiety, anger and symptoms of posttraumatic stress. The goal of this procurement is to develop a "white paper" summarizing existing research on violence against gay, lesbian, and bisexual young people and the impact of such violence on victims and their families.
Lead/Funder: Center for Mental Health Services (CMHS)
Contact: