Development and Evaluation of a Multi-Media Training Program for Elementary School Bullying and Abuse Prevention
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Child victimization and injury continue to be major public health challenges, jeopardizing the healthy development of millions of American children every day. Post-pandemic, elementary schools are reporting significant delays in children’s social and emotional development, as well as higher rates of harmful internal and externalizing behaviors.
The radKIDS® Personal Empowerment and Safety Education Program is a school-based program developed in response to national recommendations on child safety. radKIDS® uses activity-based skill training to help elementary aged children develop personal safety boundaries, critical thinking skills for responding to threats of danger, age-appropriate coping strategies for dealing with current and past victimization, self-assertiveness and physical skills for self-defense, communication skills for reporting incidences to parents/adults, and increasing child self-worth—the program’s cornerstone for personal safety and healthy development for elementary students.
Investigators are adapting the program into a blended online/in-person instructor training and instructional delivery system that can be used for broad-scale dissemination among low income, rural and minority serving elementary schools. If the modified program is effective and practical for use in schools, wide-spread implementation could have a large impact on public health by decreasing incidents and risks of victimization and reducing child trauma due to preventable violence, abuse, and injury.
This grant is a subaward with Saavsus, Inc. from National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD).