RHP&EO is the electronic journal of the International Union for Health Promotion and Education

Students For Peace- A Multi-Component Violence Prevention Program For Youth In Houston Texas, USA: Overview And Lessons Learned In The Field

Steven H. Kelder Ph.D., MPH

University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, School of Ptiblic Health, Center for Health Promotion Research and Development, PO Box 20186, Houston, TX 77225. Phone: 713-792-8540; FAX 713-794-1756, e-mail: Kelder@utsph.sph.uth.tmc.edu

Introduction: Students for Peace is a 3-year project (October 1993 - September 1996) designed to evaluate a comprehensive, school-based intervention that seeks to prevent violence among 6th, 7th, and 8th -grade students in a large urban school district in Texas. This study examines the hypothesis that students exposed to a two-year multiple component intervention will reduce aggressive behaviour compared to students who receive the districts "usual care" of violence prevention activities.

Theory: Students for Peace is based largely on Social Learning Theory which addresses both the psychosocial dynamics underlying health behaviour and the methods of promoting behaviour change, while emphasizing cognitive processes and their effect on behaviour. Human behaviour is explained by SLT in terms of a model in which three factors, behaviour, social-environmental influences, and personal factors (such as personality, perceptions and expectations, and affect), all interact. Theoretically, an individual's behaviour is uniquely determined by a combination of these factors, thus these factors become the elements for intervention strategies.

Intervention: The intervention program includes four main components: a) modification of the school environment, b) a violence-prevention curriculum, c) peer leadership, and d) parent education.

Evaluation methods: Students for Peace is using a nested cross-sectional and cohort design in which school is the unit of design, allocation, and analysis. Eight schools, four intervention and four control, are participating. In May 1994, a questionnaire was administered to all students present in school the day of the survey. A post-test evaluation was taken in the spring of 1995 and will be followed by a final post-test in the spring of 1996.

Baseline data: A total of 8865 students responded to the baseline survey. Students are largely Hispanic (65%) or African American (19%). Violence related variables indicated: 30-day fighting prevalence, 23%; 12-month prevalence of injuries due to fighting, 14%; 30-day handgun carrying prevalence, 11%; and 30-day prevalence of taunts and threats at school, 27%, and threats going to and from school, 26%.

Conclusion: Overall the data from Year One activities indicate a population in need of violence-prevention intervention. The challenge is to mold existing district resources into a theoretically sound program of interventions. If found effective, the district will already have the necessary documentation, personnel and skills for broader dissemination.

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