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                            Funding & Awards
 Evaluation of the Effectiveness and Sustainability of the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program in Increasing School Safety for Urban Low-Income Middle Schools
Award Information
Awardee
              Virginia Commonwealth University
Award #
              2014-CK-BX-0009
Funding Category
              Competitive
Location
                    Richmond, VA
Congressional District
              4
Status
              Closed
Funding First Awarded
              2014
Total funding (to date)
              $2,660,933
Original Solicitation
              NIJ FY 14 Investigator-Initiated Research: The Comprehensive School Safety Initiative
Description of original award (Fiscal Year 2014, $2,660,933)
The Olweus Bullying Prevention Program (OBPP) is a comprehensive school-based program designed to prevent youth violence and bullying by improving school climate. Although OBPP is being implemented in hundreds of schools across the U.S., few studies have evaluated its impact on schools in the U.S., particularly schools in urban areas that serve high percentages of minority adolescents from disadvantaged communities. 

This project builds on an evaluation of OBPP being completed within a CDC-funded Academic Center of Excellence in Youth Violence Prevention (VCU-ACE Project). The VCU-ACE Project is using a multiple baseline experimental design that randomized the order and timing of the implementation of OBPP in three urban schools over a five-year period. This project is being conducted in partnership with an urban school district in Richmond, Virginia. Participants are adolescents 10-16 years old (83% African American; 47% male) at three public middle schools serving low-income urban communities. 

This proposed four-year project would increase the knowledge gained from the VCU-ACE Project by supporting continuation of OBPP in two of the VCU-ACE Project schools, implementing OBPP in the third school, and collection of three additional years of data (four waves of data each year) on proximal and distal outcomes for OBPP based on student reports, teacher ratings, and school and juvenile justice records (total projected sample of 2,545). Extending this design will provide a clearer picture of the relation between implementation of OBPP and changes in outcomes over time in the two schools where OBPP is currently being implemented, and will allow us to examine changes in outcomes that occur after implementing OBPP in the third school. Analyses of these interrupted time-series data will be conducted using multilevel modeling. 

This project will also include a qualitative study designed to identify barriers and supports to OBPP implementation and capture lessons learned by conducting focus groups with teachers who have been involved in implementing the intervention within the schools. Finally, a cost-benefit analysis for OBPP implementation will be conducted by comparing OBPP implementation costs to potential benefits including decreased disciplinary code violations, absences, juvenile justice involvement, and alternative school placements. Findings will be disseminated through the preparation of manuscripts for submission to scientific journals, presentations at relevant conferences, dissemination to the public, and completion of a final report. Data will be archived for future project replication.  ca/ncf



  
Grant-Funded Publications
        
                      Childhood adversity and co-occurring post-traumatic stress and externalizing symptoms among a predominantly low-income, African American sample of early adolescents
                  Middle School Staff’s Perspectives on the Impact of the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program on Interpersonal Relationships
                  Relations between youths’ community violence exposure and their physical aggression: The protective role of adults
                  Beliefs as Mediators of Relations Between Exposure to Violence and Physical Aggression During Early Adolescence
                  Patterns of Dating and Peer Aggression and Victimization Among Early Adolescents: Relations With Individual, Peer, and School Factors
                  Evaluation of the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program in US Urban Middle Schools Using a Multiple Baseline Experimental Design
                  Longitudinal relations between trauma-related psychological distress and physical aggression among urban early adolescents
                  Peer Factors as Mediators of Relations Between Exposure to Violence and Physical Aggression in Middle School Students in a Low-Income Urban Community
                  Supports and Barriers for the Implementation of the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program in Urban Middle Schools in Low-Income Areas
                  The influence of exposure to violence on adolescents' physical aggression: The protective influence of peers
                  Evaluation of the Effectiveness and Sustainability of the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program in Increasing School Safety for Urban Low-Income Middle School
                  Bidirectional Relations between Witnessing Violence, Victimization, Life Events, and Physical ggression among Adolescents in Urban Schools
                  Differential Longitudinal Outcomes of In-Person and Cyber Victimization in Early Adolescence
                  Exposure to Violence and Nonviolent Life Stressors and Their Relations to Trauma-Related Distress and Problem Behaviors Among Urban Early Adolescents
                  Patterns of Parental Messages Supporting Fighting and Nonviolence Among Urban Middle School Students
                  Beliefs About Fighting and Their Relations to Urban Adolescents' Frequency of Aggression and Victimization: Evaluation of the Beliefs About Fighting Scale
                  Deviant Peer Factors During Early Adolescence: Cause or Consequence of Physical Aggression?
                  Longitudinal Relations Between Trauma-related Psychological Distress and Physical Aggression Among Urban Early Adolescents
                  Assessment of In-Person and Cyber Aggression and Victimization, Substance Use, and Delinquent Behavior During Early Adolescence
                  Victimization, Aggression, and Other Problem Behaviors: Trajectories of Change Within and Across Middle School Grades

  
Date Created: September 30, 2014
    
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