Violence Prevention for Middle School Boys
Condition: Intimate Partner Violence
Study type: Interventional

Summary: 
      This study will develop and test a web-based intervention to enhance emotion regulation
      skills and parent-son relationship communication to decrease adolescent boys' risk for dating
      violence involvement as well as attitudes supporting relationship aggression.
    

Detailed description: 
      Over the past ten years dating violence (DV) has been recognized as a significant public
      health problem affecting adolescents. Emerging data suggest that boys and girls have
      different developmental trajectories toward violence and therefore prevention programs that
      target their unique pathways to DV are needed. Despite this need, there is a relative dearth
      of such gender-informed programs for early adolescent boys. This research project aims to
      prevent the emergence of DV perpetration/ victimization among boys by developing a web-based
      intervention that is informed by research on gender-specific pathways to violence and
      harnesses the influence of parents during the early adolescent years.

      Among boys, the perpetration of delinquency-related violence and attitudes supporting
      violence has been found to predict later perpetration of DV. Thus, gender-informed
      interventions designed to prevent DV in boys need to target skills that underlie violent
      behavior and attitudes. The goal of this study is to develop and test a web-based
      intervention to enhance emotion regulation skills and parent-son relationship communication
      to prevent DV.

      Development and testing will occur in three phases. In the Development Phase, the
      intervention modules will be developed and iteratively reviewed by both a panel of experts
      familiar with the research in the field as well as an advisory group of parents and teens
      from the target population. In the Acceptability Testing Phase, testing will be conducted to
      assess acceptability and feasibility, and this will be followed by revisions to the
      intervention program based on feedback and observations. During the Randomized Controlled
      Trial (RCT) Phase, 120 families will complete the intervention program in an observed
      setting, to ensure fidelity to intervention dosing. Parents and adolescents will complete the
      program together and then complete assessments of aggressive and risk behaviors, parent-child
      communication, and emotion regulation at baseline, 3-,and 9-month follow-ups.
    

Intervention name(s): Project STRONG
Intervention type(s): Behavioral
Intervention description(s): The web-based program consists of a number of games, activities, and didactic information that teens move through with their parent. Didactic information introduces teens and parents to specific emotion management, communication, and problem solving strategies as well as sexual health and healthy relationship information. Games and activities allow parents and teens to practice and apply strategies to developmentally appropriate situations.
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention model: Parallel Assignment
Masking: None (Open Label)
Primary purpose: Prevention
Keywords: Dating violence prevention; Adolescent boys; Middle school; Web-based prevention