Clinical trial NCT02331238: Trial of a Middle School Coach Gender Violence Prevention Program
Official title: Cluster-Randomized Trial of a Middle School Coach Gender Violence Prevention Program
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: COMPLETED
Phase: NA
Conditions: Violence
Abuse
Lead sponsor: University of Pittsburgh
Sponsor class: OTHER
Collaborators: name: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
First posted: 2015-01-06
Enrollment: 973
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 11
Standard ages: CHILD
ADULT
OLDER_ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: no
Allocation: RANDOMIZED
Intervention model: PARALLEL
Primary purpose: PREVENTION

Brief summary: This cluster-randomized school-based study will examine the effectiveness of a program for the primary prevention of perpetration of teen dating violence and sexual violence among middle school male athletes. Engaging men and boys in preventing violence against women and girls is recognized by major global health organizations as a critical public health strategy. "Coaching Boys into Men" is a theory- and evidence based program intended to alter gender norms that foster teen dating violence/sexual violence perpetration, promote bystander intervention, and reduce teen dating violence/sexual violence perpetration. Coaches receive a 60-minute training and biweekly check-in from a violence prevention advocate to administer the intervention to their athletes via 12 mini-lessons conducted weekly throughout a sport season. In a randomized trial of program effectiveness among high school athletes (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention CE001561-01, PI Miller), male athletes receiving the program demonstrated increased positive bystander intervention behaviors and less verbal abuse perpetration compared to controls. This project seeks to test the effectiveness of this program with younger male athletes in grades 6-8.The innovations are three-fold: (1) testing the efficacy of a novel teen dating violence/sexual violence prevention program for middle school male athletes; (2) training athletic coaches in Teen Dating Violence/Sexual Violence prevention thus implementing primary prevention that does not rely on teachers or classroom time; and (3) integrating the goal of changing gender norms with the technique of a bystander intervention approach to reduce teen dating violence/sexual violence prevention. The experimental design involves a 2-armed cluster randomized- controlled trial in 41 middle schools (38 clusters) in Pennsylvania. Schools will be randomly assigned to either intervention or control (standard coaching) condition. Coaches in intervention schools will receive Coaching Boys into Men training. Baseline surveys will be collected for all intervention and control site athletes entering grades 6-8 at the start of each sports seasons across Year 1 (Time 1; N= 973 athletes). Follow up surveys will be collected at the end of each sports season (Time 2). All participating athletes will be re-surveyed 12 months after baseline (Time 3).


Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

School eligibility:

Urban and suburban middle schools in the Pittsburgh, PA region with athletics program

Athlete eligibility:

Ages 11-14 (grades 6-8), student at a participating middle school, participating in an athletic program led by coach participating in the research study

Exclusion Criteria:

School Eligibility:

Middle schools not in the Pittsburgh area

Athlete eligibility:

Outside age range, not participating on a sports team at the middle school in which they are enrolled

Primary outcomes:
measure: Change in Positive Bystander Behavior from Baseline to Follow Up
timeFrame: 3 months and 12 months
Secondary outcomes:
measure: Change in Recognition of Abusive Behavior from Baseline to Follow Up
timeFrame: 3 months and 12 months
measure: Change in Gender Equitable Attitudes Scale from Baseline to Follow Up
timeFrame: 3 months and 12 months
measure: Change in Intentions to Intervene from Baseline to Follow Up
timeFrame: 3 months and 12 months
measure: Change in self-reported recent (past 3 month) perpetration of Teen Dating Violence/Sexual Violence at 12 months
timeFrame: 12 Months
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: Pittsburgh
country: United States
facility: Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center
state: Pennsylvania
Study officials:
affiliation: University of Pittsburgh
name: Elizabeth Miller, MD, PhD
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
References:
citation: Miller E, Tancredi DJ, McCauley HL, Decker MR, Virata MC, Anderson HA, Stetkevich N, Brown EW, Moideen F, Silverman JG. "Coaching boys into men": a cluster-randomized controlled trial of a dating violence prevention program. J Adolesc Health. 2012 Nov;51(5):431-8. doi: 10.1016/j.jadohealth.2012.01.018. Epub 2012 Mar 25.
citation: Miller E, Tancredi DJ, McCauley HL, Decker MR, Virata MCD, Anderson HA, O'Connor B, Silverman JG. One-year follow-up of a coach-delivered dating violence prevention program: a cluster randomized controlled trial. Am J Prev Med. 2013 Jul;45(1):108-112. doi: 10.1016/j.amepre.2013.03.007.
citation: Jones KA, Tancredi DJ, Abebe KZ, Paglisotti T, Miller E. Cases of Sexual Assault Prevented in an Athletic Coach-Delivered Gender Violence Prevention Program. Prev Sci. 2021 May;22(4):504-508. doi: 10.1007/s11121-021-01210-1. Epub 2021 Jan 22.
citation: Miller E, Jones KA, Ripper L, Paglisotti T, Mulbah P, Abebe KZ. An Athletic Coach-Delivered Middle School Gender Violence Prevention Program: A Cluster Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA Pediatr. 2020 Mar 1;174(3):241-249. doi: 10.1001/jamapediatrics.2019.5217.
citation: Abebe KZ, Jones KA, Ciaravino S, Ripper L, Paglisotti T, Morrow SE, Grafals M, Van Dusen C, Miller E. A cluster-randomized trial of a middle school gender violence prevention program: Design, rationale, and sample characteristics. Contemp Clin Trials. 2017 Nov;62:11-20. doi: 10.1016/j.cct.2017.08.007. Epub 2017 Aug 15.