Our Children Can

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Primary and Secondary Prevention Strategies for
School-Based Conflict Management and Violence
Prevention
Carl E. Paternite, Ph.D. Center for School-Based
Mental Health Programs Department of
Psychology Miami University (Ohio) http//www.unit
s.muohio.edu/csbmhp Therese C. Johnston,
Ph.D. Positive Education Program (PEP) Cleveland,
Ohio http//www.pepcleve.org
Presentation at the All Ohio Counselors
Conference, Columbus, OH November 8th, 2002
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Instructional Objectives

• Increase awareness of interpersonal conflict
  violence as
• barriers to student learning.
• Increase awareness of the importance of
  school-based efforts to
• implement conflict management violence
  prevention programs.
• Increase awareness of evidence-based primary
  secondary
• prevention programs.
• Highlight cross-discipline collaboration to
  address emotional
• behavioral barriers to student learning.

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Mental Health Needs of Youth and Available
Services

• By conservative estimation approximately 20 of
  children and adolescents need mental health
  intervention.
• Less than one-third of these youth actually
  receive any service, and, of those who do, less
  than half receive adequate treatment.
• For the small percentage of youth who do receive
  service, most actually receive it within a school
  setting.
• These realities raise questions about the mental
  health fields over-reliance on clinic-based
  treatment, and have reinforced the importance of
  alternative models for mental health service
  especially expanded school-based programs.

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Expanded School-Based Mental Health Programs

• National movement to place effective mental
  health programs in schools.
• To promote the academic, behavioral, social,
  emotional, and contextual/systems well-being of
  youth, and to reduce mental health barriers to
  school success.
• Programs incorporate primary prevention and
  mental health promotion, secondary prevention,
  and intensive intervention.
• Intent is to contribute to building capacity for
  a comprehensive, multifaceted, and integrated
  system of support and care.

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The Ohio Mental Health Network for School
Success (http//www.units.muohio.edu/csbmhp/netwo
rk.html)

• Mission
• To help Ohios school districts, community-based
  agencies, and families work together to achieve
  improved educational and developmental outcomes
  for all children especially those at emotional
  or behavioral risk and those with mental health
  problems, including pupils participating in
  alternative education programs.

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The Ohio Mental Health Network for School Success

• Action Agenda
• Create awareness about the gap between childrens
  mental health needs and treatment resources,
  and encourage improved and expanded services.
• Encourage mental health agencies and school
  districts to adopt mission statements that
  address the importance of partnerships.
• Conduct surveys of mental health agencies and
  school districts to better define the mental
  health needs of children and to gather
  information about promising practices.

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The Ohio Mental Health Network for School Success

• Action Agenda (continued)
• Provide technical assistance to mental health
  agencies and school districts, to support
  adoption of evidence-based and promising
  practices, including improvement and expansion of
  school-based mental health services.
• Develop a guide for education and mental health
  professionals and families, for the development
  of productive partnerships.
• Assist in identification of sources of financial
  support for school-based mental health
  initiatives.
• Assist university-based professional preparation
  programs in psychology, social work, public
  health, and education, in developing
  inter-professional strategies and practices for
  addressing the mental health needs of school-age
  children.

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Potential of Schools as Key Points of Engagement

• Opportunities to engage youth where they are.
• Unique opportunities for intensive, multifaceted
  approaches and are essential contexts for
  prevention and research activity.

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Interconnected Systems for Meeting the Needs of
All Students CONTINUUM OF SCHOOL AND COMMUNITY
PROGRAMS AND SERVICES (From Adelman Taylor,
http//smhp.psych.ucla.edu)
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Educators as Key Members of the Mental Health
Team

• Schools should not be held responsible for
  meeting every need of every student.
• However, schools must meet the challenge when the
  need directly affects learning and school
  success. (Carnegie Council Task Force on
  Education of Young Adolescents, 1989)
• There is clear and compelling evidence that there
  are strong positive associations between mental
  health and school success.

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Educators as Key Members of the Mental Health Team

• Children whose emotional, behavioral, or social
  difficulties are not addressed have a diminished
  capacity to learn and benefit from the school
  environment. In addition, children who develop
  disruptive behavior patterns can have a negative
  influence on the social and academic environment
  for other children. (Rones Hoagwood, 2000,
  p.236)
• Contemporary school reformand the associated
  high-stakes testing (including recently signed
  federal legislation)has not incorporated the
  Carnegie Council imperative. That is, recent
  reform has not adequately incorporated a focus on
  addressing barriers to development, learning, and
  teaching.

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Some of What We Know About Youth ViolenceFrom
the Surgeon General (2001), U.S. Secret Service
(2000),CDC (2002), Mulvey Cauffman (2001)

• Violence is a serious public health problem.
• Violence is most often expressive/interpersonal,
  rather than primarily instrumental or
  psychopathological.
• About 30 to 40 percent of male and 15 to 30
  percent of female youth report having committed a
  serious violent offense by age 17.
• About 10 to15 percent of high school seniors
  report that they have committed an assault with
  injury in the past year a rate that has been
  rising since 1980.
• By self-report, about 30 percent of high school
  seniors have committed a violent act in the past
  year hit instructor or supervisor serious
  fight at school or work in group fight assault
  with injury used weapon (knife/gun/club) to get
  something from a person.
• Violent acts are committed much more frequently
  by male than by female youth. (see Miedzian, 1991)

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Some of What We Know About Youth Violence
(continued)

• 43 of male and 24 of female high school
  students report that they had been in a physical
  fight during the past school year. (CDC, 2002)
• No differences are evident by race for
  self-report of violent behavior.
• At school, highest victimization rates are among
  male students.
• Violent behavior seldom results from a single
  cause.
• School continues to be one of the safest places
  for our nations children.
• Serious acts of violence (e.g., shootings) at
  school are very rare.
• Targeted violence at school is not a new
  phenomenon.
• Most school shooters had a history of gun use and
  had access to them.
• In over 2/3 of school shooting cases, having been
  bullied played a role in the attack.

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For every complex problem there is a
simple solution that is wrong.
H.L.
Mencken
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Model Influences on Violent versus Non-Violent
Behavior (From Shapiro, 1999,Applewood Centers,
Inc., Cleveland, OH)
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Prioritizing Promotion of Healthy Development and
Violence Prevention

• School-based models should capitalize on schools
  unique opportunities to provide health-promoting
  activities.
• Recommended strategies for violence prevention,
  including those for which the central role of
  educators is evident, can be promoted actively
  within an expanded school-based mental health
  program.

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Some of What We Know AboutYouth Violence
PreventionFrom the Surgeon General (2001), U.S.
Secret Service (2000),CDC (2002), Mulvey
Cauffman (2001)

• Promoting healthy relationships and environments
  is more effective for reducing school violence
  than instituting punitive penalties.
• The best predictor of adolescent well-being is a
  feeling of connection to school. Students who
  feel close to others, fairly treated, and vested
  in school are less likely to engage in risky
  behaviors.
• A critical component of any effective school
  violence program is a school environment in which
  ongoing activities and problems of students are
  discussed, rather than tallied. Such an
  environment promotes ongoing risk management,
  which depends on the support and involvement of
  those closest to the indicators of trouble
  peers and teachers.

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Violence PreventionWhat Doesnt WorkFrom the
Surgeon General (2001) and others

• Scare tactics. (e.g., Scared Straight)
• Deterrence programs shock incarceration, boot
  camps.
• Efforts focusing exclusively on providing
  education/information about drugs/violence and
  resistance. (DARE)
• Efforts focusing solely on self-esteem
  enhancement.
• Vocational counseling.
• Residential treatment.
• Traditional casework and clinic-based counseling.

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Promoting Nonviolence An Example of a
Heuristic School-Based Framework

• Deutsch (1993) Educating for a peaceful world
• Four Key Components Including
• Cooperative Learning.
• Conflict Resolution Training.
• Use of Constructive Controversy in Teaching
  Subject
• Matters.
• Mediation in the Schools.

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Prioritizing Promotion of Healthy Development and
Violence PreventionBest and Promising Practices

• Including
• Structured social skill development programs.
• Mentoring. (see Big Brothers/Sisters Garbarino,
  1999)
• Employment.
• Programs that foster school engagement,
  participation, and bonding.
• Promotion of developmental assets. (see Search
  Institute)
• A variety of approaches that engage parents and
  families. (e.g., parent
• training, MST, functional FT)
• Early childhood home visitation programs.
• Multi-faceted programs that combine several of
  the above.
• For good examples see Blueprint Programs.

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Developmental Assets and Violence(1997 data,
www.search-institute.org)

• Approximately 100,000 6th-12th graders.
• Definition of violencethree or more acts of
  fighting, hitting, injuring a person, carrying a
  weapon, or threatening physical harm in the past
  12 months.
• 61 of youth with fewer than 11 of 40
  developmental assets were violent.
• 6 of youth with 31 or more of 40 developmental
  assets were violent.

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Discipline Defined

• The steps or actions, teachers, administrators,
  parents, and students follow to enhance student
  academic and social behavior success.
• Effective discipline is described as teaching
  students self-control.

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Reactive Vs. Proactive

• Traditional approaches. (including aversive
  interventions)
• Address problem behaviors reactively
• Crisis driven
• PBS emphasizes proactive interventions.

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Positive Behavior Support

• PBS is the application of behavior analysis to
  achieve socially important behavior change.

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Terminology

• Positive Behavior.
• Includes all skills that increase success in
  home, school and community settings.
• Supports.
• Methods to teach, strengthen, and expand positive
  behaviors.
• System change.

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Systems Change

• DEFINING FEATURE OF PBS
• Efforts focused on fixing problem contexts, not
  problem behavior.
• Successful outcomes can not depend solely on
  identifying ONE key critical intervention to
  fix the problem.

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PBS Interventions

• Context driven.
• Addressing the functionality of the behavior
  problem.
• Acceptable to the individual, family and
  community.

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PBS is a Problem-Solving Process

• Decisions are based upon functional behavioral
  assessment. (FBA)
• FBA directs intervention design.
• FBA establishes instructional targets for
  alternative skills
• FBA designates supports and context revisions
  required for maintenance of positive changes

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Goals

1. Improved quality of life for all relevant
   stakeholders. (the individual, family members,
   teachers, friends, employers, etc.)
2. Problem behaviors become irrelevant, inefficient,
   and ineffective and are replaced by efficient and
   effective alternatives.

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Components of School-Wide Systems

• Common philosophy.
• Positively stated rules. (3 or 4)
• Behavior expectations defined by context.
• Teaching behavior expectations in context.
• Reinforcement of expectations.
• Discouragement of violations.
• Monitor and evaluate effects.

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Promoting Nonviolence An Example of a Promising
Violence Prevention Program

• Positive Adolescent Choices Training (PACT)
• Developed by
• Betty R. Yung W. Rodney Hammond
• Components
• I. Violence-Risk Education
• II. Anger Management
• III. Social Skills

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PACT Components I and II

• Violence Risk Education
• Increase awareness of circumstances, risk
  factors, and consequences of violence.
• Anger Management
• Understand and normalize feelings of anger,
  recognize anger triggers, and manage anger
  constructively.

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PACT Components III Social Skills

• Givin It
• Expressing criticism, disappointment, anger, or
  displeasure calmly and ventilating strong
• emotions constructively.
• Takin It
• Listening, understanding, and reacting
  appropriately to others criticism and anger.
• Workin IT Out
• Listening, identifying problems and potential
• solutions, proposing alternatives when
• disagreements persist, and learning to
• compromise.

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References Carnegie Council on Adolescent
Developments Task Force on Education of Young
Adolescents (1989). Turning points Preparing
American youth for the 21st century. Washington,
DC Author. Center for Disease Control and
Prevention. Surveillance summaries, June 28,
2002. MMWR 200251 (No. SS-4). (www.cdc.gov/yrbss)
Center for the Study and Prevention of
Violence, Institute of Behavioral Science.
(1999). Blueprints for violence prevention.
University of Colorado at Boulder
Author. Deutsch, M. (1993). Educating for a
peaceful world. American Psychologist, 48,
510-517. Garbarino, J. (1999). Lost boys Why
our sons turn violent and how we can save them.
New York Anchor Books. Miedzian, M. (1991).
Boys will be boys Breaking the link between
masculinity and violence. New York Anchor
Books. Mulvey, E.P. Cauffman, E. (2001). The
inherent limits of predicting school violence.
American Psychologist, 56, 797-802. O'Neil, R.
E., Horner, R. H., Albin, R. W., Storey, K.,
Sprague, J. R., Newton, J. S. (1997).
Functional assessment and program development for
problem behavior A practical handbook. Pacific
Grove, CA Brooks/Cole. PBS Website
www.pbis.org Rones, M. Hoagwood, K. (2000).
School-based mental health services A research
review. Clinical Child and Family Psychology
Review, 3, 223-241.
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References (contd) Search Institute
www.search-institute.org Shapiro, J. The
Peacemakers Program Effective violence
prevention for students in grades four through
eight. Presented as part of a pre-conference
session on innovative school-based approaches to
address violence in youth, at the 4th National
Conference on Advancing School-Based Mental
Health Programs, Denver, September 16-18, 1999.
(contact through Applewood Centers, Inc.,
Cleveland, OH). Special Section on Urban Issues-
Part 1 (2002). Journal of Positive Behavior
Interventions, 4(4), 195-218. Special Series on
Positive Behavior Support in Schools (2002).
Journal of Emotional and Behavioral
Disorders,10(3). Sugai, G., Lewis-Palmer, T.,
Hagan, S. (1998). Using functional assessments to
develop behavior support plans. Preventing School
Failure, 43(1), 6-13. UCLA Center for Mental
Health in Schools http//smhp.psych.ucla.edu Uni
versity of Maryland at Baltimore Center for
School Mental Health Assistance
http//csmha.umaryland.edu U. S. Department of
Health and Human Services. (2001). Youth
violence A report of the Surgeon General.
Washington, D. C. Author. Vossekuil, B. et al.
(2000). U. S. Secret Service safe school
initiative An interim report on the prevention
of targeted violence in schools. Washington, D.
C. U. S. Secret Service. Yung, B. Hammond, W.
R. (1995). PACT Positive Adolescent Choices
Training A model for violence prevention groups
with African American youth. Program guide.
Champaign, IL Research Press.Center for Disease
Control and Prevention. Surveillance summaries,
June 28, 2002. MMWR 200251 (No. SS-4).
(www.cdc.gov/yrbss)