title: Modeling the bullying prevention program preferences of educators: a discrete choice conjoint experiment.
abstract: We used discrete choice conjoint analysis to model the bullying prevention program preferences of educators. Using themes from computerized decision support lab focus groups (n = 45 educators), we composed 20 three-level bullying prevention program design attributes. Each of 1,176 educators completed 25 choice tasks presenting experimentally varied combinations of the study's attribute levels. Latent class analysis yielded three segments with different preferences. Decision Sensitive educators (31%) preferred that individual schools select bullying prevention programs. In contrast, Support Sensitive educators (51%) preferred that local school boards chose bullying prevention programs. This segment preferred more logistical and social support at every stage of the adoption, training, implementation, and long term maintenance processes. Cost Sensitive educators (16%) showed a stronger preference for programs minimizing costs, training, and implementation time demands. They felt prevention programs were less effective and that the time and space in the curriculum for bullying prevention was less adequate. They were less likely to believe that bullying prevention was their responsibility and more likely to agree that prevention was the responsibility of parents. All segments preferred programs supported by the anecdotal reports of colleagues from other schools rather than those based on scientific evidence. To ensure that the bullying prevention options available reflect the complex combination of attributes influencing real world adoption decisions, program developers need to accommodate the differing views of the Decision, Support, and Cost Sensitive segments while maximizing the support of parents and students.
authors.affiliation: Offord Centre for Child Studies, McMaster Children's Hospital, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada. cunnic@hhsc.ca
authors.forename: Charles E
authors.initials: CE
authors.lastname: Cunningham
authors.forename: Tracy
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Vaillancourt
authors.forename: Heather
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Rimas
authors.forename: Ken
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Deal
authors.forename: Lesley
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Cunningham
authors.forename: Kathy
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Short
authors.forename: Yvonne
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Chen
mesh_terms: D000374:Aggression / Q000523:psychology*; D001290:Attitude; D001499:Bayes Theorem; D002648:Child; D003365:Costs and Cost Analysis; D005178:Faculty; D006801:Humans; D017146:Models, Organizational; D009010:Monte Carlo Method; D016730:Program Development; D012574:Schools / Q000191:economics / Q000458:organization & administration*