The Expect Respect Project. Creating a positive elementary school climate.
The Expect Respect Project, a violence prevention program, was developed to reduce the incidence of bullying and sexual harassment by creating a positive school climate in which inappropriate behaviors are not tolerated and staff members respond consistently to incidents. The project implemented an educational intervention for students, parents, and staff members on expecting respect in student relationships and strategies for responding to inappropriate student behaviors. This article describes the educational intervention and evaluation of the project. Findings from the project showed a significant increase in awareness of bullying following the educational intervention. Bullying was reported to have occurred in areas with less adult supervision such as the playground, cafeteria, hallway, and buses. Students thought staff would respond to inappropriate behaviors by telling students to ignore verbal bullying or sexual harassment. In contrast, staff at the elementary schools thought adults would respond to inappropriate behaviors by telling the bully to stop, calling his or her parents, or giving a specific punishment.
School of Nursing, University of Texas at Austin, USA.
Martha G
MG
Meraviglia
Heather
H
Becker
Barri
B
Rosenbluth
Ellen
E
Sanchez
Trina
T
Robertson
D000328:Adult; D000374:Aggression / Q000523:psychology*; D002648:Child; D002653:Child Behavior Disorders / Q000517:prevention & control; D005260:Female; D006266:Health Education / Q000379:methods*; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D010379:Peer Group; D015397:Program Evaluation; D012574:Schools / Q000458:organization & administration*; D012931:Social Environment; D012932:Social Facilitation; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology*; D014481:United States