PeaceBuilders
Effectiveness

No Effect

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No Effect

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Life periods served
Where the program was applied
Country of application
Description

This is a violence prevention program implemented in elementary schools with universal coverage, i.e., it benefits the entire population of the schools served. The aim is to change the school’s social climate by teaching students and school workers simple rules of conduct and activities specifically designed to improve children’s social competence and reduce aggressive behavior.
The program is not implemented in a structured set of sessions, as is often the case with other interventions, but is based on the day-to-day activities of the school in order to apply a set of techniques to reduce aggression and promote respect and prosocial behavior on an ongoing basis. These techniques include praising prosocial behavior, avoiding humiliation, validating and seeking out friends and advisors, raising awareness, and immediately correcting behaviors that cause discomfort or harm to others.

Impact evaluations

An impact evaluation showed that the program did not produce statistically significant effects in terms of reducing child aggressive behavior and improving prosocial behavior [1].
The study had a randomized controlled experimental design with a sample of 4,128 students from eight elementary schools in Pima County, Arizona [1].

Bibliographic reference

[1] Flannery, D. J., Vazsonyi, A. T., Liau, A. K., Guo, S., Powell, K. E., Atha, H., Vesterdal, W. & Embry, D. (2003). Initial behavior outcomes for the PeaceBuilders universal school-based violence prevention program. Developmental Psychology, 39(2), 292–308. https://doi.org/10.1037/0012-1649.39.2.292

Information source