Abstract

Peer bullying occurs frequently among middle school youth, negatively impacting students and the broader school climate. However, during these years there is a gap in translating empirically supported prevention science into school-based practices. This paper describes how the evidence-based Free2B bullying prevention multimedia assembly was disseminated by a team of educators, researchers, and technologists to over 14,000 students in 40 middle schools across the state. This dissemination and scaling effort was conducted in partnership with the state’s government officials and Office of Safe Schools in order to ensure that each school and district across the state had equal access in applying for the programming. Over half of participating students expressed concerns about school bullying, with 36% reporting victimization and 17% reporting perpetration of bullying in the past month. Significant improvements were found in problem-solving knowledge, confidence in being a positive bystander, and sympathy for peer victims. We discuss gender and community setting differences (urban, suburban, rural) in the findings, implications for dissemination and implementation science, and school psychologists’ role in disseminating bullying prevention practices.

Impact Statement

Bullying in schools is a crucial impediment for children learning and achieving their full potential. Although effective evidence-based bullying prevention programming exist, when these same programs are disseminated and scaled, they often are less successful. The current study illustrates how researchers utilized principles of the Diffusion of Innovation theory to partner with state influencers to successfully disseminate and scale the Free2B program with strong results to over 14,000 students from 40 schools across the state.

摘要

同伴欺凌经常发生在中学生中，对学生和更广泛的学校氛围产生负面影响。然而，这些年来，在将经验支持的预防科学转化为学校实践方面存在差距。本文描述了一个由教育工作者、研究人员和技术人员组成的团队如何将基于证据的 Free2B 欺凌预防多媒体程序集传播给全州 40 所中学的 14,000 多名学生。这种传播和扩展工作是与州政府官员和安全学校办公室合作进行的，以确保全州的每个学校和学区都可以平等地申请该计划。超过一半的参与学生表达了对校园欺凌的担忧，在过去的一个月里，有 36% 的人报告受害，17% 的人报告了欺凌行为。在解决问题的知识、对成为积极旁观者的信心以及对同龄受害者的同情方面发现了显着改善。我们讨论了调查结果中的性别和社区环境差异（城市、郊区、农村）、对传播和实施科学的影响，以及学校心理学家在传播欺凌预防实践中的作用。

影响陈述

校园欺凌是儿童学习和充分发挥潜力的关键障碍。尽管存在有效的基于证据的欺凌预防计划，但当这些相同的计划被传播和扩展时，它们通常不太成功。目前的研究说明了研究人员如何利用创新扩散理论的原则与州影响者合作，成功地向全州 40 所学校的 14,000 多名学生传播和扩展 Free2B 计划，并取得了显著成果。