Project PaSS
What is the project PaSS?
Within the project PaSS (Prevention at Schools: A Study on individual perceptions of aggression prevention) our primary topic is prevention at schools and we analyze how prevention programs for children of primary school age are perceived. In recent years, an increase in using prevention programs in primary schools has been detected. This might be a consequence of reports by educators, teachers and parents, who perceived an increase in aggressive acts and hyperactive behaviors of children in kindergartens and schools. For this reason one of the goals of modern education plans is the reduction or prevention of these behavioral problems and the development of social skills. For example, the federal state Hessen has defined in its educational standards that it is one of the main tasks of the school to teach multidisciplinary competencies. These competencies include, for example, thoughtfulness and solidarity, working together, cooperation and the ability to work in a team as well as conflict resolution skills. To achieve these educational goals, various programs were integrated into the education curriculum in kindergartens and schools in recent years. For example, these are programs like "Faustlos", "Klasse2000" or "Papilio" to mention just a few. Since the quality of measures to promote social competencies can vary, it is important to consider different characteristics when selecting certain program. Important characteristics that should be taken into account are: the effectiveness in improving social competencies, the subjectively experienced usefulness, the time that is required to complete the program, the everyday relevance or also the costs. As part of PaSS we are interested in the individual experience of prevention programs from the perspective of primary school children and their teachers and parents. We analyse how children perceive prevention programs and how they evaluate them, in order to get insights for improving prevention.
Objectives and topics of the project PaSS
In our study we want to find out how children, their parents and teachers perceive the goals of prevention programs, what they consider to be important and whether they assess the methods of the program as acceptable. Furthermore, we are interested in the individual evaluation of the benefits from prevention programs in the everyday life and for the child development. We are also interested in the question whether there are differences between children with varying degrees in experiencing benefits in terms of social skills learned in prevention programs. Therefore the long-term goal is the age-based optimization of existing prevention programs under a wide involvement of the view of all participants.
Background on social validity
In the late 1970s, researchers have systematically begun to use a combination of objective measures and subjective evaluations in the evaluation of preventive and interventive efforts. With regard to the effectiveness of a prevention program, it was considered as critical if the participants and users of a program do not value it as useful or simply don’t like it. The relevance of the program content to the daily life of the participating primary school children will therefore have a special role. Also, a program that has particularly good preconditions for success, won’t take effect if it is not appreciated by the participants and users. So it can be assumed that good prevention programs support behavioral changes effectively and can build social competences while also having a high degree of social acceptance.
The term in this field of research is social validity. According to this understanding a program is then socially valid, if its goals are perceived as important, the methods and the kind of implementation are evaluated as socially adequate and the effects are individually assessed as important.
Research design and methods
Up to now we could successfully realize a study in a longitudinal design with three measurement points over a period of 1.5 years with a group of about 120 primary school children in a test group-/control group-design. In this study, different methods were used. For example, questionnaires with children, teachers and parents allowed us to consider the social competencies. In addition, interviews with the participating children and their teachers were used to gain a more comprehensive picture of assessments and judgments to the social validity of Faustlos. A high priority in our research was put on parental reports of their children's behavior and experiences with the prevention program “Faustlos”.
Milestones in the current year
Planning of the second phase of the project PaSS and public relations / cooperation
Due to the current research design no data on the effectiveness of Faustlos could be gained. Currently, the project PaSS is planning another longitudinal study with elementary school children; in its context the effectiveness of prevention services should be linked with the subjective assessments of the social validity.
Therefore we have already established contact with interested primary schools in Hessen that support a scientific monitoring of prevention services. To strengthen the results, a desirable goal in this second runtime is also the cooperation with interested scientists working on similar problems.
Scientific coordinator
Prof. Dr. Michael Fingerle, Dipl.-Psych.
Dr. Mandy Grumm, Dipl.-Psych.
