Addressing Gender-Specific Risk Factors to Reduce Aggression in Girls Through the SNAP Program

• In Event: Adapting to Your Audience, A SNAP Story

Abstract

The Centre for Building Resilience through Anti-Violence Education (BRAVE) is a five-year pilot project in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada using the SNAP® program model with girls aged 6-11 and their families. This is the first all-girls SNAP® site in the world focusing on reducing bullying, delinquency, and criminalization among at-risk girls by addressing gender-specific risk factors such as exposure to trauma and violence, and providing gender-responsive programming. Implementing gender-specific, gender-responsive, evidence-based programming positively impacts at-risk girls by acknowledging that girls have different needs, strengths, and risks. By establishing an all-girls SNAP® site, BRAVE created an environment that reflects an understanding of the realities of girls’ lives and addresses their needs through a strength-based and skills-building approach. Applying an extensive and stringent mixed-methods research design for evaluating impacts of the SNAP® program model exclusively for girls and their caregivers has shown impact in areas of increased self-control, self-esteem, and positive relationships with peers and adults among girls, as well as improved self-efficacy for caregivers. This presentation highlights how BRAVE uses a female-specific SNAP® model to provide a safe space for girls and their families, as well as how key characteristics of gender-responsive approaches have positively impacted the girls and their families.

Authors

• Jennifer R. Bernier, Centre for Building Resilience through Anti-Violence Education

• Robin Campbell, Centre for Building Resilience through Anti-Violence Education