The Athletes Take Action program: Project Description and Acceptability Data

• In Event: 2-041 - Traditional and New Media in the Etiology and Prevention of Interpersonal Violence During Adolescence

Abstract/Description

Interpersonal violence such as bullying, dating violence, and sexual harassment that have negative effects on adolescents’ physical and mental health and school adjustment (CDC, 2016; Modecki et al., 2014; Vagi et al., 2015). In addition, cyberbullying via phones and on the internet is a growing problem (Van Ouytsel et al., 2016). In the current project, we seek to leverage an innovative partnership between community stakeholders to prevent interpersonal violence using the Athletes Take Action (ATA) program. This presentation has three aims: 1) to provide a project description of the ATA program, 2) to discuss potential effects of ATA on both early adolescents (ATA participants) and late adolescents (ATA facilitators), and 3) to present acceptability and qualitative data from multiple stakeholders.
The current project is a unique partnership between four stakeholder groups: the community’s women’s resource center, college athletes, university researchers, and two local middle schools. Every year since 2012, the women’s resource center trains college athletes in the areas of teen bullying, dating violence, sexual harassment, and healthy relationships. The athlete-facilitators then deliver the ATA program to sixth grade students in two middle schools. ATA is a four-session program with kick-off and completion assemblies. Last year, ATA reached approximately 600 middle school students. In the ATA program, students learn about power and empathy, practice bystander skills, and consider how they can use their personal actions to create a safe school environment.
ATA is unique because it includes both early (6th graders) and late (college athletes) adolescents. The purpose of early prevention is to change participants’ developmental trajectory, the pattern of attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors that lead to these behaviors (Nation et al., 2003). Early prevention reduces risk factors for interpersonal violence such as violence-supporting attitudes and promotes protective factors such as bystander skills. Early prevention, including ATA, also addresses trends in interpersonal violence such as cyberbullying. ATA may also affect the student-athletes who facilitate the program. College athletes are at higher risk of sexual violence than non-athletes (McCray, 2015). Research shows that active involvement in sexual violence prevention may impact university students’ own attitudes and behaviors related to sexual violence (Schewe, 2002).
In Spring 2017, we collected acceptability data (Table 1) and qualitative data (Table 2) from students in both the middle schools where ATA is implemented, from athlete-facilitators, and from sixth grade teachers in both middle schools. In the current presentation, we will describe how this data has informed program improvements, with added emphasis on a technology-based training module. For example, we found that only 40-57% of students found the lessons related to their lives. Thus, in the next iteration, we will focus on bystander training and prevention of cyber bullying, which may be more relatable than primary prevention. In another example, several athlete-facilitators stated that teacher involvement is important for classroom management. Thus, we will include a message to teachers to engage in the program in the next iteration. Lastly, we will discuss how the ATA model may be disseminated to other communities.

Authors

• Emily A Waterman, Pennsylvania State University
  Presenting Author

• Lindsey Faussette, Centre County Women's Resource Center

• Ruth Williamson, Centre County Women's Resource Center