A meta-analysis of school-based interventions aimed to prevent or reduce violence in teen dating relationships.

Key Point: This review analyzed school based interventions that were aimed to prevent teen dating violence.

Summary: 1,608 interventions were originally identified for analysis.  Searches were performed in international and local databases.  The searches also included grey literature found from teen dating violence prevention organizations and/or foundation websites.  From the original 1,608 interventions identified, 23 met the study’s inclusion criteria.  The interventions were mostly found in journal articles; however a book chapter, a program evaluation report, and two dissertations were also included in the final analysis.  The teen dating violence programs varied widely and there was not one single program that was implemented at a higher rate.  Thirteen of the twenty three studies measured teen dating violence knowledge. The researchers found that an increase in knowledge existed beyond the posttest for these studies as documented in follow up assessments.  Therefore, the researchers recommend programming focusing on prevention as the most effective.

Application/Evaluation: This review includes detailed tables of each intervention that was included in the analysis. This review did not include program evaluation information.

Limitations: The total number of studies that were analyzed was small (n=23). Expanding the inclusion criteria, such as including studies that did not have an experimental or quasi-experimental design may be helpful for further research.

Author: 
De La Rue, L., Polanin, J. R., Espelage, D. L., & Pigott, T. D.
Start Page: 
1
End Page: 
28
Journal/Periodical Name: 
Review of Educational Research
Volume: 
Advanced Online Publication
Publication Date: 
2016