Background: Evidence-based child sexual and physical abuse prevention programs delivered in schools are needed and require rigorous evaluation of program effects prior to widespread dissemination. The Play it Safe! program is a one-time session delivered by trained facilitators to teach students about recognizing, resisting, and reporting abuse.…

We evaluated the effectiveness of Boston vs. Bullies, a short-term, free, bullying prevention program that uses celebrity athletes to present content. Fifth-grade students in 10 schools were randomized to either complete the Boston vs. Bullies intervention (n = 388), or to a wait-list control group (n = 266). Pre- and post-surveys assessed…

The purpose of this study was to test the effects of a child sexual abuse prevention education program using a hybrid application (CSAPE-H) by examining fifth-grade students' (a) knowledge for sexual abuse prevention and (b) self-protective behaviors against sexual abuse. A quasi-experimental, pretest /posttest design was used. Sixty-eight…

Preventing smoking among adolescents is critical. This study evaluated the effectiveness of the Smoking Prevention Education Program among nonsmoking adolescents. A quasi-experimental study design was used. Data were collected from Year 5 students (n = 140) from four government primary schools in the Kuantan and Pahang districts of Malaysia. The…

Access to online information and communication and the use of social networks have all increased considerably among pre-adolescents over the last decade. These trends are directly related to the similarly growing phenomenon of cyberbullying: as pre-adolescents' exposure to online social interaction increases, so does their potential involvement in…

Antisocial peer behavior and low parental knowledge of adolescents' activities are key interpersonal risk factors for adolescent substance use. However, how the magnitude of associations between these risk factors and substance use may vary across adolescence remains less well understood. The present study examined the age-varying associations of…

Purpose: This study assessed the effectiveness of malaria classroom corner (MCC), school-based intervention in the promotion of basic malaria awareness and common control practices among children of primary school age. Design/methodology/approach: A quasi-experimental design was employed, involving 206 children of primary 5 and 6 classes from two…

School antibullying initiatives are increasingly focused on educating students about the impact of proactive bystanders to reduce victimization. However, according to the social-ecological perspective, children can also choose to adopt bystander responses based on what their parents teach them at home. School counselors are equipped to disseminate…

The overall objective of this study is to increase the awareness of secondary school students of the effects of pollen allergy on human health by mapping allergic pollens appearing in Burdur atmosphere. This study is a pre-test and post-test experimental design. Mix method is applied thus. Both qualitative and quantitative data are gathered. The…

Child sexual abuse (CSA) threatens children's safety and even their lives. CSA is increasing steadily, despite the government's efforts to decrease and prevent its incidence. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of the Child Sexual Abuse Prevention Education (C-SAPE) program on fifth-grade elementary school students' competence in…

Although youth-led programs (YLP) have been successful in many areas of public health, youth leadership is rarely used in the prevention of peer aggression. A YLP to reduce bullying, sexual harassment, and dating aggression was compared experimentally with the board-mandated usual practice (UP). Four middle schools in an urban Canadian school…

Dramatic changes occur in abstract reasoning, physical maturation, familial relationships and risk exposure during adolescence. It is probable that delivery of behavioral interventions addressing decision-making during the preadolescent period and later in adolescence would result in different impacts. We evaluated the intervention effects of an…

Internationally, efficacy studies of school-based child sexual abuse prevention programs display a series of methodological shortcomings. Few studies include adolescent participants, recording of disclosures has been inconsistent, and no studies to date have assessed presenter adherence to program protocols or summated the costs of program…

Background: Obesity is a public health concern that disproportionately affects underserved and minority communities. Purpose: To evaluate whether a comprehensive obesity prevention program that targets children and school staff in an underserved Hispanic community affects obesity related knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors among both students and…

Millions of Americans suffer from chronic physical illness. The U.S.-Mexico border region has significantly higher rates of infectious and communicable diseases than other areas of the nation. The purpose of this study was to assess the effects of a comprehensive culturally relevant health risk prevention program on Hispanic youth and their…