BULLY PREVENTION PEER LED AND PEER FOCUSED PROGRAMS

Course overview

This course is based upon material published by The National Academies and is available for a free as a downloadable PDF on their website. You may also purchase the chapter or entire book on their website. Our course materials button will link you to the site where you can either download the PDF for free or purchase the chapter in printed form. Bullying is associated with anxiety, depression, poor school performance, and future delinquent behavior among its targets. Bullying can also have harmful effects on children who bully, on bystanders, on school climates, and on society at large. Increased concern about bullying has led 49 states to enact anti-bullying legislation since 1999. In addition, research on the causes, consequences, and prevention of bullying has expanded greatly in recent decades. However, major gaps still exist in the understanding of bullying and of interventions that can prevent or mitigate the effects of bullying. On April 9¿10, 2014, the Board on Children, Youth, and Families of the Institute of Medicine (IOM) and the National Research Council (NRC) held a 2-day workshop titled Building Capacity to Reduce Bullying and Its Impact on Youth Across the Lifecourse. The purpose of this workshop was to bring together representatives of key sectors involved in bullying prevention to identify the conceptual models and interventions that have proven effective in decreasing bullying, to examine models that could increase protective factors and mitigate the negative effects of bullying, and to explore the appropriate roles of different groups in preventing bullying. At the workshop more than 20 presenters reviewed research on bullying prevention and intervention efforts as well as efforts in related areas of research and practice, implemented in a range of contexts and settings, including schools, peers, families, and others ¿ each of which is available as a separate course on our site. This course is based upon a workshop summary that was prepared by the workshop rapporteurs as a factual summary of what occurred at the workshop. Statements, recommendations, and opinions expressed are those of individual presenters and participants This course includes one chapter of the workshop summary which addresses bully prevention strategies with a focus on peer led and peer focused programs. This course on peer focused programs to prevent bullying is designed for clinical social workers, psychologists, professional counselors, substance abuse professionals and nurses who do clinical work. This course is appropriate for beginning, intermediate and advanced level practitioners who wish to develop their knowledge of family focused interventions for bullying behaviors. This course is particularly useful for licensed clinicians who require clinical continuing education courses for license renewal. Authors: Institute of Medicine and the National Research Council Learning Objectives: This course will provide the practitioner with detailed information regarding peer led programs to prevent bullying. Specifically, a professional will: Identify peer intervention programs that are likely to be effective. Describe peer impact on child development and the moderating influence of peers. Describe ways to structure school systems and classrooms to reduce bullying.