Author | Permission to Use Info
Volume 44, September 2014, Pages 152–162
The academic journal, Children and Youth Review, has published an independent research article this month documenting the effectiveness of the Kidpower program and also furthering the child protection field by providing important information for all prevention and intervention programs.
Empowering children with safety-skills: An evaluation of the Kidpower Everyday Safety-Skills Program, begins with an extensive literature review including recent statistics about bullying, abuse, and other maltreatment and describing Best Practices in Prevention and Intervention Programs:
- Appropriate for the target audience
- Skills-based approach
- Include parents/caregivers
- Multi-setting community approach
- Take place over an extended period of time/repeated exposure
- Provide ample opportunities to practice new skills
The article establishes how Kidpower successfully meets each of these criteria.
The research team evaluated a study of the impact of Kidpower’s two-hour classroom program on 128 third-grade students with their teachers, who also conducted review lessons and assigned 10 weeks of follow-up homework from Kidpower’s curriculum to provide repeated exposure over time and to involve parents.
The study included pre- and post-tests with students, a comparison group of 128 students, and teacher evaluations. After completion of the study, Kidpower returned to conduct workshops for students and teachers in the comparison group so that they would not be deprived of the benefits of learning Kidpower skills.
According to the Abstract, “Findings indicate that students who participated had increases in safety knowledge (maintained over 3 months) greater than the comparison group. Additional assessments indicate that the program was implemented with high fidelity and both teachers and students found the program successful. Children’s understanding of the competency areas boundary-setting, stranger safety, help-seeking, and maintaining calmness and confidence improved.”
One of the challenges in conducting this study was identifying an existing research instrument that met Kidpower’s criteria for emotional safety for the children and that was also relevant to the issues Kidpower addresses. The article describes the process used to develop and field-test the content and delivery of a new research instrument with multiple-choice questions that eight-year olds can answer on their own. The process and questionnaires developed are now a resource for others wishing to assess children’s safety knowledge while protecting participants’ emotional safety.
The Kidpower booster lessons and assignments used in this study are now available for public use in the book, 10 People Safety Assignments: Teaching Children Ages 5 to 14 to be Safe With People, which includes additional content for older children and for readers who have not participated in a Kidpower workshop. Purchase of this Kidpower publication includes permission to make up to 30 print copies a year of the assignments for individual use by parents, teachers, and other adult leaders with children in their own families, classrooms, and youth groups. 10 People Safety Assignments in English and Spanish is the same book with the assignments in both languages.
Identifying the opportunity to participate in a rigorous study that was also consistent with Kidpower’s values of being emotionally safe and truly effective has required time, effort, and a firm commitment to upholding our mission and values. Going through the process of having an independent analysis and evaluation of the findings by people with excellent qualifications has been an exciting adventure for everyone involved.
I really appreciate all of the authors of the article for their countless hours of work and commitment to writing and publishing a truly excellent paper. They include: Alaina F. Brenick, Assistant Professor, Human Development & Family Studies, University of Connecticut; Julie Shattuck, Principal and Founder, Applied Research + Evaluation; Alice Donlan, Research Scientist, the Center for Promise; Shinchieh Duh, Assistant Professor, Psychology, San Jose State University; and Eileen L. Zubriggen, Professor, Psychology, University of California in Santa Cruz.
Special thanks also go to: the Ruddie Memorial Youth Foundation for providing the funding that made the study possible; our evaluation consultant Julie Shattuck for her expertise and wisdom in developing and conducting a meaningful study within our resources and values and her support in finding co-authors for the article and in answering questions and reviewing different drafts; Christina Borberly of the Center for Applied Research Solutions for her assistance in the development of the safety-skill assessment; and the University of California at Santa Cruz for covering the Open Access fee.
I especially want to acknowledge lead author Alaina Brenick for her incredible persistence and talented leadership in overcoming the many challenges involved in turning a research study about Kidpower into a well-documented academic article that truly furthers the prevention and child protection fields.
We are excited about the lasting benefits to the safety of children that will result from the broader dissemination of the tools, knowledge, skills, and conclusions of this article!
If you are ever looking for more documentation about this and other formal research studies, you can always find them on our website on our Research page.
Published: September 17, 2014 | Last Updated: September 17, 2014
Irene van der Zande, Kidpower Founder and Executive Director
Kidpower Founder and Executive Irene van der Zande is a master at teaching safety through stories and practices and at inspiring others to do the same. Her child protection and personal safety expertise has been featured by USA Today, CNN, Today Moms, the LA Times, and The Wall Street Journal. Publications include: cartoon-illustrated Kidpower Safety Comics and Kidpower Teaching Books curriculum; Bullying: What Adults Need to Know and Do to Keep Kids Safe; the Relationship Safety Skills Handbook for Teens and Adults; Earliest Teachable Moment: Personal Safety for Babies, Toddlers, and Preschoolers; The Kidpower Book for Caring Adults: Personal Safety, Self-Protection, Confidence, and Advocacy for Young People, and the Amazon Best Seller Doing Right by Our Kids: Protecting Child Safety at All Levels.
