Anti-bullying Curriculum Proven To Decrease Bullying

The “Girls Guide to End Bullying” curriculum is an easily accessible model, with evidence of decreasing bullying

Wednesday, August 14, 2013

In an effort to turn the tide on America’s bullying epidemic, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center – a leader in research on childhood behavioral victimization – through the support of Procter & Gamble’s Secret Deodorant Mean Stinks anti-bullying initiative, developed the “Girls Guide to End Bullying,” an anti-bullying curriculum, uniquely proven to decrease the experiences of being bullied by educating the specific audiences who are affected by it most.

The “Girls Guide to End Bullying” is a web-based interactive curriculum for individual students, teachers or parents, that provide specific tips and advice to girls that they can easily apply to their lives, plus activities that enable them to better understand and overcome each type of bullying. The curriculum has statistically significant proven effectiveness to decrease the experiences of being bullied by 5 percent, with an 11 percent decrease for those girls who were experiencing high levels of bullying before curriculum exposure.
“From my knowledge of the research on bullying, no other previous program targeting individual use has been able to show as significant of an impact in educating and preventing instances of bullying as the preliminary results indicate from our findings,” said Ryan Adams, assistant professor of pediatrics for Cincinnati Children’s and lead researcher on the curriculum’s development. “Through the committed support of P&G and the Secret Mean Stinks program, we’ve been able to develop a curriculum that I’m confident will change the face of anti-bullying education and ultimately make a significant difference in the lives of the young girls who utilize it.”

Bullying Behavior Explored

Two-hundred-and-fifty-one girls from three Cincinnati public high schools (average age: 15) participated in a study to test the effectiveness of the “Girls Guide to End Bullying” curriculum. Each girl completed the online curriculum at her own pace during one class period over three days. Initial findings from the pre- and post-test survey data showed an increase in girls’ knowledge of issues concerning bullying, including being able to identify what girl-to-girl bullying behavior is, and an increase in likelihood that they would respond to bullying in an appropriate manner.

The “Girls Guide to End Bullying” is organized around five types of bullying that are most impactful for teenage girls: physical, verbal, sexual, relational and cyber. Within each section, helpful information based the most current research in the field of bullying is provided for each bullying type including recognizing the behavior, its consequences, and specific actions to do and not to do if the user is a witness to, or the subject of, bullying. To help ensure the curriculum content was as relatable as possible, video modules featuring real girls from Cincinnati-based high school drama classes bring each bullying scenario to life.

Anti-Bullying Education

“Secret Mean Stinks, through a P&G grant, is honored to support Cincinnati Children’s in developing this curriculum with proven effectiveness to decrease bullying,” said Laura Brinker, Senior External Relations Specialist, P&G Personal Care. “The newly developed curriculum is a critical development in anti-bullying prevention that will make a difference in the lives of girls across the country. We’re looking forward to supporting it through our continued mission of helping to end girl-to-girl bullying.”
The curriculum is now available for free access online to individual girls, teachers and parents at www.girlsguidetoendbullying.org. To help ensure the curriculum has the biggest impact to decrease instances of girl-to-girl bullying, Secret Mean Stinks will support its national dissemination in an effort to be implemented for the 2013/2014 school year.

About Secret Deodorant’s Mean Stinks Movement

Secret Mean Stinks has been committed to bringing an end to girl-girl bullying since the start of the Mean Stinks movement in 2012. In 2012 – 2013, Secret Mean Stinks, along with spokesperson Demi Lovato, inspired girls to “Gang Up for Good” by creating 1.3 million acts of “good” by encouraging girls to take a proactive role in standing-up against bullying and sharing their #NiceAdvice with each other via social media. Thousands of girls across the country took blue pinky swears as a visual reminder and call to action to keep this a “drama free school year.” For more information on the Mean Stinks movement and how girls and schools can get involved and “Gang Up for Good,” join the conversation on Twitter and visit the new Secret Mean Stinks Facebook experience to find out the roles everyone plays in ending mean behavior.

About Cincinnati Children’s

Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center ranks third in the nation among all Honor Roll hospitals in U.S.News and World Report’s 2013 Best Children’s Hospitals ranking. It is ranked #1 for cancer and in the top 10 for nine of 10 pediatric specialties. Cincinnati Children’s is one of the top two recipients of pediatric research grants from the National Institutes of Health, and a research and teaching affiliate of the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine. The medical center is internationally recognized for improving child health and transforming delivery of care through fully integrated, globally recognized research, education and innovation. Additional information can be found at www.cincinnatichildrens.org. Connect on the Cincinnati Children’s blog, via Facebook and on Twitter.