Evaluation of a Brazilian School Violence Prevention Program (Violência Nota Zero)

Résumé 0

Objective. This study assessed the implementation of a program to decrease the levels of school violence, maximize student engagement, and improve teachers' well-being. Method. In total, 71 students (21 from the intervention school and 50 from the control group school); 13 educators (8 from the intervention school and 7 from the control group school) answered the study instruments. Both public schools were located in a highly vulnerable area in Brazil. The following measures prior and post intervention were collected: School Violence Scale; School Engagement Scale (students) and Goldberg's General Health Questionnaire; School Violence Scale (teachers). Follow-up measures were taken with the intervention school after eight months. The Program consisted of twelve 90-minute sessions to educators on school violence prevention, involving presentations, discussions and classroom exercises. Results. Significant reductions in self-reported perpetration of violence by students (M pre-intervention = 15, M post-intervention = 13, z = -2.5, p = 0.01), and of teachers' mental health problems (Mdn pre-intervention = 1.8, Mdn post-intervention = 1.4, z = 2.1, p = 0.03) were noticed in the experimental group after the intervention, in comparison to the control school. However, the program did not improve school engagement, nor did it diminish student victimization by staff or teacher victimization by students. Lower levels of peer-to-peer violence, as reported by students were maintained in the follow-up assessments. Conclusion. Despite the limitations of the study, such as a small sample, the existence of pertinent (although limited) results is encouraging, as there are not many similar initiatives in developing countries.