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Skilling Adolescent Girls to Resist Abusive Relationship Dynamics: A Pilot Program Evaluation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 March 2012

Kylie A. Murphy
Kylie A. Murphy*
Affiliation:
RMIT University, Australia
*
Address for correspondence: Kylie Murphy, School of Health Sciences, RMIT University, Bundoora campus, P.O. Box 71, Bundoora VIC 3083, Australia. E-mail: safe-relationships@rmit.edu.au
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Abstract

A program to help girls avoid chronic partner abuse was piloted as an elective program in 10 Victorian secondary schools. The program was based on the Dyadic Slippery-Slope model of chronic partner abuse. It aimed to build participants' skills in recognising and responding assertively to early warning-sign behaviours by a partner. Five modules were delivered over one day: Choosing, Noticing, Responding, Ending and Bouncing Back. This paper reports on the results of a noncontrolled pretest to posttest evaluation, with a 3-month follow-up period. Seventy-five girls (M = 14.7 years) contributed preprogram and postprogram data. After the program, they demonstrated heightened awareness of the risks associated with warning-sign behaviours, increased self-confidence, decreased victim blaming, and more assertive intentions. Participants' assertiveness was related to their risk awareness, but only following the program. The program's focus on skill building is believed to have been crucial to its success. Although skills-based empowerment is a promising approach to preventing chronic partner abuse, more rigorous and extensive evaluation of this approach is needed.

Keywords

adolescenceassertivenesseducationpartner abuseprevention
Type
Articles
Information
The Educational and Developmental Psychologist , Volume 28 , Issue 2 , 01 December 2011 , pp. 116 - 132
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2011

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