Intervention Summary
The Leadership Program's Violence Prevention Project (VPP)
The Leadership Program's Violence Prevention Project (VPP) is a school-based intervention for early and middle adolescents. VPP is designed to prevent conflict and violence by improving conflict resolution skills, altering norms about using aggression and violence (including lowering tolerance for violence), and improving behavior in the school and community.
VPP lessons, taught in the classroom, are based on the experiential learning cycle, an interactive, learner-centered approach that encourages participation, communication, and group work. A trained facilitator guides students through options for conflict resolution and aids them in broadening their adoption of conflict resolution strategies through the use of improved communication skills (e.g., active listening, I-messages). The aim is to reduce students' use of verbally aggressive, physically aggressive, and antisocial conflict resolution strategies and to increase their use of prosocial verbal and other nonaggressive conflict resolution strategies. VPP also targets elements of the classroom environment in which conflict occurs, such as peer relationships and normative beliefs about aggressive behavior. The intervention includes core components for both middle and high school students, including introduction to leadership, vision and imagination, and conflict management. In addition, middle school students receive self-affirmation and cooperation components, and high school students receive self-concept, group dynamics, and social responsibility components. The program concludes with an arts-based final project cooperatively created by all members of each class.
The facilitator implements 12 weekly lessons following the written curriculum, with lessons in the core components adapted to meet participant and school needs. Each 45-minute lesson includes an icebreaker or other team-building exercise; the main activity, which involves the whole group or small groups participating in role-plays, trust games, cooperative work, or a group discussion; and a closing to reflect on the day's activities.
Descriptive Information
Areas of Interest | Mental health promotion |
Outcomes |
1: Use of conflict resolution strategies 2: Normative beliefs about aggression 3: Peer support behaviors 4: Academic self-concept |
Outcome Categories |
Education Family/relationships Social functioning Physical aggression and violence-related behavior |
Ages |
6-12 (Childhood) 13-17 (Adolescent) |
Genders |
Male Female |
Races/Ethnicities |
Asian Black or African American Hispanic or Latino White Race/ethnicity unspecified |
Settings | School |
Geographic Locations | Urban |
NIH Funding/CER Studies |
Partially/fully funded by National Institutes of Health: No Evaluated in comparative effectiveness research studies: No |
Adaptations | No population- or culture-specific adaptations of the intervention were identified by the developer. |
Adverse Effects | No adverse effects, concerns, or unintended consequences were identified by the developer. |
IOM Prevention Categories | Universal |
Quality of Research
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Readiness for Dissemination
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Costs
The cost information below was provided by the developer. Although this cost information may have been updated by the developer since the time of review, it may not reflect the current costs or availability of items (including newly developed or discontinued items). The implementation point of contact can provide current information and discuss implementation requirements.
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