Prevention of bullying and school violence: randomized controlled trial of Educational Program for Resistance to Drugs and Violence (PROERD) of the Military Police of the State of São Paulo

• Grant number: 19/04022-5
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master
• Start date: September 01, 2019
• End date: May 31, 2021
• Field of knowledge: Health Sciences - Collective Health - Public Health
• Principal Investigator: Zila van der Meer Sanchez Dutenhefner
• Grantee: Valdemir Ferreira Júnior
• Host Institution: Escola Paulista de Medicina (EPM). Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP). Campus São Paulo. São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Actually the Educational Program for Resistance to Drugs and Violence (PROERD) is the most widespread educational prevent program in brasilian schools, however it's being offered without any evaluation of effectiveness of its new version, "Caindo na Real", adapted to Brazil from american program "Keepin' it REAL in 2014. As preventive interventions developted in other culture may present null or negative results in Brazil, we propose two randomized controlled trials to evaluate the effectiveness of existing curricula in PROERD / "Caindo na Real" (one for the 5th year of Elementary School and another for the 7th year of Elementary School). Data collection will be performed by self-filling questionnaires on smartphones at two time points (with a 9-month interval) in the same school year. The intervention group will receive the PROERD / "Caindo na Real" program implemented by the military police (instructors) already trained in the city of São Paulo. The primary endpoints will be investigated practice and victimization by bullying. The central hypothesis is that students exposed to the program will experience a reduction in bullying and school violence, and a slower progression in alcohol and drug use compared to students without intervention (control group). Due to the hierarchical structure of the data, multilevel analyzes will be performed to demonstrate simultaneous differences in time and group prevalence, controlled by sex and age. The results will allow to support decisions about the expansion of the program or modifications of the program in the case of the identification of neutral or negative effects. (AU)

Scientific publications

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

GARCIA-CERDE, RODRIGO; LOPES DE OLIVEIRA, CAMILA W.; FERREIRA-JUNIOR, VALDEMIR; CAETANO, SHEILA CAVALCANTE; SANCHEZ, ZILA M.. Psychiatric Symptomatology is Associated with Polydrug Use and School Violence in Early Adolescence. CHILD PSYCHIATRY & HUMAN DEVELOPMENT, AUG 2021. (19/04022-5)

FERREIRA, VALDEMIR; VALENTE, JULIANA Y.; SANCHEZ, ZILA M.. Examining Associations Between Race, Gender, Alcohol Use, School Performance, and Patterns of Bullying in the School Context: A Latent Class Analysis. JOURNAL OF INTERPERSONAL VIOLENCE, MAR 2021. (19/04022-5)