Evaluation of radKIDS 2.0, a Multi-media Training Program for Elementary School Bullying and Abuse Prevention

Child victimization and injury continue to be major public health challenges, jeopardizing the healthy development of millions of American children every day. Child victimization by peers is linked to poorer mental health in later childhood and adolescence, impacting school outcomes due to higher absenteeism, reduced classroom attentiveness, increased school drop-out, and greater risk for substance abuse, delinquency, and violent behavior. Most successful bullying prevention programs do not align with nationally recommended safety guidelines deemed essential for effectively protecting children from victimization and violence. The radKIDS® Personal Empowerment and Safety Education Program is a school-based program developed in response to these national recommendations. radKIDS® uses activity-based skill training to help elementary aged children develop personal safety boundaries, critical thinking skills for responding to threats of danger, age-appropriate coping strategies for dealing with current and past victimization, self-assertiveness and physical skills for self-defense, communication skills for reporting incidences to parents/adults, and increasing child self-worth-the program's cornerstone for personal safety and healthy development for elementary students. To effectively bring the radKIDS® program to more schools across the country, the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities funded this study to adapt the radKIDS® instructor training and student instruction into a blended online/in-person instructor training and instructional delivery system. To evaluate this new instructor training model, the investigators are inviting 40 schools to participate in a randomized trial, with one 4th grade classroom per school participating in the study. Participating classrooms will be randomly assigned, with half of the classrooms getting the radKIDS® program, and half in the "control" condition, receiving instruction as usual. All participating students will complete two surveys a few months apart, assessing growth in knowledge, safety skill self-efficacy, confidence in help-seeking and in maintaining personal safety, and self-esteem. For schools receiving the program, instructors will be trained with the newly adapted curriculum, and will rate the usability and acceptability of the program. If the modified program is effective and practical for use in schools, wide-spread implementation of radKIDS® could have a large impact on public health by decreasing incidents and risks of victimization and reducing child trauma due to preventable violence, abuse, and injury.