Executive Summary of Positive Program Evaluation Findings
• Students participating in the BullySafeUSA program learned the material presented in the program. They doubled their factual knowledge about bullying after participating in the program for a few months, and after continued participation, on average they were able to correctly respond to 80% of questions about bullying.
• Students participating in the BullySafeUSA program felt an increased sense of responsibility to help the targets of bullying. While approximately half of students indicated that a witness should always help a target before the intervention, over 75% of students indicated that they should always help the targets of bullying after participating in the BullySafeUSA Program. Students who were not participating in any bullying prevention program evidenced no change in their sense of responsibility to help the targets.
• Over the course of the school year, students participating in the BullySafeUSA program continued to feel that there were things they could do to resolve the conflict when the targets of bullies. Students who did not participate in the program felt less control as the school year progressed.
• Over the course of the school year, students participating in the BullySafeUSA program continued to report incidents of bullying to teachers. Students who were participating in the BullySafeUSA program reported incidents of bullying less and less as the school year progressed. By the end of the school year, on average they were almost never reporting bullying.
• Relative to students who were not participating in a prevention program, the students participating in the BullySafeUSA intervention evidenced significant reduction in peer victimization. Peer victimization experiences decreased by 23% in students participating in the BullySafeUSA program. Reductions were apparent in both social and physical victimization.
• Whereas students participating in the BullySafeUSA program evidenced a 15% reduction in bullying behaviors, students not participating in any bullying prevention program evidenced 24% increase in these bullying behaviors over the same time period.
Evaluation Coordinated by:
Andrew Terranova, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Department of Psychology
Stephen F. Austin State University
Box 13046 – SFA Station
Nacogdoches, TX 75962
