182715 “Coaching Boys Into Men”: Training coaches to influence young male athletes to prevent violence against women

Monday, October 27, 2008

Elizabeth Miller, MD, PhD , Department of Pediatrics, University of California at Davis School of Medicine, Sacramento, CA
Alan Heisterkamp, PhD , Waitt Institute for Violence Prevention, North Sioux City, SD
Feroz Moideen , Family Violence Prevention Fund, San Francisco, CA
Background: Despite the high prevalence of intimate partner violence reported among adolescent females, effective perpetration prevention programs specifically focused on shifting gender norms and attitudes among adolescent males are limited. Certain sports appear to be associated with higher rates of male aggression. Coaches have a demonstrated effect on their athletes' self-esteem and positive behaviors; training coaches on engaging adolescent male athletes to prevent violence against women is a promising strategy.

Objective: This quasi-experimental study aims to refine and test the “Coaching Boys Into Men” training program, to estimate effects on coaches as well as their high-school age male athletes.

Methods: Coaches and high-school age male athletes completed baseline surveys prior to coaches receiving the training. Follow up surveys were completed at the end of the athletic season. Coaches and athletes from a neighboring school district without exposure to the training served as the comparison group.

Results: Coaches who participated in the training reported high levels of agreement with positive gender-equitable attitudes. Following the training, coaches reported increased self-efficacy to respond to male athletes' disrespectful and harmful behaviors. Youth reported more instances of coaches intervening when witnessing disrespectful behaviors.

Conclusions: This training program appears to have some significant effects on coaches' self-efficacy to intervene and to communicate that any disrespectful or harmful behaviors is unacceptable. The long-term effects on youth attitudes, behaviors, and violence perpetration need to be followed.

Learning Objectives:
1. Describe an adolescent male perpetration prevention program that involves training coaches to interrupt disrespectful and harmful behaviors toward women and girls. 2. Outline the theoretical frameworks underlying this training, including the development of the logic model. 3. Discuss the implications of these preliminary findings for broader dissemination and larger scale study.

Keywords: Adolescent Health, Violence Prevention

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I am a clinician researcher engaged in the study of adolescent intimate partner violence, and am conducting the evaluation of Coaching Boys Into Men, a perpetration prevention program created by the Family Violence Prevention Fund.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.