Project Respect: A community-based teen dating and sexual violence education program

Dating violence, the term used for interpersonal violence in the adolescent population, occurs in approximately one in three teen dating relationships. One in 11 adolescents report being a victim of physical dating violence each year. Project Respect, a partnership between the United Neighborhood Centers of Milwaukee and the Medical College of Wisconsin, helps prevent risk factors leading to sexual and dating violence and increase protective factors that deter perpetration and victimization among adolescents. The project utilizes the Centers for Disease Control Ecological Model and principles of social norms change to reduce risk factors for sexual and dating violence and subsequent impact on the health and well-being of children in the community. Specifically, Project Respect includes: 1) implementing evidence-based curricula with adolescents at each of the eight UNCOM centers; 2) building capacity, through on-going training and education, of neighborhood centers to address primary prevention of sexual/dating violence; and 3) providing resources and raising awareness of the community regarding teen dating/sexual violence. Implementation of the curricula is underway as is training of neighborhood center staff; outcomes will be available at the time of presentation. Resource centers have been developed at each site and utilization is being tracked. This research project will provide insight into effective strategies for educational institutions and/or community-based organizations to educate teens on dating/sexual violence, build staff capacity on the topic, and engage parents and the community to address this growing public health concern.