142nd APHA Annual Meeting and Exposition

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Short-term effects of a violence-prevention curriculum on knowledge of dating violence among high school students in Port-au-Prince, Haiti

142nd APHA Annual Meeting and Exposition (November 15 - November 19, 2014): http://www.apha.org/events-and-meetings/annual
Monday, November 17, 2014

Anastasia Gage, PhD , Global Health Systems and Development, School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA
Jean Guy Honore, MD , Clinique- Hôpital Le Messie, Port-au-Prince, Haiti
Josue Deleon, MSc , College Universitaire de Christianville, Grand Goave, Haiti
Background: Relationship violence is a serious public health issue.  According to the 2012 Haiti Demographic and Health Survey, approximately 43 percent of girls aged 15-19 who were ever in union had been a victim of emotional, physical or sexual abuse from their male partners.  The objectives of this study was to determine whether a violence-prevention curriculum taught to students in grades 10-12 in one public high school and one private high school in Port-au-Prince, Haiti would increased knowledge about dating violence.

Methods: A one-group pretest-posttest study was carried out in November to December 2013.  A total of 221 students who took the exam prior to curriculum implementation and after the program was completed were assessed for knowledge of dating violence.  The curriculum was an adaptation of the SAFE Dates Program and consisted of ten 50-minutes sessions that were taught over a period of five weekends.  Chi-squared statistics and t-tests were used to determine whether the curriculum was associated with increased knowledge of dating violence.

Results:  Pretest levels of knowledge of dating violence were low.  All eight measures of knowledge increased significantly between the pretest and posttest in both schools.  The mean score for knowledge of dating violence facts and myths increased from 5.2 at pretest to 8.4 at posttest out of a maximum of 10. Gains in knowledge of dating violence were higher among public school students than among private school students for some outcomes.

Conclusions: Exposure to the curriculum increased knowledge of dating violence in the short-term. 

Learning Areas:

Administer health education strategies, interventions and programs
Conduct evaluation related to programs, research, and other areas of practice
Implementation of health education strategies, interventions and programs

Learning Objectives:
Assess short-term effects of a violence-prevention curriculum on knowledge of dating violence Compare levels of knowledge of dating violence between public school students and private school students

Keyword(s): Violence & Injury Prevention, Adolescents

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I am qualified to present because I designed the study, undertook the statistical analysis of the data, and wrote the first draft of the report. I have also published journal articles on intimate partner violence in Haiti. I am Associate Professor.
Any relevant financial relationships? Yes

Name of Organization Clinical/Research Area Type of relationship
USAID Monitoring and Evaluation Independent Contractor (contracted research and clinical trials)

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.

Back to: 3276.0: Health Communication Strategies to Promote Health and Prevent Disease (organized by HCWG)