Scaling and Disseminating a Bullying Prevention Experience for Middle School Students across Pennsylvania

Introduction: With rates of bullying highest in middle school, intervening at this age is critically important. Free2B was developed to be a feasible and sustainable alternative to existing bullying prevention interventions. It combines empirically-supported bullying prevention strategies to engage youth in a fun and interactive technologically sophisticated experience. The 90-minute show is delivered to schools in the auditorium, and it consists of a brief 3D movie, video testimonials, and an interactive quiz show. The current paper addresses the dissemination of Free2B to 40 schools across Pennsylvania, highlighting primary findings, challenges, and proposed solutions for scaling this experience to diverse schools.

Method: The research team worked with the PA State Office of Safe Schools to establish systematic procedures for offering the Free2B Program to all schools across the state. A screening questionnaire was given to all school principals by local education agencies throughout the state. The goal of the dissemination was to: (1) provide equal opportunity to all schools throughout the state to indicate their interest in bringing the intervention to their school, (2) obtain information related to bullying on many schools across the state, and (3) provide school-specific data following the intervention to guide future bullying prevention programming steps.

Results: Over 14,000 youth (43% 6^th graders, 31% 7^th graders, and 26% 8^th graders) from 40 schools received Free2B. Schools were relatively equally split between three major areas in Pennsylvania (33%, 31%, and 36% from Philadelphia, Harrisburg, and Pittsburgh areas, respectfully). Fifty percent of schools were classified as suburban, whereas 36% were rural, and 15% were urban. Youth across the state reported relatively frequent involvement, with 59% reporting being a victim of bullying at least one time in the past month and 37% reported being a perpetrator of bullying at least one time in the past month. The intervention demonstrated high acceptability and relevance, while participating students demonstrated statistically significant increases in problem-solving knowledge, knowledge of myths versus facts on bullying, confidence in being a positive bystander, and in sympathy immediately following the Free2B experience.

Conclusion: This study has implications for better understanding how to work with state agencies to roll out programs, while collecting valuable data that can guide schools in prevention programming. The presentation will also address suggestions for handling challenges experienced when trying to scale prevention activities such as Free2B to schools that vary in geographic location, context (urban, rural, and suburban), and size.