September 25, 2012 H 397Bob Selman

Prevention Science

“Crow Boy”: An Orientation To Prevention

Practice and Research Through a Fictional Case Study

What is the problem we want to prevent?

Teasing and Bullying

In a fourth grade classroom

What Shira and her team learned from research with Ms Baily at the Kimball:

• Most students in the 3rd and 4th grades blamed those that were teased for being teased.

• Most students felt that other children’s non-normative behavior or appearance deserved negative reactions.

• While much of the reason for teasing seemed to be based on superficial characteristics (e.g., looks), there was also a sense that some students were objectively more annoying or socially awkward than others and that these characteristics were at the root of the reason that they were teased.

According to the students:Reasons students in this classroom get teased:

• They are fat• They are developing physically faster than other students• Other students think they are nerdy• Of the way they dress• Of their hair• They wear glasses• They have trouble reading• Of how they talk• Other students think they aren’t manly or womanly enough• They bring a packed lunch from home• They aren’t very good at sports• Of the family they come from• They are from a religion that most students are not• Of their skin color• Of their name

According to Students:

Reasons students in this classroom tease:

• Some children are annoying and do stupid things

• They don’t like some children

• They want to rule the class

• They want to be popular

• They’ve been teased themselves

What and where is the problem located?

• The Questions each of us might ask and the discipline that we draw on for answers

• Where do we stand in addressing the problem?

The Questions We Ask At the Psychological

Level

What are good ways to treat the causes and consequences of aggression and depression in children?

A “diagnostic” orientation/ psychiatrist(conduct disorder;mood disorder)

What are good ways to prevent violence and/or despair in childhood, i.e. in children at risk for growing up under difficult circumstances?

A “dimensional” orientation/ psychologist(externalizer/aggressive behavior: internalizing/inhibited behavior)

What are good ways to promote respectful and caring social relationships within the family, between friends, in schools and community, and across society ?

A “developmental” orientation/ (from impulsive/unilateral levels to cooperative and collaborative)

The Disciplines We Draw Upon

The Questions We Ask at the Social/Systems level

What are the cultural norms for aggression and depression?

Anthropological analyses of societal customs and beliefs

How are the social and institutional structures (schools, jails, child mental health centers) designed to deal with these problems?

Sociological analyses of institutional policies and practices

How can we reduce the prevalence of violence and disengagement in society through enlightened public policy?

Public health approaches integrating all of the above

The Disciplines We Draw Upon

SCHOOL COMMUNITY

FAMILY

Prevention

Practices

Education

Character Education

Social/Emotional Learning

School Atmosphere

Student Support

Public Health

Population Studies

Disease Prevention

Health Education/

Violence Prevention

Medicine

Community Mental Health

Prevention of Depression/

Conduct Disorder

Psychiatry/Social Medicine/

Pediatrics

Three-level Prevention/Intervention Services

80%

15%

5%Intensive intervention: Interventions for emotionally disabled - intense, comprehensive, interagency family-focused, sustained help.

Early intervention: Providing academic & emotional support & remedial help to students placed at-risk.

Universal prevention: Promotion of academic, social, & emotional wellness for all students through school climate, SEL skills, teacher training, team support.

From Weissberg, 05 R and P lecture

Prevention as part of an intervention spectrum for mental disorders:

Universal preventive interventions target the general public as a whole population group not identified on the basis of individual risk.

Selective preventive interventions focus on individuals or population subgroups who have biological, psychological, or social risk factors, placing them at higher than average likelihood of developing a (mental) disorder.—

Indicated preventive interventions that target high risk individuals with detectable symptoms or biological markers predictive of mental disorder but do not meet “diagnostic” criteria for disorder at the present time.

Mrazek, P. & Haggerty R. (1994) Reducing risk for mental disorders: Frontiers for preventive intervention research

1 2 3 4 5

Feedback Loop

From citation 1994

Identify problem or disorder(s) and review information to determine its extent

Review relevant information - both from fields outside prevention and from existing preventive intervention research programs

Design, conduct, and analyze pilot studies and confirmatory and replication trials of the preventive intervention program

The Preventive Intervention Research Cycle

Design, conduct, and analyze large-scale trials of the preventive intervention program

Facilitate large-scale implementation and ongoing evaluation of the preventive intervention program in the community

“The Main Road to Psychological Health”

End of Part 1: Take a Break

Start of Part 2

The Case of “Crow Boy.”

An activity?

Apply the prevention research model to teasing and bullying.

Pick an entry point (five minutes).

Then see who has picked similar entry points

Part 2

What is happening in the research project?

Crow Boy (by Taro Yashima) A Case Study Of What?

• What is the problem? Where is the problem?– For/In Chibi– For/in the teacher– For/in the other students– For/in the school– For/in the family– For/in the society– Ah, Bronfenbrenner

The Role of Practice Embedded ResearchCultural Questions!

• How does a story about a class in an elementary school in a village of modest means in Japan in the 1920’s where the teachers are mostly men, the school is the boss, and everybody has a common culture

• relate to

• Classes of students in an urban elementary school at risk for being closed in a community of modest means where there is a majority/minority population, parents and community need to be involved, and all the teachers are women.

Small Group Activity

Hand out a small amount of data

Building Theory

From the ground up

Assessment Question 1A question about understanding

So I have a question for you. Why did the other children make fun of Chibi because he had a funny jacket, played with insects, and looked at the ceiling all of the time?

What kind of question is this? Why is it asked in this way?

Assessment Question 2

• So my question is: Why do you think the children changed how they felt about Chibi after they hear his crow calls?

The Data Please

• See data set for question 1

And the kids make fun of Chibi because he’s not like the other kids. 

Because maybe he doesn’t have no friends because he’s acting weird and maybe he doesn’t have friends where he lives?

Because all the other kids are probably cooler than him.

Cause, probably, cause he doesn’t learn anything and he can’t hear (?) or anything, and he just sits there and looks at stuff.  And then objects and stuff.

Because they were mean

I think that because they think he’s kind of weird that he’s doing all this stuff.

And I think that just because all the stuff he be doing, it’s funny, and they’re laughing.

I think they made fun of Chibi because he had a funny jacket and he allway carry a rise with a left on it and allway turt bug and other thing.

Looking for themes: Theme 1

• Label – Victim’s repetitive behavior is cause of the problem–

• Definition – Student mentions that Chibi does something a lot, all of the time, or never.

• Indicators – Coded when student writes things like “always,” “everyday,” “a lot,” e;g; eating the same thing or staring at something for a long time. Includes student writing that Chibi never does something that children are expected to do.

• Anchor: “He kept on looking at the ceiling all of the time”

Theme 2

• Label – Victim is essentially different Definition – Student mentions that Chibi is different..

• Indicators – Coded when student writes that Chibi is himself abnormal/a freak/weird/funny/cool. Excludes cases where it is clear Chibi’s behavior is what is different. Includes the verb “to be.”

• Anchor: “They probably know he is a freak.”

Some hunches emerge

Chibi is at fault because of his behavior:They teased Chibi because he had annoyed the other kids. 22/69 (32%)

Chibi teased because of he is “essentially different.”The kids teased Chibi…because he was a weirdo. He is just different. 28/69 (41%)

Chibi teased for his appearanceBecause he is small. 10/69 (14%)

What questions come up for you?

Data collection questions.

Data analysis questions.

Theme 4

• Label – Chibi is Understood/Misunderstood Definition – Student mentions that children knew or didn’t know Chibi well, knew or didn’t know about the parts of Chibi that would have made them accept him, or knew or didn’t know how Chibi was feeling.

• Indicators – Coded when student writes that children didn’t know Chibi, didn’t know how he was feeling or underestimated him. Also coded when student writes that the children got to know Chibi and how he was feeling.

• Anchor: “they never saw Chibi acting like them or ever saw him doing cool stuff.”

On the other hand

Code: Children who tease are blameworthy :

The other children teased Chibi because they were jealous that he was the teacher’s pet. 4/69 (6%)

Code: Respondent Placed Blame on Neither Party

No one is at faultIt’s too bad. They could have been friends. It’s really no one’s fault. 1/69 (1%)

Assessment Question 2

• So my question is: Why do you think the children changed how they felt about Chibi after they hear his crow calls?

Take a Look at the Data

• What do we see? They changed the way that they felt, because they thought that he didn’t know nothing, but now they… he knew something that they didn’t.  So, when they call him stupid and slowpoke when he was watching nature, he didn’t bother, because he knew it was his favorite thing, so that’s why they changed the thing when he did the crow.  Changed their feelings.

I think the kids changed because they saw Chibi making them saw and they want to be his firend now because they didn’t know Chibi that good but now they know him very good and they what him to be there firend now because they saw those thinks that he did and they what to do it to and they do

In other words, we are interested in knowing what beliefs, theories, and concepts students brought to a text, and which ones they took away. This lead to a research agenda with the following operational questions:

• 1. How do we measure children's awareness of social issues in literature?

• 2. How do children's levels of awareness of social texts vary across age/grade-level and as a function of their background?

• 3. What is the connection between the development of students’ literacy skills and social awareness? This question is one that makes this research essential to schools in the current political and policy climate

Let’s step back

• What are the various forms of prevention research

• What makes an intervention both prevention and developmental

• Where does your site stand/sit

Developmental Interventions:What does the science say?

• Is 3-5th grades a good time for universal prevention/ intervention on bullying?– Peer relations as very important, and either

good or bad– What are implications of intervention now

versus earlier or later– What level of intervention is needed

• Biological: • Social• Psychological

_________________________________________________Conceptualizing Practice-Based Research

Applied Research

A

PEmbedded

Research

Circle of Practice-Embedded Research

BBasic Research

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Practice-In

spired Research

Practice-Oriented Research

“The Practice-Based

Research Triangle”

Basic Research Questions:

• What is universal about, say teasing, ostracism, bullying, exclusion?

• What is culturally specific?

• What is contextual?

• What is developmental?– Do we outgrow it?– What might it become?

• What have we left out?

Applied (Contextual) Questions

• Connection to school achievement

• Can schools make a difference?

• What will happen if the problem is not dealt with?

• How changeable is the school climate?

• What questions do we ask from a public health perspective?

Cultural Questions

• How universal or relative to a specific group or culture or society is victim blaming?

• What is the peer culture like?

• How changeable are cultural norms?

Where do you stand?

• What are your “research questions?

• “Step 2: Review relevant information - both from fields outside prevention and from existing preventive intervention research programs”

• What efforts have been made to prevent teasing through curriculum and instruction.

Applied Developmental Science: What are the research questions

we wanted to study?

• What are the developmental (e.g. chronological age, grade level) and cultural (e.g., gender, social class, ethnic) variations in elementary grade students’ social awareness

• What is their awareness of social issues portrayed in children’s literature?

In other words, we were interested in knowing what beliefs, theories, and concepts students brought to a text, and which ones they took away. This lead

to a research agenda with the following operational questions:

• 1. How do we measure children's developing awareness of social issues in literature?

• 2. How do children's levels of awareness of social texts vary across age/grade-level and as a function of their background?

• 3. What is the connection between the development of students’ literacy skills and their social awareness?

• 4. What is the impact of awareness/knowledge/ understanding on action, behavior, conduct, climate.

• How can we make this research essential to schools in the current political and policy climate

So what kind of science is this?

• Which disciplines are involved?– Developmental Psychology– Language and literacy– Cognitive development– Social development – Educational Psychology

Biological Science

Social Science

Psychological Science

Preventio

n

Sciences

Neurosciences

Developmental

Psychology

Socio-Cultural Anthropology

Behavior Genetics

Cognitive Neuroscience

Neuropsychology

Psychopharmacology

Psychological Interpretation/Narrat

ive

Psychological Assessmeent/Outcom

e Evaluation

Applied Developmental

Science

Applied SociologyCommunity and

School AtmosphereSocio-Historical

AnalysesEthnographic

Methods

_________________________________________________Conceptualizing Practice-Based Research

Applied Research

A

PEmbedded

Research

Circle of Practice-Embedded Research

BBasic Research

Pra

ctic

e-D

rive

n R

esea

rch

Practice-In

spired Research

Practice-Oriented Research

“The Practice-Based

Research Triangle”

Part 3: What are the kinds of practices we want to design

Where do we want them to go?

A small group activity using the triangle (three groups.)

What are the questions you want answered from the point of view of

practice, applied research and basic research

Why is this book a classic?• Culture, time. Children’s reasons for defining coolness or acceptability

different across culture (e.g. teasing about skin color unacceptable in Singapore)

• Chibi means tiny. Who gave him that name? Other children? Teachers? Is he called that at home? His peers decide he is named Crow Boy. What is his real name? Identity is imposed upon him by others. Will he be called that until he’s 60? Is that a good or a bad thing? He could do more than crow noises, but will we find out?

• RLS: I think everyone sees a little Chibi in themselves. Kids identify with Chibi whether they are victims, perpetrators, bystanders, everyone feels a little like that. A story of hope that no matter how much you are persecuted in life you can emerge. That is the unaware aspect of this book. You would not find kids saying that. I think that’s a universal theme. My opinion as to why this is a good book for kids to read. Intersection of psychological development and context.

Back to the Case:

What is the implications for practice?• What kinds of practice can be designed to

help with the problem (s) we have identified?– To help Chibi, what services are available?

• What would an I.E.P look like?

– To help the other students– To help the previous teachers before Mr.

Isobe – (What does the story say about culture and

climate that is not said explicitly?)

SCHOOL COMMUNITY

FAMILY

Prevention

Practice

Education

Medicine

Public HealthCharacter Education

Social/Emotional Learning

School Atmosphere

Student Support

Population Studies

Disease Prevention

Health Education/

Violence Prevention

Community Mental Health

Prevention of Depression/

Conduct Disorder

Psychiatry/Social Medicine/

Pediatrics

_________________________________________________Conceptualizing Practice-Based Research

Applied Research

A

PEmbedded

Research

Circle of Practice-Embedded Research

BBasic Research

Pra

ctic

e-D

rive

n R

esea

rch

Practice-In

spired Research

Practice-Oriented Research

“The Practice-Based

Research Triangle”

The Case Study of a Program

• 1990 to 1999

• 1999 to 2009

• 2009 to present

The Voices Program in the 1990s

A Video

Balanced Approach to Literacy

The following genres are represented in the Voices curriculum:• Fantasy

• Realistic Fiction

• Folk Tales

• Biography

• Historical Fiction

• Poetry

Balanced Approach to Literacy

The VLF curriculum reinforces the following literacy skills:

• Making predictions• Building vocabulary• Story mapping/Sequencing• Understanding Plot/Characters/Setting• Oral language development• Personification/Imagery• Summarizing

Balanced Approach to Literacy

The students create the following final products as the culmination of VLF units:

• Autobiographies• Letters• Poems• Essays• Persuasive Essays• Folk Tales• Narrative Stories

Development of Social SkillsEach VLF unit is built around one of six social skills theme. These themes are:

• Identity Awareness

• Perspective Taking

• Conflict Resolution

• Social/Cultural Awareness

• Love and Friendship Values

• Democracy and Freedom Awareness

• In each grade, K to 5, each theme is presented in the above order for 5/6 weeks, with a read aloud selected for each week (approximately 200 total)

Development of Social Skills

A number of activities are repeated in several VLF units. These activities provide concrete strategies that support the development of social skills. For example:

• Stand in My Shoes (Perspective-Taking)

• Conflict Escalator (Conflict Resolution)• ABC Problem Solving (Problem

Solving)

Practitioner-Researcher relationship in practice-embedded research

• Researcher: categorizes student responses, analyzes responses developmentally and culturally; relates to literacy skills, e.g. reading, expression

• Teacher: develops understanding of social and literacy development so as to weave them together in instruction