March 16, 2006
Palo Alto Medical Foundation, Teens Develop Bullying Module
With support from the Palo Alto Medical Foundation (PAMF), the Lucile Packard Foundation for Children’s Health (LPFCH) and Bread for the Journey of Santa Clara County, two local teenagers, Katie and Julia Ransohoff, recently developed an education curriculum module to teach fourth- and fifth-grade students and teachers about bullying.
“Bullying is a national problem,” said Nancy Brown, Ph.D., a senior research associate with PAMF’s Research Institute, who co-authored the module with the two sisters. “Middle school seems to be the time that bullying (by males) and relational aggression (by females) is at its worst and is most painful for kids. While there are programs to help curb bullying, we’re hoping to help teachers build character in fourth and fifth grade students to prevent bullying in middle school.”
Katie, Julia and Dr. Brown began working on the module, which includes both teacher and student versions, in July 2005. While the teens volunteered their time to create the module, a grant from Bread for the Journey, a not-for-profit organization that makes grants to individuals to fund community service activities, helped cover some of the costs of materials and printing so that the module can be made available to schools. Dr. Brown’s time was paid for by PAMF’s Education Division and through a portion of a grant received from LPFCH.
Using a variety of teaching tools, including role-playing scenarios and a word search, the module offers a fundamental guide to identifying, dealing with and preventing bullying. The module is available on PAMF’s preteen Web site, “We’re Talking Too!” (www.pamf.org/preteen). Teachers can print the materials for use in the classroom or direct their students to the online version.
“Since peer relationships can be both complex and fulfilling, it is helpful to have a guide to negotiate these relationships, especially when they become more difficult,” said Katie and Julia. “Not only will kids learn to identify and stop bullying, they will learn what a healthy relationship is and how to have good relationships with their peers.”
The bullying module will be pilot tested in local classrooms in the spring and fall. The pilot will include a pretest to evaluate the students’ knowledge of and experiences with bullying and a post-evaluation upon completing the bullying module.
“We know that teachers have less time to address health-related issues. We developed this tool to provide valuable information to their students, without a lot of extra work or time on their part,” said Dr. Brown. “The module is completely self-contained with readings and exercises.”
Any teachers or community groups (with at least 20 fourth- or fifth-grade students) that are interested in participating in the pilot test of the bullying module can contact Dr. Brown at PAMF’s Research Institute at (650) 853-4773 or e-mail brownn@pamfri.org.
The student version of the bullying module can be downloaded at http://www.pamf.org/preteen/myfeelings/bullying/. The teacher version is available at http://www.pamf.org/preteen/parents/teaching/bullying/.
For more information about PAMF, visit www.pamf.org.
The Palo Alto Medical Foundation for Health Care, Research and Education is a not-for-profit health care organization that is a pioneer in both multispecialty group practice of medicine and outpatient medicine. The foundation has three health care divisions – the Palo Alto Division, the Camino Division and the Santa Cruz Division. The Palo Alto Division, staffed by 316 physicians of the Palo Alto Medical Clinic, has provided a full range of care for Peninsula residents since it was founded in 1930. It operates clinics in Fremont, Los Altos, Palo Alto, Portola Valley, Redwood City and Redwood Shores. PAMF is part of the Sutter Health family of not-for-profit physician organizations and hospitals that share resources and expertise to advance health care quality. Serving more than 100 communities in Northern California, Sutter Health is a regional leader in cardiac care as well as care of women and children, and is a pioneer in advanced patient safety technology. For more information, visit www.pamf.org.
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