Bullying Prevention: The Impact on Pennsylvania School Children, 2011 is the second formal report on the Highmark Foundation’s bullying prevention initiative. This initiative continues to be the largest implementation of the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program in the country. Read the full report for more information on the project.
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Recognizing bullying and low-level violence as a serious public health concern, The Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention at the Windber Research Institute has effectively shown to reduce bullying in schools through the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program (OBPP). Bullying is defined as a person being repeatedly exposed to negative actions by one or more person while lacking the ability to defend themselves (Olweus, 1993). Studies show in American schools, bullying affects nearly 30% of all students, daily, causing feelings of decreased safety, low personal satisfaction and self-esteem, and anxiety. Victims may experience low academic achievement, a greater chance of dropout, and absenteeism in schools. In taking a systematic, evidence-based approach, OBPP has been applied to populations worldwide, being labeled as the most effective bullying prevention programs in the world and is endorsed by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). OBPP utilizes four components of concentration in the program: school, classroom, individual, and community initiatives.
In 2000, the Highmark Foundation developed the Highmark Health High 5 initiative and started to provide more than six million dollars of funding to two bullying prevention programs. Both HALT! A Bullying Prevention Program, led by the Windber Research Institute, and PA CARES (Creating an Atmosphere of Respect and Environment for Success), led by the Pennsylvania Department of Education, coordinated their programs along the guidelines of the OBPP. HALT! and PA CARES determined an overall goal to provide and monitor bullying prevention strategies to schools across western and central Pennsylvania. This effort was informed by the PRECEDE-PROCEDE framework.
With HALT! (WRI) managing district-wide implementation and PA CARES (Department of Education) monitoring building-only implementation, the Olweus Bullying Questionnaire (OBQ) was provided for students to evaluate student bullying behavior, perceptions, and teacher’s responsiveness. Surveys were collected from HALT! cohorts after two years of program implementation providing positive results. High school bullying reductions were reported in bullying between 15% and 39%. Teachers spoke to students regularly about bullying, marking increases of anywhere between 14% and 131%. Overall, the communication of bullying perceptions and school rules regarding bullying had increased in students, ranging from 17% to 69%. Additionally, the program increased parental involvement in student bullying between 14% and 81%. In elementary schools, more students testified to be willing to aid bully victims. The data collected seemed to support the overall OBPP observation that bullying prevention efforts are more effective on a long-term basis.
On a large scale, the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program and charitable foundations have taken a leadership role, making public health of children a priority. Collaborating on bullying prevention efforts has resulted in school success on a long-term basis. By providing partnerships compared with the public health model, students may experience benefits in school climate, the community, and their lives.
References
Olweus, Dan. (1993). Bullying at school : what we know and what we can do. Oxford, UK ; Cambridge, USA: Blackwell.
In the field of health promotion, bullying in schools has been considered a priority and focal point of research throughout the past few years. Bullying is recognized as an individual with little defenses repeatedly experiencing negative actions from one or more persons. Studies prove that bullying victims experience a greater change of serious health concerns such as depression, low self-esteem, and suicidal thoughts over their lifetime. However with the unrivaled support from a health care foundation, a bullying prevention program has been implemented on a wide scale in Pennsylvanian (U.S.) schools. Over a three year period, bullying has been addressed among 15 percent of school children in Pennsylvania to become the largest health promotion initiative focused on school bullying in the United States.
In the past 70 years, Highmark Inc. has benefited many school-aged children in the Pennsylvania area. In 2000, Highmark launched the Highmark Healthy High 5 to address nutrition, physical activity, grieving, self-esteem, and bullying prevention in children and teenagers ages six to eighteen. The $100 million health promotion effort provides multi-year grants to community partners focused on the initiative as well. By providing a significant amount of grant money, two advanced bullying prevention programs have been able to develop and flourish based on the internationally accepted, systematic and holistic Olweus Bullying Prevention Program (OBPP). Leading in the largest OBPP implementation in the United States, approximately 260,000 out of 1,775,029 students have been reached in Pennsylvania.
With the provision six million dollar grant, bullying prevention initiatives known as HALT! A Bullying Prevention Program, coordinated by the Windber Research Institute (WRI),and PA CARES (Creating an Atmosphere of Respect and Environment for Success), coordinated by the Pennsylvania Department of Education,have used OBPP to concentrate on school-wide, classroom, individual, and community bullying prevention measures. HALT! managed district-wide implementation, while PA CARES focused on the implementation of OBPP in specific school buildings in a three year study.
By using the Olweus Bullying Questionnaire (OBQ) on students in grades 3-12, data was collected assessing bullying issues, attitudes and beliefs about bullying, bystander perceptions, and student’s satisfaction with school. 107 total schools and 56,137 students participated in the OBQ by the end of the second year of the study. Overall, the OBQ remained positive after program implementation, reporting a decrease in self-reports of bullying. On the high school level, the prevention efforts decreased bullying by 15 to 39 percent. In elementary schools, 27 percent more students testified that they would do their best to aid a bullied student after two years of implementation.
With a goal to produce positive changes in school environments regarding bullying, the Highmark Health High 5, HALT! and PA CARES have reduced bullying incidents in schools while nurturing a climate of positive peer relations and adult involvement. By using evidence-based public health programs, bullying has comprehensively been addressed as a major health issue. In the largest OBPP implementation in Pennsylvania and the United States, Highmark also had led the first pilot of OBPP in high schools within the United States. Through the Highmark Foundations public health initiatives, programs such as the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program can remain on the radar of individuals to provide positive changes in school climate and students’ lives while reducing long-term health care expenses.
The Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention at the Windber Research Institute and the Highmark Foundation recently published, “The Cost Benefit of Bullying Prevention: A 
First Time Analysis of Savings“. This report demonstrates the cost benefit of school-based bullying prevention from three perspectives, the perspectives of health care organizations, schools, and society as a whole. Bullying is a pervasive behavior that may have a negative impact on children, sometimes, even into adulthood. Nonetheless, through the implementation of an evidence-based, bullying prevention program, we have demonstrated the ability to allay academic, social, and health adversities related to bullying. While reading “The Cost Benefit of Bullying Prevention: A First Time Analysis of Savings“, please keep in mind that the purpose of this report is to shed light on the benefit of implementing bullying prevention.
Partnership is often a component of successful public health programming. My team, The Center for Health Promotion and Disease at the Windber Research Institute, belongs to larger bullying prevention collaboration that extends throughout the state of Pennsylvania as well as nationally and internationally.
The following research brief, “Preventing Bullying in Schools Through Partnerships” was developed by our collaboration and published by the National Institute on Health Care Management (NICHM)
This spring a few of my bullying prevention collaborators and I were featured speakers of “Creating Safer Schools & Healthier Children: A Model Bullying Prevention Program” webinar, hosted by the National Institute for Health Care Management (NICHM).
Cost Benefit Analysis of Bullying Prevention by Diana Schroeder
Next Steps in Bullying Prevention: Insights for Program Replication by Matt Masiello
Additional information can be found on the NICHM website.
Matt Masiello, M.D., MPH