Topic: Intimate Partner Violence, Relationships
Target Population: Adolescents, Parents
Sector: School-Based
This program is for middle and high school students and their parents.
Safe Dates, a multisector school- and community-based dating abuse-prevention and intervention program, is designed to stop or prevent psychological, physical, and sexual abuse among dating adolescents.
A randomized controlled trial found that participants in the Safe Dates program reported significant decreases in perpetration of psychological and sexual abuse and violence at the 1-month follow-up. At the 1-year follow-up, there were significant effects on violence perpetration among minority students and on peer-violence victimization and school weapon carrying in all intervention students compared to control students. At the 2-, 3-, and 4-year follow-up periods, adolescents who participated in the program reported decreases in psychological and moderate physical and sexual dating-violence perpetration and moderate physical dating-violence victimization.
The Safe Dates program intends to increase awareness regarding dating abuse and help participants develop skills they can use to support healthy relationships. This program focuses on defining and understanding healthy versus abusive dating relationships; providing resources to help youth in abusive dating relationships; and developing skills, such as communication, anger management, and conflict resolution. The program uses primary (school) and secondary (community) prevention activities and consists of the following components:
School
The community component consists of support groups and activities for youth and provides information to parents. Community activities intend to change norms associated with partner violence, decrease gender stereotyping, improve conflict management skills, change beliefs about the need for help, increase awareness of services for victims and perpetrators of partner violence, increase help-seeking behaviors, and enhance the availability of dating violence services from which youth can seek help.
A newsletter is sent to youths’ homes, and a phone call from a health educator is made after the mailing. During the phone call, the educator answers questions and provides additional information. In addition, teachers are encouraged to connect with community resources by locating and using community domestic-violence and sexual-assault information, products, and services that provide health information.
This program has been implemented in the United States, Australia, Canada, Chile, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Japan, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, and the United Kingdom.
This program may be delivered by a facilitator from an outside organization or by classroom teachers. A 2-day online training is available and costs $895 per person. Please visit https://www.hazelden.org/store/publicpage/safe-dates-training or use details in the Contact section to learn more.
Considerations for implementing this program include acquiring school administration, teacher, and student buy-in and parental consent; ensuring facilitators complete training; and finding time and space to incorporate the curriculum and various program activities into an existing schedule.
The Clearinghouse can help address these considerations. Please call 1-877-382-9185 or email Clearinghouse@psu.edu
If you are interested in implementing Safe Dates, the Clearinghouse is interested in helping you!
Please call 1-877-382-9185 or email Clearinghouse@psu.edu
The Safe Dates curriculum consists of 10 45- to 50-minute sessions that can be delivered daily or weekly and a 45-minute play.
Implementation costs include a facilitator's salary, the cost of purchasing the curriculum, and the cost of printing program materials. According to Luo et al. (2022), implementation costs for the Safe Dates program range from $2,848 to $17,840 per year. The Safe Dates Third Edition curriculum costs $395. Please visit https://www.hazelden.org/store/item/545255 for more information.
To move Safe Dates to the Effective category on the Clearinghouse Continuum of Evidence at least one external randomized controlled trial must be conducted that demonstrates positive outcomes. This study must be conducted independently of the program developer.
The Clearinghouse can help you develop an evaluation plan to ensure the program components are meeting your goals. Please call 1-877-382-9185 or email Clearinghouse@psu.edu
Contact the Clearinghouse with any questions regarding this program.
Phone: 1-877-382-9185 Email: Clearinghouse@psu.edu
You may also contact Hazelden Publishing by mail PO Box 176, Center City, MN 55012-0176, phone 1-800-328-9000, or visit https://www.hazelden.org/store/publicpage/contact-us
Foshee, V. A., Bauman, K. E., Arriaga, X. B., Helms, R. W., Koch, G. G., & Linder, G. F. (1998). An evaluation of Safe Dates, an adolescent dating violence prevention program. American Journal of Public Health, 88(1), 45-50. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.88.1.45
Foshee, V. A., Bauman, K. E., Ennett, S. T., Linder, G. F., Benefield, T., & Suchindran, C. (2004). Assessing the long-term effects of the Safe Dates program and a booster in preventing and reducing adolescent dating violence victimization and perpetration. American Journal of Public Health, 94(4), 619-624. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.94.4.619
Foshee, V. A., Bauman, K. E., Ennett, S. T., Suchindran, C., Benefield, T., & Linder, G. F. (2005). Assessing the effects of the dating violence prevention program "Safe Dates" using random coefficient regression modeling. Prevention Science, 6(3), 245-258. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11121-005-0007-0
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Kan, M. L., Palen, L., Hill, J. L., Herrman, J. W., Williams, J. D., & Feinberg, M. E. (2021). Preventing intimate partner violence among teen mothers: A pilot study. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 30(1), 87-97. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-020-01831-0
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Estefan, L. F., Vivolo-Kantor, A. M., Niolon, P. H., Le, V. D., Tracy, A. J., Little, T. D., … McIntosh, W. L. (2021). Effects of the Dating Matters® comprehensive prevention model on health- and delinquency-related risk behaviors in middle school youth: A cluster-randomized controlled trial. Prevention Science, 22(2), 163-174. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11121-020-01114-6
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