The Strategic Initiatives and Innovations Directorate of the PHAC Innovation Strategy "Equipping Canadians –Mental Health Throughout Life" projects
Knowledge Development and ExchangeMontreal , February 28 and 29, 2012
IS Project: Creating Responsive Communities to Promote Healthy Relationships in Young Children
Bonnie Leadbeater, PhD
Professor, University of Victoria
&
David Valentine, MA
Board President, The Rock Solid Foundation
Objectives
Assess the effectiveness of the WITS program in a RCT
1,658 children and their families and teachers have completed 2 of 5 waves of data in rural WITS and control schools in Alberta, NB, and Ontario
Assessing impact of program on victimization, school climate, mental health, aggression.
Knowledge transfer activities
1. Longitudinal qualitative study of uptake, program use and strategies for sustaining program in 7 rural BC schools
2. Going-to-scale activities
RCMP pilot study
Marketing strategies evaluation
PREVNet collaboration & evaluation tool
Aboriginal dissemination projects in BC and Nunavut
www.witsprograms.ca
Where is WITS working?
Themes in interviews
• Pathways leading to the discovery of the programs,
• Personalizing motivations for learning about and adopting the program in the school context,
• Aligning program characteristics with ongoing teaching strategies, school polices and other programs,
• Influencing others to use the program or to overcome the barriers that challenge program adoption.
“Getting started: Assimilatory processes of uptake of mental health promotion and primary prevention programs in elementary schools.” Leadbeater, Gladstone, Yeung
Thompson, Sukhawathanakul, & Desjardins
• Figure 1: Iterative process of program uptake in elementary schools
One champion describes how she incorporated the WITS Programs into “her program” saying:
• WITS is easy to integrate it into my program. And I am a very big advocate for having children stand up for themselves and giving them the skills they need, because every Friday in my class, we have classroom meetings and you know what, [WITS] goes hand in hand with classroom meetings because in a classroom meeting we have a time where we give everyone compliments, we have a time where they get to discuss how they feel on a scale of one to ten, and we’ll deal with problems that come up. And we also say, well ‘Did you use your WITS?” Can you tell us what you did first to help solving the problem?
Going-to-scale RCMP pilot
RCMP sites
1. Clarenville - Bonavista (Newfoundland & Labrador (population 5,274)
2. Consort (Alberta, 689)
3. Cut Knife (Saskatchewan, 532)
4. Morris (1,700) & Emerson (671) detachments (Manitoba)
5. St. Peter's, Cape Breton (Nova Scotia)
6. Campbelton Detachment (New Brunswick, 7,385)
RCMP feedback - bi-monthly
• French translation needed for national youth officers’ program
•
Marketing strategies: How do people find out about WITS?
Traditional Communication Networks:
Letters• To Members of Parliament and Provincial Ministries• To District Superintendents• To Directors of Instruction• To Health Agencies• To Media Outlets
Faxes• To school districts across Canada
Conference Presentations• Canadian and International
Media Interviews - 2011• 14 news articles• 4 radio/television broadcasts
Online and Social Media Networks:
Google Ads:• At the beginning of school terms • Before professional days• To promote national awareness days (Bullying Awareness Week, Nov. 2011 and Pink Shirt Day February 2012)
Social Media Networks: • WITS YouTube Channel• WITS Vimeo Channel• WITS Facebook Page• WITS Twitter @witsprograms
Online and Social Media Networks:
Online Conversations• Forums• Blogs
Links from other sites:
What are the results?
www.witsprograms.ca
3,919 2,332 1,595
24,68720,558
14,082
6,613
86,212
0
10000
20000
30000
40000
50000
60000
70000
80000
90000
100000
Visits Unique Visits Returning
Visits
Pageviews
Visits To WITS Website
2010-2011
2011-2012
Vis
its
Teacher Accreditation Program Screshos
Mouse over images to enlarge
Questions?Contact us at
WITS Teacher Accreditation ProgramThe WITS Teacher Accreditation Program is a free 90-minute online training module
00639625FORID:9UTF-8Go
What are the results?WITS Training Sites http://moodle.psychology.uvic.ca/
2011-2012
What are the results?
WITS Training Sites http://moodle.psychology.uvic.ca/
2011-2012
PREVNet (Promoting relationships
eliminating violence)
• A national network of Canadian researchers, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and governments committed to stop bullying
• Advancing uptake in Ontario (Limestone District School Board)
• Created a self-assessment tool for schools to monitor effects of prevention programs on children, which will be used in our large scale assessment of impact.