A Stage-Based Expert System for Teen Dating Violence Prevention

描述（由申请人提供）：男性对女性的亲密伴侣暴力占医院急诊科妇女暴力相关伤害的26%，占所有女性凶杀案的33%。青春期为预防亲密伴侣暴力提供了极好的“机会之窗”。亲密关系中的关系模式仍然相对未分化，并容易受到影响。然而，支持传统的、以学校为基础的预防青少年约会暴力项目的证据是混杂的。现有项目的一个主要问题是，它们是“一刀切”的，很难满足学生的不同需求，男孩和女孩，约会的人和没有约会的人，经历过约会暴力的人，肇事者，或两者兼而有之，以及没有经历过约会暴力的人。也许最重要的是，这些干预措施忽视了个人在使用健康、非暴力方式保持无暴力方面的差异。在第一阶段，目标是使用专家系统技术，将青少年约会暴力预防的最佳实践与跨理论模型（TTM），即“阶段模型”相结合，开发一个交互式的多媒体计算机管理的改变计划，提供个性化的干预课程和练习，以适应改变的阶段和其他个人特征。在第二阶段，目标是完成干预包的开发，并在一项随机临床试验中评估其有效性，该试验涉及来自伊利诺伊州20所高中的4,000名青少年。将通过比较干预组和对照组在约会暴力受害和实施、技能使用频率、支持约会暴力的态度和几个次要结果测量方面的效果来评估。公共卫生相关性：拟议的项目是第一个开发多媒体、计算机管理的青少年约会暴力预防项目，该项目基于经验验证的行为改变模型，即跨理论模型。该方案提供针对个人约会史、约会暴力经历、性别和变化阶段的干预措施，以使用健康的关系技巧来避免暴力。干预有可能减少和预防青少年约会暴力及其对身体和情感的影响，并改善青少年现在和未来的生活和关系。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Male-to-female intimate partner violence accounts for 26 percent of violence-related injuries in women presenting in hospital emergency departments and 33 percent of all female homicides. Adolescence provides an excellent "window of opportunity" for the prevention of intimate partner violence. Patterns of relating in intimate relationships are still relatively undifferentiated and open to influence. However, the evidence supporting traditional, school-based programs for the prevention of teen dating violence is mixed. A major problem with existing programs is that they are "one size fits all," making it difficult to meet the diverse needs of students boys and girls, individuals who are dating and those who are not, individuals who have experienced dating violence as a victim, perpetrator, or both, and those who have not. Perhaps most importantly, these interventions neglect individual differences in readiness to use healthy, non-violent ways of relating to stay violence-free. In Phase I the objective was to use expert system technology to integrate best practices for teen dating violence prevention with the Transtheoretical Model (TTM), the "stage model," to develop an interactive, multimedia computer-administered change program that delivers individualized intervention sessions and exercises tailored to stage of change and other individual characteristics. In Phase II, the objective is to complete development of the intervention package and assess its efficacy in a randomized clinical trial involving 4,000 teens from 20 Illinois high schools. Efficacy will be assessed by comparing the intervention and control groups on dating violence victimization and perpetration, frequency of skill use, attitudes supporting dating violence, and several secondary outcome measures. Public Health Relevance: The proposed project is the first to develop a multimedia, computer-administered teen dating violence prevention program based on an empirically validated model of behavior change, the Transtheoretical Model. The program delivers interventions tailored to individual dating history, dating violence experiences, gender, and stage of change for using healthy relationship skills to stay violence free. The intervention has the potential to reduce and prevent teen dating violence and it physical and emotional consequences, and improve the lives and relationships of teens now and in the future.