Research In Action

In my current role with the Center for Violence Prevention, I provide consultation and training to health providers on how to support youth who are experiencing bullying. Earlier this year, I was invited to present at a Jefferson Hospital conference on trauma and injury prevention. Through this conference I met Sara Weir, traffic safety manager for AAA Club Alliance. She invited me to collaborate on a module about bullying to include in the curriculum developed for the AAA School Safety Patrol program, a 100-year-old student volunteer program that trains young people to be leaders who promote safety in and around their schools. While the School Safety Patrol program traditionally focused on traffic safety, its scope has broadened to include social and emotional safety. Because most school-aged children are exposed to bullying as a bystander, bully, or victim, our partnership on this project was a natural fit. 

For this collaboration, I contributed evidence-based strategies from school-based bullying and aggression prevention research to help develop a module called “Understanding Bullying” that could be added to the online collection of lessons and resources for Safety Patrollers, their coordinators, and their classmates. Sara used her expertise and knowledge of the program to turn this content into a visually appealing and age-appropriate slide show and video. The lesson educates youth on the nature of bullying and emphasizes positive bystander behavior as a helpful way of reducing aggression. To prevent the Patrollers from getting into stressful or dangerous situations, the lesson instructs them to involve an adult for guidance and help with responding to bullying in many cases. 

On October 30th, during National Bullying Prevention Month, I was happy to join my AAA colleagues at Pennell School in Aston, PA to present our new lesson to the Safety Patrollers there. They were enthusiastic participants and their questions and comments showed what conscientious students they are--eager to promote safety and positive behavior at their school. As peer leaders, AAA’s Safety Patrollers are well-positioned to influence their peers and discourage bullying! 

Download the bullying prevention module from the AAA School Safety Patrol website.