Promoting healthy relationships and preventing unhealthy behaviors, such as bullying and teen dating violence, among young adolescents was the goal of this study. This developmentally appropriate project used interactive theater to deliver a healthy message. Students in 7 th grade health classes (N = 114) participated in the interactive theater intervention, a program that consisted of three consecutive performances and one follow-up day. This article reports on community-based research related to the development of a theater script in collaboration with a local theater group, the feasibility of using this innovative format as an intervention method, and lessons learned in collaborating with community partners.
Keywordscommunity-based participatory research; early adolescents; interactive theater; bullying; teen dating violence; school-based intervention; violence prevention Creative, appealing programs using community-based participatory research (CBPR) methods can be an effective means of teaching youth how to recognize and form healthy peer and beginning romantic relationships. However, such programs are often implemented without being integrated to rigorous research designs that will ultimately yield reliable, generalizable evidence. Promising studies are frequently conducted with homogenous samples and rarely replicated in larger, more diverse samples. With this in mind, as a first step, a CBPR study to evaluate the effectiveness of using interactive theater methodology to promote health and prevent violence in a sample of young adolescents of middle school age was conducted.The purpose of this article is to report on a CBPR approach related to the development of a theater script in collaboration with a local theater group, and the feasibility of using this innovative format as an intervention method with middle school youth. The overall goal of the project was to promote healthy relationships and prevent unhealthy behaviors, such as bullying, sexual bullying, and teen dating violence, among young adolescent students. The objectives were to: (a) collaborate with a local theater group to develop and write a script that addresses healthy/unhealthy relationships, including peer teasing/bullying, sexual bullying/harassment, and early signs of dangerous teen relationships; and then, (b) develop and adapt an interactive theater performance that is culturally and developmentally appropriate for middle school youth. Lessons learned from implementing this intervention are reported to promote the use of creative approaches by helping other community-based NIH Public Access
Community-based Participatory ResearchCBPR, also known as community-based research, community-wide research, communityinvolved research, or community-centered research, aims to improve the health and wellbeing of communities by addressing identified needs (Israel, Schulz, Parker, & Becker, 1998). Community partners are involved at the inception of the research project. Israel et al. (1998) reviewed CBPR approaches and identified key princi...