Impact of an evidence-based training for educators on bystander intervention for the prevention of violence against LGBTI+ youth

Abstract

Research shows that teachers and educators receive scarce scientific evidence-based training and tools to implement effective strategies to stop and prevent violence against LGBTI+ youth in educational institutions. Nonetheless, no data examines pedagogical contents and training initiatives that are providing these professionals with effective strategies and skills. This paper will cover this gap by gathering data on the impact of training workshops that were carried out in five European countries as part of a REC programme project. These workshops were designed to train educators in formal and non-formal contexts about scientific evidence-based content aimed at reaching social impact, such as bystander intervention and the dialogic model of violence prevention. As part of the training, they participated in the debate of a scientific article first hand, thus engaging with direct research. The content, organisation and instruments for data collection were co-created with relevant end-users and researchers who engaged at different meetings in an Advisory Committee. Aimed at collecting the impact of this training, 208 online pre- and post-questionnaires, and 12 semi-structured interviews were analysed. Results show that participants gain knowledge and confidence empowering themselves as active agents in the problem. Thanks to this co-creative and community science approach, participants affirmed they are thinking of applying upstander actions in their working contexts. The trust in the rigour of the content and the interest sparked towards science are also expressed.

Contributions from Research with (and Not without) Roma Women to Social Work during the COVID-19 Pandemic

“…As a recommendation for both social work practice and research, the analyzed cases showed an improvement in the results of the practice when co-creation based on scientific evidence was applied. In other fields, including both criteria has also had a positive social impact [39,43]; therefore, it is argued that research based on co-creation without neglecting the voices of Roma participants reports positive results [10,13,41]. Regarding social work practice, previous research has made recommendations on not neglecting Roma people's voices and on developing evidence-based actions [11].…”

When the Media Omits or Includes Scientific Evidence in Its Publications: Science and Battles on X about Child Sexual Abuse

“…This has shown to foster safety, improve communication channels with diverse adults and other peers, and provide strong coordination between the school and the whole community with the goal of overcoming all types of VAC [33]. The social impact of teacher training about VAC based on scientific evidence of social impact has also been published, showing an increase among teachers of awareness of this violence and preparedness to intervene in educational settings in similar situations [41,44]. In addition, dialogic feminist gatherings, in which students read and engage in egalitarian dialogues around scientific evidence of social impact, have been demonstrated to contribute to overcoming gender-based violence among underage girls [45][46][47].…”