Qualitative evaluation of the Mentors in Violence Prevention pilot in Scottish high schools

Objective The Mentors in Violence Prevention (MVP) program originated in the US and adopts a bystander approach to gender-based violence prevention by harnessing group processes using a peer-learning model. This paper presents the first qualitative evaluation, within a European context, of a pilot application of MVP within a Scottish High School setting. Method The evaluation comprises a series of interviews and focus groups with school staff, and pupils (‘mentors’ and ‘mentees’) at three participating schools. The study’s research purposes are to explore: 1. Experiences of participating in MVP; 2. Participants’ perceived impact of MVP (with regards attitudinal and behavioral change with a particular emphasis upon social norms); and 3. Participants’ opinions on the relevance and sustainability of MVP. Results All three categories of participant reported generally positive experiences of MVP in terms of recruitment, training, and implementation. The peer-learning model was particularly useful in engaging mentees, and facilitating support networks outside the classroom. Moreover, positive attitudinal and behavioral change regarding gender-based violence was reported by all three participant categories, but was particularly prevalent amongst mentors. However, participants highlighted the importance of ensuring MVP is culturally relevant, and the need for integration into school life to ensure its sustainability. Conclusions An initial qualitative analysis of MVP within Scottish High Schools suggests the peer-learning program was experienced positively, with self-reported impact on gender-based violence attitudes and behaviors (including bystander intervention). A number of recommendations have been made to inform future implementation of MVP, and the need for robust, on-going evaluation.PostprintPeer reviewe

Engaged followership and organisational misconduct

Work on this paper was supported by a pump-priming grant from the British Psychological Society.PostprintPeer reviewe

Violence brief interventions: a rapid review

Provision of a Violence Brief Intervention (VBI) to young men undergoing treatment for a violent injury may represent a teachable moment for the prevention of future interpersonal violence in Scotland. Prior to intervention design, a rapid review of the research literature was necessary to examine existing programmes. After title and abstract screening, eight distinct VBIs were identified from full texts. Whilst none of the programmes were a perfect match for our intervention goals, they did demonstrate the potential effectiveness of brief interventions for violence prevention at both cognitive and behavioural levels. Key themes of successful interventions included brief motivational interviewing as an effective method of engaging with at-risk participants and encouraging change, the utility of social norms approaches for correcting peer norm misperceptions, the usefulness of working with victims of violence in medical settings (particularly oral and maxillofacial surgeries), the importance of addressing the role of alcohol after violent injury, the advantages of a computer-therapist hybrid model of delivery, and the need for adequate follow-up evaluation as part of a randomised control trial. This information has been used to design a VBI which is currently under evaluation

Parental misperceptions of ingroup norms for child discipline

This work is based on research supported in part by the National Research Foundation of South Africa (grants numbered IFR2011033100037 and IFR170206222035) and the Economic and Social Research Council (ES/N01068X/1).The influence of perceived social norms on behaviour has been studied in a variety of domains. However, little research has examined their application to child discipline. This study explored social norms perceptions and their associations with parental discipline in greater Cape Town, South Africa. A cross‐sectional study of 195 mothers (using convenience sampling) from two Early Childhood Development centres examined self‐reported violent and non‐violent parenting behaviour, and perceived descriptive (usual behaviour in a group) and injunctive (appraisal of such behaviour) group norms. Parents overestimated the prevalence of violent parenting. Perceived descriptive norms of violent parenting were associated with self‐reported violent parenting behaviour; and perceived descriptive norms of non‐violent parenting were associated with self‐reported non‐violent parenting behaviour. Estimation of support for violent and for non‐violent parenting differed by centre, as did the relationship between perceived injunctive norms of non‐violent parenting and self‐reported non‐violent parenting behaviour. We also found significant effects of social identification, parent educational attainment and parent‐reported child misbehaviour. Parents' perceptions of group norms of parental discipline may be mistaken yet influence their own behaviour, providing the potential basis for violence prevention interventions.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Re-reading the 2011 riots: ESRC beyond contagion interim report

Background to the 2011 riots • While an extraordinary amount has been written and said about the 2011 English riots, very little has been based on systematic evidence. The present interim report summarizes findings so far from a research programme based on a comprehensive data-set, which seeks to develop a new way of talking and thinking about the process by which riots spread from location to location. • Some of the dominant accounts of the riots - as mindless destruction or ‘criminality pure and simple’1 - obscure understanding and feed into flawed policy responses. • This study drew upon multiple archive sources, interviews with rioters (gathered as part of the Guardian/LSE Reading the Riots project), contextual information about riot locations, and police crime data. We used these data to construct histories of some of the most significant riots in August 2011, to test predictive models, and to analyse participants’ experiences. Myths of the riots • The idea that those who participated were overwhelmingly convicted criminals or that their actions were typically indiscriminate are not supported by the Home Office’s data. • Like many other riots, the rioting in Tottenham happened after a drawn-out process rather than a single ‘spark’. In each location, conflict with the police and power-reversal in a local deprived estate was often the point at which smaller skirmishes became a mass event. Motives for the riots • There were significant differences between London boroughs that saw rioting and those that did not. Immediately prior to the riots, the former had significantly more deprivation, many more police ‘stop and searches’, and more negative attitudes to the police. • We found that anti-police sentiment among participants was a significant factor in who joined in and what they did. One reason given for this hostility was experiences of ‘stop and search’ in the community. • Shared anti-police sentiment formed the basis of a common identity, superseding ‘postcode rivalries’, and enabling coordinated action against police targets. • In addition, many people saw themselves in opposition to a societal system they perceived as unjust and illegitimate; this made looting acceptable to many of them. Understanding the spread of the riots • To explain waves of riots, in place of the concept of ‘contagion’ - the notion that people simply copied others in a mindless and automatic way - we propose a new model of riot spread as identity-based collective empowerment. • Rioting spread in various different ways. The first spread - from Tottenham High Road to Tottenham Hale and Wood Green - occurred as police dispersed rioters yet were unable to prevent their actions. • Here and elsewhere, there was a pattern whereby community or anti-police rioting was the basis of subsequent commodity rioting (involving looting) as well as attacks on wealth. • Close examination of the spread of rioting from North to South London suggests that Brixton participants often identified with Tottenham, and were influenced to riot out of anger and a sense of injustice at the killing of Mark Duggan. This would explain why Brixton was the first place to riot in South London. • Many more of those in Croydon and Clapham, however, were more influenced by the perception of police vulnerability across London. The impact of police vulnerability in providing ‘vicarious’ empowerment for those who identified as anti-police may have been a general process, explaining riot spread across England. • In all the locations we looked at, local identities and networks mediated the impact of rioting in other locations: most people interviewed were influenced by what they thought relevant others locally were prepared to do. • Some police tactics seem to have inadvertently facilitated spread to different locations. These tactics included clearing town centres of shoppers and using proactive methods in those locations they feared would riot

Social identification and risk dynamics : how perceptions of (inter)personal and collective risk impact the adoption of COVID-19 preventative behaviors

This work was supported by the UK Research and Innovation/Economic and Social Research Council (grant reference number ES/V005383/1).Public adoption of preventative behaviors to reduce the transmission of COVID-19 is crucial to managing the pandemic, and so it is vital to determine what factors influence the uptake of those behaviors. Previous studies have identified COVID-19 risk perceptions as a key factor, but this work has typically been limited both in assuming that risk means risk to the personal self, and in being reliant on self-reported data. Drawing on the social identity approach, we conducted two online studies in which we investigated the effects of two different types of risk on preventative measure taking: risk to the personal self and risk to the collective self (i.e., members of a group with which one identifies). Both studies involved behavioral measures using innovative interactive tasks. In Study 1 (n = 199; data collected 27 May 2021), we investigated the effects of (inter)personal and collective risk on physical distancing. In Study 2 (n = 553; data collected 20 September 2021), we investigated the effects of (inter)personal and collective risk on the speed at which tests are booked as COVID-19 symptoms develop. In both studies, we find that perceptions of collective risk, but not perceptions of (inter)personal risk, influence the extent to which preventative measures are adopted. We discuss the implications both conceptually (as they relate to both the conceptualization of risk and social identity processes) and also practically (in terms of the implications for public health communications).Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Violence brief interventions : a rapid review

This research was funded by the Violence Reduction Unit (Police Scotland).Provision of a Violence Brief Intervention (VBI) to young men undergoing treatment for a violent injury may represent a teachable moment for the prevention of future interpersonal violence in Scotland. Prior to intervention design, a rapid review of the research literature was necessary to examine existing programmes. After title and abstract screening, eight distinct VBIs were identified from full texts. Whilst none of the programmes were a perfect match for our intervention goals, they did demonstrate the potential effectiveness of brief interventions for violence prevention at both cognitive and behavioural levels. Key themes of successful interventions included brief motivational interviewing as an effective method of engaging with at-risk participants and encouraging change, the utility of social norms approaches for correcting peer norm misperceptions, the usefulness of working with victims of violence in medical settings (particularly oral and maxillofacial surgeries), the importance of addressing the role of alcohol after violent injury, the advantages of a computer-therapist hybrid model of delivery, and the need for adequate follow-up evaluation as part of a randomised control trial. This information has been used to design a VBI which is currently under evaluation.PostprintPeer reviewe

Core disgust is attenuated by ingroup relations

We present the first experimental evidence to our knowledge that ingroup relations attenuate core disgust and that this helps explain the ability of groups to coact. In study 1, 45 student participants smelled a sweaty t-shirt bearing the logo of another university, with either their student identity (ingroup condition), their specific university identity (outgroup condition), or their personal identity (interpersonal condition) made salient. Self-reported disgust was lower in the ingroup condition than in the other conditions, and disgust mediated the relationship between condition and willingness to interact with target. In study 2, 90 student participants smelled a sweaty target t-shirt bearing either the logo of their own university, another university, or no logo, with either their student identity or their specific university identity made salient. Walking time to wash hands and pumps of soap indicated that disgust was lower where the relationship between participant and target was ingroup rather than outgroup or ambivalent (no logo)

Beyond 'stampedes' : towards a new psychology of crowd crush disasters

Funders: the Economic and Social Research Council (grant reference number ES/T007249/1).The Bethnal Green tube shelter disaster, in which 173 people died, is a significant event in both history and psychology. While notions of “panic” and “stampede” have been discredited in contemporary psychology and disaster research as explanations for crowd crushes, some have cited Bethnal Green as the exception that proves the rule. Alternative explanations for crushing disasters focus on mismanagement and physical factors, and lack a psychology. We analysed 85 witness statements from the Bethnal Green tragedy to develop a new psychological account of crowd disasters. Contrary to the established view of the Bethnal Green disaster as caused by widespread public overreaction to the sound of rockets, our analysis suggests that public perceptions were contextually calibrated to a situation of genuine threat; that only a small minority misperceived the sound; and that therefore this cannot account for the surge behaviour in the majority. We develop a new model, in which crowd flight behaviour in response to threat is normatively structured rather than uncontrolled, and in which crowd density combines with both limited information on obstruction and normatively expected ingress behaviour to create a crushing disaster.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Preliminary research informing policy on remote alcohol monitoring in criminal justice : the Scottish experience

This study was funded in part by a grant from the Scottish Violence Reduction Unit to Peter D Donnelly (no grant number) and partly by a grant from the Scottish School of Public Health to Fergus G Neville (no grant number).Objectives. To explore the views of Scottish offenders on the impact of alcohol on their experience of offending and their lives in general. Further, to explore their views on the concept of Remote Alcohol Monitoring (RAM) as a way to address alcohol misuse upon liberation from prison. Methods. A convenience sample of 12 serving offenders participated in one of three focus groups.Data were analysed using the principles of thematic analysis. Results. Analysis of the data revealed the significant impact of alcohol on the lives of the participants. Key themes included the amount and frequency of alcohol consumption; the association of alcohol with harm; the association of alcohol with offending; previous attempts to reduce alcohol consumption and possible reasons for failure; and the views of the participants on the utility of RAM in relation to crime prevention. Conclusions. This group of offenders had significant issues with alcohol misuse prior to incarceration that had impacted on their offending and resulted in a variety of health and social harms. Participants were generally positive but pragmatic about RAM, recognising that technology alone may not be enough to change deeply ingrained and addictive behaviours.PostprintPeer reviewe