A Study of a Violence Prevention Program in Prekindergarten Classrooms

Prevention programs in schools are one response to youth, community, and family violence. Many of these programs target older children and adolescents.This quasi-experimental study evaluated the preschool curriculum of the Peacemakers program, which was developed by a consortium of social service agencies for implementation in schools. This program takes a holistic approach with children to promote conflict avoidance, conflict resolution skills, and respect for others. There were 101 children in the experimental group and 60 children in the comparison group. Teachers evaluated the children's skills before and after a five-week period, during which the experimental group received the program. Children completing the training showed statistically significant improvements in skills in contrast to the comparison group. Children's improvements did not vary with the child's gender. This study provides some support for the short-term effectiveness of this approach to enhancing the conflict resolution skills of young children. School social workers are in a position to be aware of young children's exposure to family and community violence and of the long-term effects of this exposure and can advocate in their communities for violence prevention programs that begin early in children's lives.