CAP Curriculum Evaluations/Studies 1987 to 2007:
- 1987 – Binder and McNiel – Study found that 5 to l2-year-old children displayed higher knowledge scores on prevention strategies after participating in the elementary CAP workshop. Parents completed a questionnaire on children’s anxiety before and after the program. It was concluded that the CAP program did not produce fear or any negative effects which is a concern to parents and educators.
- 1989 – Nibert, Cooper and Ford –Evaluation analyzed the responses of 223 parents of children attending the preschool CAP program and 116 preschool children at two different sites. The two groups of children were socio- economically and racially diverse. The study demonstrated that very young children are able to learn and use prevention strategies.
- 1991 –Conte and Fogarty (University of Chicago) –Evaluation took place in two New Jersey elementary schools and found that older children learned and retained more CAP strategies than the younger students.
- 2000 –Stetic and Vidovic (Department of Psychology in Zagreb, Croatia) –Evaluation conducted in collaboration with “Step by Step” Parents’ Association of Croatia. Evaluation indicates that CAP had important effects: initiated peer communication as well as communication between children, parents and teachers about child abuse. Parents, teachers and principles estimate that children successfully acquired prevention strategies, and children find new knowledge useful and had applied strategies after the training.
- 2001 –Hebert, Lavoie, Piche, Poitras (University of Quebec at Montreal) –Evaluation conducted in collaboration with the CAP ESPACE program, Quebec. It found that 95% of the children and their parents perceived benefit from attending the elementary CAP workshop. Two-thirds of the parents reported their child had initiated discussion of the program’s content and of prevention concepts at home following their participation in the workshop. Students appeared to gain knowledge and prevention skills through the workshops. The knowledge gained by the children appeared to be maintained at the two-month follow-up. (For additional information on study contact Regroupment des Organismes Espace du Quebec www.roeq.qc.ca.).
- 2004 –Borys and Reisser (NJ DHS Report) – Study delivered very strong findings compiling project data over a 5 year period of the New Jersey CAP project. In an analysis of surveys of over 3,400 school administrators and almost 25,000 teachers, Borys and Reisser wrote “In addition, teachers and school administrators have consistently rated the NJ CAP program very positively. As an example, more than 90% of administrators gave not even one negative rating to any aspect of the CAP program. The fact that less than 7% of the administrators had anything negative to say about the program over a five year period is a strong endorsement and demonstration of support. These findings remain stable regardless of the year or program showing a very high level of consistency for the CAP model.” (For additional information on this study contact New Jersey CAP project at 856-374-5001 or visit www.njcap.org ).
- 2004 – VanAlst – (Center for Children and Families, Rutgers University) – Study involved students from a New Jersey school. The study found that youth who had received the CAP program had statistically significant higher levels of self-esteem and greater knowledge of how to handle bullying, abuse and assault situations than youth who had not received the intervention. In addition, CAP participants had higher levels of mastery and were willing to report abusive situations to adults than youth who had not received the intervention.
- 2005 – Dr. Anita Baker, Inc.(NJ Independent Research Team) . – Study conducted in several New Jersey schools by surveying 1,561 parents/guardians who had CAP workshops. Of these, almost all indicated that they had increased their knowledge or awareness regarding child assault prevention, including their responsibilities to report. Also surveyed were 209 school administrators that had CAP in their schools and found “a substantial majority of school officials who responded to the follow-up survey (80%+) reported that those students at their schools who needed to had used CAP strategies to handle assault, to prevent assault by someone known to them and to prevent assault by strangers. They provided numerous descriptions of actual cases where students had demonstrated or told them about using CAP strategies”.
- 2006-07 –Dr Valerie LaMastro, (Center for Addiction Studies, Rowan University) – Conducted a survey of 589 support staff across the state of New Jersey. Results suggest “that support staff should routinely be exposed to bullying prevention efforts, particularly because less than half currently receive such training. Consistently including these individuals in training efforts will aid in creating a more inclusive and supportive school climate.”
