Research About Kidpower
What proof is there that Kidpower actually works?
The feedback our workshop participants give in self-reports and evaluations has been overwhelmingly positive since our establishment, and almost everyone who has had direct experience with our services gives Kidpower a very high rating for relevance, effectiveness, and competence.
Formal Evaluations and Research
Kidpower programs are rigorously and continuously reviewed to ensure that they align with evidence-based prevention and positive child/youth development best practices. In addition to regular participant evaluations, Kidpower programs have undergone multiple formal evaluations by independent evaluation professionals in the US, Canada, and New Zealand. We continue to conduct evaluation studies in order to ensure that our services accomplish our objectives, have lasting impact for our participants, and maintain a high level of quality as we grow.
Links to:
In 2010, thanks to a grant from the Ruddie Memorial Youth Foundation, the firm of Shattuck Applied Research and Evaluation conducted a study on a population of 238 third-grade children in Santa Cruz County that presents evidence of effectiveness of the Kidpower Everyday Safety Skills Program. The researcher utilized a quasi-experimental, time series research design with a matched comparison group. The Kidpower school-based workshop and follow up “booster” sessions were designed to help youth build self-esteem and learn how to prevent bullying, harassment, and violence, thus reducing the risk of victimization and lessening their likelihood of becoming perpetrators during their lifetimes.
The findings demonstrated that the two-hour training and reinforcement activities positively contributed to an immediate increase in children's safety knowledge and that the effect was retained three months after the workshop. The findings demonstrated that children in the treatment group increased their safety skills knowledge in seven core competency areas that were not present in the study’s control group. These results supported our hypothesis that children's safety knowledge was enhanced significantly by the Kidpower Everyday Safety Skills program. This study extends the evidence that Kidpower’s school-based safety skills program can enhance protective factors associated with preventing and stopping most bullying, molestation, violence, and abduction.
In 2006, The Colorado Trust contracted with JVA Consulting, LLC of Denver, Colorado to conduct an evaluation of program outcomes from 2006 to 2008 of the Kidpower Personal Safety Skills Project implemented by Kidpower of Colorado. The Personal Safety Skills Project, a four-year project funded therough the Colorado Trust Bullying Prevention Initiative, was specifically designed to be appropriate to children with developmental disabilities as well as their parents and teachers to reduce bullying, exploitation and abuse of students with special needs. The youth population served included special education students in grades k – 12 from El Paso County School Districts 3, 20, 11, and 49.
Quantative analysis of both instructor and evaluator-ratings revealed a high level of student skill acquisition, particularly related to understanding safety rules with strangers, ability to set physical and emotional boundaries with touch and teasing, and knowledge of how to get help from adults when needed. Parent surveys revealed high levels of confidence in their ability to help their children understand the safety rules with strangers and having the resources to keep their children safe after participation in the program. Qualitative observation of Kidpower workshops revealed that workshops were delivered with concurrent high levels of fidelity to a conceptual model, noted ability to hold the attention of students with a wide range of abilities and needs and responsiveness to individual students’ abilities, circumstances and necessary accommodations.
Abstract of Colorado Trust JVA Report of The Personal Safety Skills Project (PDF)
JVA Report about The Personal Safety Skills Project (PDF)
In 2006, Sylvaine Raymond, an independent university researcher in Quebec, carried out a quantitative scientific evaluation with 130 four- and five-year-olds in daycare in the Vieux-Longueuil borough.
The evaluation clearly demonstrated Kidpower’s ability to implement a program throughout different groups and daycares successfully and consistently with great satisfaction from all parties involved. The evaluation also demonstrated that Kidpower skills produce a globally positive effect on children, beyond their natural learning over time, as well as a positive modification of children’s behavior. It was noted that the children improved particularly in their ability to set boundaries, better handle conflict situations, and adopt safer behaviors.
Summary of the Quebec study (English) (French)
In 2005, thanks to funding from the Todd Foundation, a study with children aged 8-12 was conducted in New Zealand. The research concluded that Kidpower workshops were highly effective in teaching students to seek help for safety, protect themselves from emotional forms of abuse, defend against physical assaults, and know how and when to use self defense techniques appropriately.
Teachers and children further reported after three months that learning the skills increased their confidence and reduced their anxiety due to the positive, fluid, and enjoyable structure of the workshop. Children had the opportunity to empower themselves largely by applying concepts of safety during role-play exercises and developing confidence in the skills they were taught.
Read the summary of the New Zealand study
"Kidpower trainings effectively increase safety awareness and provide skills both children and adult participants can use in their everyday lives."
Kidpower Evaluation Report
Executive Summary 2004
In 2004, LaFrance Associates, with funding from the Lucile Packard Foundation for Children’s Health, evaluated our services for young children.
- Almost 95% of the parents and caregivers of over 550 Head Start children from multi-cultural, low-income families observed that their children were safer because of their Kidpower training.
- Parents and caregivers reported that most of these three- to five-year-old children remembered most of the skills four to nine months after the training.
- Over 90% reported that they personally felt better prepared to explain safety skills to their children.
Read the summary of the Head Start study (PDF)
In 2002, Kim Leisey, Ph.D., conducted her doctoral dissertation, titled The Meaning of Self-Protection Through the Voices of Early Adolescent Girls: Torward a Grounded Theory, analyzing the effects of self-protection training on early adolescent girls trained by Kidpower and similar organizations. In her research she indicated five key categories necessary to the development of self-protection skills: safety, fears, help, staying safe, and confidence. Her research determined that Kidpower trainings integrated all elements that the study group defined as important and necessary to fostering feelings of self-worth and developing skills harmonizing verbal defense, physical knowing, awareness, and mental defense. Participants in the Kidpower trainings felt safer and more secure, and further noted they felt like they knew what to do in most conflict scenarios.