Type of intervention     

Educational classroom setting and interactive workshops.   

Target group/s, level/s of prevention and sub-group/s:   

Primary prevention

Programmes targeted towards children aged 6-12, college students and professionals working with children. A programme for 3-5 year old children is in development.  Further partnerships include working with Oregon Tradeswomen and the United States Air Force to address interpersonal violence and aggression.   

Target population     

Children and adults.   

Delivery organisation     

Green Dot Bystander Intervention (Alteristic) was developed by Dr Dorothy Edwards. They seek to engender community change through individual actions and influences to create a safe and equitable society.

Mode and context of delivery  

Bystander intervention training programmes are targeted towards various age groups and catered to align to age specific risks, experiences and learning approaches. They programme considers preventing sexual violence through social change theory, by targeting young people and community members and encouraging them to consider their role as bystanders. By raising awareness, educating about sexual violence, developing skills and encouraging intolerance to violence participants can being their training into their everyday lives and relationships. Therefore, the programme seeks to combat current concepts within society and engender new attitudes towards sexual violence within the community.   

Level/Nature of staff expertise required    

Alteristic trainers

Intensity/extent of engagement with target group(s)    

Workshop delivery to teachers and educational staff followed by intervention sessions with the target audience. These can last between 2-6 hours depending on age. Further training can be delivered to small groups of students as part of the Student Leadership Training programme.   

Description of intervention 

The Green Dot symbolises attitudes, words and behaviours which enable the wellbeing of everyone, and which demonstrate intolerance for abusive actions. In the first stage of the programme teachers and educators are trained to recognise risk and support their students.

Within the Bystander Training, students complete interactive sessions which vary depending on age group and desired outcome. These sessions typically include the following modules:

• Introduction to Green Dot: Participants learn the basic tenets of Green Dot and the role of a bystander. They also consider their role in the world and use this as their foundation to consider their role as a bystander for the remainder of the course.
• Recognising Red Dots: Red dots are introduced as harmful instances such as abusive behaviours or catcalling. This can be tailored to the needs of the age group and may consider areas such as stalking, sexual violence, bullying and dating violence, all considered as examples of power-based personal violence. Abuses are considered from a bystander perspective to recognise the warning signs and enable participants to use their Green Dots to minimise the chance of Red Dots. Participants are encouraged to take a nuanced approach to differentiate between normal behaviours and those which are harmful.
• Identifying Self-Defining Moments and Overcoming Obstacles: Participants are assisted in looking inwards to recognise their barriers to intervening. The key areas considered are bystander dynamics, peer influence and personal objectives. The three D’s of bystander intervention are introduced to encourage behaviour change: direct (interact with the potential perpetrator and victim to explain the concern), distract (or diffuse attention from the situation) and delegate (get help). This allows participants to understand there are various options available depending on the situation.
• Proactive and Reactive Green Dots: Participants develop a range of Green Dots they can utilise. Reactive Green Dots are in response to a harmful behaviour and promote that violence is not tolerated and everyone is responsible for maintaining one another’s safety. Proactive Green Dots seek to reframe cultural norms and encourage active bystander participation in society by asking participants to consider who they can influence.

Further training can be delivered to smaller groups of students as Student Leadership Training. This further develops skills and understanding of harmful behaviours so they can recognise this among their peers. Moreover, it creates a pool of influential students within the community to promote social change.   

Evaluation     

In a comparison of 7945 college students, those who had received Green Dot training reported lower rape myth acceptance and greater levels of active bystander behaviour. (Coker et al., 2011)

Students attending a college which implemented Green Dot in 2008 were compared with students at two control institutions. Participants completed surveys between 2010 and 2013 with interpersonal violence victimisation and perpetration lower in the college with Green Dot implemented.  (Coker et al., 2016)

A randomised control trial of 73044 high school students reported that completing Green Dot training caused a reduction in acceptance of dating violence and sexual violence. (Coker et al., 2019)

References     

Coker, A. L., Cook-Craig, P. G., Williams, C. M., Fisher, B. S., Clear, E. R., Garcia, L. S., & Hegge, L. M. (2011). Evaluation of Green Dot: An active bystander intervention to reduce sexual violence on college campuses. Violence Against Women. Retrieved from https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1077801211410264

Coker, A. L., Bush, H. M., Fisher, B. S., Swan, S. C., Williams, C. M., Clear, E. R., & DeGue, S. (2016). Multi-college bystander Intervention evaluation for violence prevention. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 50(3), 295-302. Retrieved from https://www.ajpmonline.org/article/S0749-3797(15)00553-X/fulltext

Coker, A. L., Bush, H. M., Brancato, C. J., Clear, E. R., & Recktenwald, E. A. (2019). Bystander programme effectiveness to reduce violence acceptance: RCT in high schools. Journal of Family Violence, 34, 153-164. Retrieved from https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10896-018-9961-8

Further reports and research articles relating to Green Dot can be found here: https://alteristic.org/progress/   

Contact details     

Website:  https://alteristic.org/

Address: 228 S. Washington #B10 Alexandria, VA 22314

Email via contact form: https://alteristic.org/info/

Call: +1/5713190354

RATING: Effective

INFORMATION CORRECT AT JUNE 2021