Preventing Teen Violence: There’s an App for That

The app draws on PIRC’s extensive research into evidence-based measures to end relationship violence and builds upon the success of its uSafeUS^® mobile app for college students. “Feedback from colleges consistently told us that we needed to help students learn healthy behaviors earlier,” says Sharyn Potter, professor of women’s and gender studies and executive director of research for PIRC.

Currently a prototype that was piloted recently at seven high schools, uSafeHS™ addresses the five most common types of high school violence: hazing, bullying, sexual and identity harassment, as well as teen dating, and sexual assault. Research shows that these negative behaviors, sometimes dismissed as “part of growing up,” affect more than their victims; if unchecked, they can escalate over time, putting an entire school community at risk for more serious forms of school violence.

“Students often don’t know what to do when faced with behaviors like bullying,” says Potter. Micro-learning modules in the app, based on a widely adopted social emotional learning framework, teach students how to respond safely, build positive relationships and practice self-care. The learning is gamified to keep students engaged. The app also includes Time to LeaveTM, an innovative feature of the college-focused uSafeUS® app that lets users send themselves a fake text or call giving them a reason to leave an uncomfortable situation.

“Students have problems 24-7, so uSafeHS is with them 24-7 in a form students are most comfortable with — their phones,” Potter says.

This is PIRC’s second NSF grant for this initiative; the first enabled the team to extensively research requirements, build, and test the prototype. With this three-year grant, they’ll take the app into 40 schools with the ultimate goal of widespread distribution and commercialization.