Abstract

Violent injury is among the leading causes of death in adolescents. Adolescents' immaturity and underdeveloped impulse control put them at risk of acting rashly, thus at higher risk for violent injury. This significant public health problem is a preventive objective of Healthy People 2000. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of an educational intervention on adolescents' knowledge and attitudes about violence. The nurse practitioner in a school or family clinic is in a unique position to intervene with adolescent clients using an educational intervention. Orem's Self-Care Deficit Theory served as the theoretical framework for the research. Two research questions were utilized, the first concerning adolescent knowledge about violence pre- and post-intervention and the second concerning adolescent attitudes about violence pre- and post- intervention. The null hypothesis stated there will be no significant difference in pretest and posttest knowledge scores for adolescents who attend an 1 1 1 educational intervention about violence. A pre­ experiment al , pretest-posttest, one-group design was used. The setting for the research was in a middle school in a small, rural, economically-disadvantaged town in the Southeastern United States. The 77 subjects' ages ranged from 12 to 15 years. Data analysis revealed that students' knowledge increased slightly after the intervention, but that increase was not statistically significant. Therefore, the null hypothesis was accepted. Changes in attitudes, as well as significant additional findings, revealed that students who already had violent tendencies were unaffected or negatively affected by the intervention. Younger students generally had a more positive response than older ones.

Degree

Master of Science in Nursing (MSN)

Department

Graduate Nursing

Degree Date

8-1-1998

Publication Number

27919844

First Advisor

Lorraine Hamm

Second Advisor

Melinda Rush

Document Type

Thesis

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