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Measuring is Key to Improvement – Interventions that Work in Dealing with Youth Aggression
Start date: Sep 1, 2015, End date: Aug 31, 2018 PROJECT  FINISHED 

Context At the EU level, it is estimated that today 20-25% of children between the age of 5-19 fight with learning difficulties and/or behavior issues. Due to deficiencies in the normal development, i.e. lack of proper development of the proprioceptive sense, a lot of behavior observed can be interpreted as aggressive or violent. The Dutch numbers indicate that that in 2011, 48% of the employees in care settings were confronted with aggression. Behavioral problems are not recognized on their own right in Hungary and barely in other project countries. Violence, aggression and juvenile delinquency in some countries are viewed as character flows and not as circumstantial responses of the child. Thus, the common reaction to serious behavioral issues is retaliation and punishment. This is very much so in Hungary, but to some extent it is also true for the other project countries. Thus, complex methodological systems need to be developed and their effectiveness measured in working with kids with serious behavioral problems. Objectives In the long run our project will contribute to enhancing the chances of vulnerable children and youth with serious emotional and behavioral disturbances (EBD) to become happy and productive citizens. Goals: The proposed project targets to categorize and channel the expertise of each participating organization working with kids with EBD into a common methodological base. More specifically, the project will - improve the knowledge, methodology tools, and techniques of professionals working with kids with EBD at the participating organizations and beyond, - increase the ability of professionals working with children with EBD to tailor interventions to individual kids, - facilitate the distillation of the core intervention elements common in the partner organizations’ practice, - improve the availability of the latest methodological and intervention approaches for the broader professional community, and - strengthen the basic competences and entrepreneurial skill of kids with EBD. Profile of partners Pressley Ridge Hungary brings expertise in developing models in the human services fields and transferring them transnationally. They will also share the basis of Re-ED – philosophy of re-education of emotionally disturbed children. UC Limburg has years of experience in training educators/social workers/teachers and organizations in how to deal with aggression as individuals or as organizations. They have also conducted extensive research on aggression management. Jeugdwijs is specialised in working therapeutically with children with emotional and behavioral disorders. They will also contribute the expertise using Social Return on Investment (SROI) concerning youth care. Activities and methodology The 3 main activities of our project are 1. Via Prima – a pilot intervention with troubled and troubling youths in Hungary to develop and run a social entrepreneurship, while learning to manage their own behavior, 2. Developing a model description of Via Prima to ensure the replicability of the model in other settings, 3. Scientific research on existing methods for aggression management and identifying the effective ones. The project will also examine the applicability of SROI in youth care settings and explore the possibilities for implementation. The activities and the results of the partners will be documented in a collection of blog entries that will serve as a methodological knowledge base for professionals working with kids with disturbing behavior. Results and impact The direct beneficiaries of this project are the youths in Salgotarjan and the staff who work at the participating organizations. As a result of the project, - the cooperation and collaboration of the partners will strengthen; - the combination of a direct intervention for kids with EBD (Via Prima), the strong research component and the link to longer-term impact of our work (SROI) will fortify the efforts to create effective intervention models. On completion of the project, the tangible outputs will be: - a research report based on the work and output of the systematic data collection and analysis during the project in the project countries, - a collection of blog entries: about the most used and most effective methods concerning aggression management, about different pathways in youth care, and on small methodology pieces available for frontline staff to use in their everyday practice managing aggression, - an adaptable model description of Via Prima.
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