Multimedia Program to Promote Positive Bus Behavior

Oregon Center for Applied Science, Inc.710 enrolled

Overview

This project evaluated a multimedia student behavior management program for school bus drivers and school administrators.

We developed a comprehensive multimedia training program for transportation departments. In the Driver's Seat: A Roadmap to Managing Student Behavior on the Bus guides transportation departments in creating and maintaining a safe, responsible, and positive environment on the bus through drivers' use of effective student behavior management techniques. The program teaches skills for the bus context based on the principles of positive behavior supports and the foundational work of Sprick and colleagues (Sprick, 1990; Sprick, Garrison, \& Howard, 2002; Sprick, Sprick, \& Garrison, 1992). In the Driver's Seat was designed as a stand-alone DVD-based training program for school bus drivers of elementary schools, using video examples presenting real driver and student interactions on the bus. A computer-based program for transportation supervisors supplemented the driver training materials and included information for supervisors about developing and maintaining department-wide transportation policies, as well as an overview of the bus driver training materials and instructions for their use. The components of the In the Driver's Seat bus driver training program could be implemented by a transportation team without the need of an expert and could be used to train new personnel or review and refresh veteran personnel's skills. The DVD-based component was designed for use by a transportation supervisor or driver trainer in a group setting with drivers and augmented the material presented in the drivers' program.

Study Type

INTERVENTIONAL

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Masking

NONE

Enrollment

710

Conditions

Student Behavior

Interventions

In the Drivers SeatBEHAVIORAL

Multimedia student behavior management program for school bus drivers and school administrators

School bus driver training videosBEHAVIORAL

Basic bus driving safety videos

Eligibility

Sex: ALLMin age: 5 YearsMax age: 65 YearsHealthy volunteers:

Medical Language ↔ Plain English

Inclusion Criteria: * Bus drivers and administrators will be 18 or older. * All subjects must be employed by elementary or middle schools. Exclusion Criteria: * Excluded from the study will be bus drivers and administrators not in elementary schools * Staff who are not bus drivers or administrators for elementary or middle schools will also be excluded.

Locations (1)

Oregon Center for Applied Science

Eugene, Oregon, United States

Outcomes

Primary Outcomes

Attitudes and beliefs regarding bus climate

The Attitudes and Beliefs regarding Bus Climate items consisted of a total of 27 questions that assessed drivers in the following areas: (1) relationships with students; (2) understanding how to respond to student behavior; (3) interactions with students; (4) drivers' perception of their own bus climate; (5) communication with other drivers; and (6) departmental support for behavior management. For each of the attitudes and beliefs items, drivers were asked how much they agreed, or disagreed, with key statements. For example: "Bus drivers treat students respectfully." The second attitudes/beliefs items assessed drivers' job satisfaction by asking for the driver's level of agreement with statements such as, "I feel like my job is important." Response options were the same for all attitudes/beliefs items: "1=Agree a lot, 5=disagree a lot."

Time frame: up to 60-day follow up

Secondary Outcomes

Self-efficacy in managing misbehavior

Drivers' self-efficacy was assessed by two sets of items. The first set of items assessed drivers' confidence in knowing best ways to deal with misbehaviors. These included 10 items that asked drivers to rate their level of confidence in knowing how to handle specific student misbehaviors such as inappropriate behavior or students physically hurting other students. The second set of items assessed drivers' confidence in using specific strategies. These were four items developed from the program content; e.g., "How confident are you that you could always restate the behavior rule every time a student argues with you?" Each of the self-efficacy items used a 5-point rating scale (1=very confident, 2=somewhat confident, 3=not sure, 4=doubtful, and 5=not at all confident).

Time frame: Session 1 (Day 1) posttest, Session 2 (Day 2) posttest, 30-day follow-up, 60-day follow-p

Perceived student misbehaviors

The student misbehaviors items assessed drivers' perception of frequency of student misbehavior occurrences. The items asked drivers to indicate how often student misbehaviors occurred, such as inappropriate language, students damaging or littering the bus, or students threatening or bullying other students. Responses were on a 5-point scale: "1=All of the time, 2=most of the time, 3=about half the time, 4=rarely, and 5=never."

Data from ClinicalTrials.gov

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