A Conceptual and Large-Scale Empirical Examination of the Welcoming Empowerment Monitoring Approach (WEMA) for School Safety and Substance Use Reduction

Abstract

Purpose: Research shows that many evidence-based school programs are not sustained after the demonstration period is complete. This article outlines the Welcoming Empowerment Monitoring Approach and builds on data at each school—to address school safety and reduce substance use. Method: The study used California Healthy Kids Survey data across 145 schools in Southern California at five points in time over an 8-year period. Results: From project inception through 3 years after the project completed, all manifestations of school victimization dropped and were sustained. Lifetime alcohol and marijuana use also declined for all students during the overall period assessed. Discussion: Schools, districts, and regions tailored interventions according to each school’s and region’s specific needs. Combinations of ground-up solutions, evidence-based programs, building internal capacity, and connecting the school to resources helped reduce victimization and substance use.

Needs of Children and Families during Spring 2020 COVID-19 School Closures: Findings from a National Survey

“…While SSWs are already engaged in providing for the basic needs of children and families, more can be done to establish and sustain linkages between the school, government, and community resources to enhance support levels. For example, schools can partner with local universities to provide pre-service internships to social work and counseling students (see Astor, Benbenishty, & Watson, 2021 ). SSWs could also bring together diverse stakeholders to address existing fragmented programmatic approaches to health, behavioral health, and social services to refocus on such needs from a comprehensive, holistic perspective ( Adelman & Taylor, 2017 ).…”

“…As previously noted, historically SSWs have tended to focus on interpersonal interventions rather than advocacy and policy reform ( Kelly et al, 2015 ). The pandemic has strengthened the need for a professionwide shift toward whole-school reform and cross-disciplinary coordination to address organizational conditions, policies, and practices that hinder student success ( Adelman & Taylor, 2017 ; Astor, Benbenishty, & Watson, 2021 ; Astor, Noguera, et al, 2021 ). Included in this shift is a need to advance racial equity both among schools ( Zimmerman & Astor, 2021 ) and within the social work profession as a whole.…”

Integrating Policy into School Safety Theory and Research

“…Local school safety policy can also exacerbate external conditions or maintain the status quo. This becomes very important when conceptualizing systemic racism (Zimmerman & Astor, 2021) or opportunity gaps that affect specific groups over time (Astor, Benbenishty, et al, 2021). Hence, in this model, schools embedded in the same communities and neighborhoods with similar family demographics may differ widely in their school-level policy and levels of school safety.…”

“…This article focuses on both how ecologically driven theory can help better integrate policy into theory and how to enhance the impact of ongoing school safety policies. The authors reexamine socioecological school safety theory and adapt it from earlier social work ecological perspectives to a new policy-oriented heuristic conceptual model (e.g., socioecological theories focused on school safety, see Astor & Benbenishty, 2019a; Astor, Benbenishty, et al, 2021; Benbenishty & Astor, 2005; Cohen & Espelage, 2020).…”

“…Although the current focus of this article is school safety, many ideas expressed in this article are relevant to other policy areas in social work, education, and psychology research. Improved policy-oriented theory and methodology could increase the value of theory and research for school safety policy (e.g., policies regarding other pressing concerns, such as addressing issues of opportunity structure and recovering from the pandemic; see Astor, Benbenishty, et al, 2021; Kelly et al, 2020a, 2020b; McMahon et al, 2022a, 2022b).…”