Esther Mertens

26 | Chapter 2 R&W is implemented in many countries (e.g., Australia, China, Singapore, France, The Netherlands). Despite this broad implementation, little information about the effectiveness of this intervention is available. Results of several small-scaled studies showed that participants feel more resilient, experience a more positive identity and use more active than passive coping styles after completing R&W (see for overview Ykema, Hartman, & Imms, 2006). Additionally, a recent study found that boys’ self- reported coercive strategies and verbal manipulation decreased and their self- regulation and general efficacy increased after following the intervention (De Graaf, De Haas, Zaagsma, & Wijssen, 2015). Notwithstanding these promising results, these studies have several limitations. First, most studies included boys only. It is unknown what the effects are for girls, for youth with different ethnic backgrounds and for prevocational students in specific. Second, only two measurement points were used, prior to the intervention and immediately after the intervention. Changes during the intervention as well as the long-term effects of R&W were not examined. Third, outcomes were narrowly defined (e.g., sexual aggression; Ykema et al., 2006) which makes it unclear what the effects are on the broader concept of socio-emotional adjustment and social safety. Fourth, often only one informant, mostly the adolescents themselves, participated and only one type of data collection was used, mostly questionnaires. Lastly, the studies did not examine potential moderators or mediators. Hence, no information is available about differential effectiveness for certain subgroups and the working mechanisms of R&W. To increase the knowledge about the effectiveness and working mechanisms of R&W we will conduct a Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT) in which we plan to overcome the above mentioned limitations. We aim to include prevocational boys and girls from different ethnic backgrounds, conduct measurements prior, during, immediately after R&W and six months later, assess a broad range of outcomes (i.e., socio-emotional adjustment and social safety), use students, parents, and teachers as informants, utilize questionnaires, a computer task, and video-observations, and study potential moderators and mediators. The first aim of the RCT is to examine the effectiveness of R&W in improving students’ socio-emotional adjustment (i.e., psychosocial wellbeing, sexual autonomy, and resilience) and social safety (i.e., perceived social security in the classroom, aggression, and bullying). We will study R&W in three different conditions and compare it to a control group receiving Care As Usual (CAU; i.e., current school policy to enhance socio-emotional adjustment and social safety of students). We hypothesize that R&W will improve students’ socio-emotional adjustment and social safety and will outperform CAU. The experimental conditions differ in the number of parties that are involved in R&W, that is a core team of teachers, a core team of teachers and the whole school team, and a core team of teachers, the whole school team and parents. The more parties are involved, the broader the ecological focus of the intervention will be. According to the social ecological model of Bronfenbrenner (1979) behavior is determined by the interaction of multiple systems (i.e., the individual, family, school). The involvement of multiple systems in the intervention could increase the