Teaching Adolescents to Think and Act Responsibly: The EQUIP Approach

Holding students accountable for their actions and inspiring them with greater expectations is to respect them, to believe in them as people with positive potential. The EQUIP approach helps facilitate mature and accurate cognitive habits and behavioral skills in at-risk or potentially at-risk adolescents in the school setting. The curriculum addresses the ""three D’s,"" common in these adolescents—developmental delays in moral judgment, self-serving cognitive distortions, and social skills deficiencies. Using evidence-based cognitive-behavioral and psychoeducational principles, the curriculum “equips” students with the knowledge and skills to interact positively with others and make good decisions every day and throughout life. EQUIP consists of 30 sessions—ten each of anger management, social skills, and social decision making. Each session includes facilitator notes, objectives, and activities such as role-plays, worksheets, and analysis of realistic problem scenarios. Sessions focus on the following specific goals: Fostering a positive social culture by challenging the mentality that promotes physical aggression and other antisocial behaviors Providing an array of opportunities for students to take the perspectives of others Helping students identify and correct their cognitive distortions, or ""thinking errors""All worksheets and handouts, as well as facilitator review and self-evaluation forms, are provided in reproducible format on the CD that accompanies this book.

About the Author :
Ann-Marie DiBiase, Ph.D. (The State University of New York at Buffalo, 2002) is an associate professor of educational psychology at Brock University, St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada. Her research concerns psychopathological behavior in children and youth (e.g., internalizing and externalizing disorders) and prevention/intervention programs for antisocial youth. Her co-authored psychoeducational prevention program for behaviorally at-risk children, EQUIP for Educators: Teaching Youth (Grades 5–8) to Think and Act Responsibly, has been implemented extensively in North America, the Netherlands, and Spain. She has co-authored or edited six books and numerous articles in scholarly journals on the cognitive and behavioral development of children and youth. She teaches graduate and undergraduate courses in educational psychology, behavioral disorders, and research design and methods. She was the recipient of the Brock University Excellence in Teaching Faculty Award. Dr John C. Gibbs, PhD (Harvard University, 1972), is a professor of developmental psychology at The Ohio State University, USA. He has been a member of the State of Ohio Governor's Council on Juvenile Justice and is a faculty associate of The Ohio State University Criminal Justice Research Center. His work has focused on developmental theory, assessment of social cognition and moral judgment development, and interventions with conduct-disordered adolescents. A coauthor on the second edition of Aggression Replacement Training (Research Press, 1998), he is first author of The EQUIP Program (1995) and coauthor of The EQUIP Program Implementation Guide (2001). His other books include EQUIP for Educators (Research Press, 2005), Moral Development and Reality: Beyond the Theories of Kohlber, Hoffman, and Haidt (3rd ed.; Oxford University Press, in press) and Moral Maturity: Measuring the Development of Sociomoral Reflection (Erlbaum/Taylor & Francis, 1992). Granville Bud Potter, M.Ed. (Bowling Green State University, 1975) is currently the executive director of the Franklin County (Ohio, USA) Community-Based Correction Facility. While serving in this capacity, he has successfully adapted the EQUIP program to serve adult offenders. Bud is also self- employed as a consultant to correctional and educational agencies. He retired from the Ohio Department of Youth Services in 1998 after 30 years working within institutions and parole divisions. As a consultant, he has worked with agencies in 21 of the United States and 2 states in Australia. He is the past president of the Ohio Correctional and Court Services Association. Much of his professional experience has involved the use of a peer-group modality. Matthew R. Blount, B.A. (Youngstown State University, 2010) is currently a graduate student in the Developmental Doctoral Program of the Psychology Department at The Ohio State University, USA. His research interests pertain to processes in moral development, externalizing disorders, and interventions for at-risk youth.