Nurturing Healthy Relationships Through a Community-Based Interactive Theater Program

Abstract

Promoting healthy relationships and preventing unhealthy behaviors, such as bullying and teen dating violence, among young adolescents was the goal of this study. This developmentally appropriate project used interactive theater to deliver a healthy message. Students in 7th grade health classes (N = 114) participated in the interactive theater intervention, a program that consisted of three consecutive performances and one follow-up day. This article reports on community-based research related to the development of a theater script in collaboration with a local theater group, the feasibility of using this innovative format as an intervention method, and lessons learned in collaborating with community partners.

Notes

The funding source for this research was a pilot award through The Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Research in Underserved Populations (CHPR), P30NR005051, Stuifbergen (PI). Nurturing Healthy Relationships: An Arts-based Intervention for Middle School Youth, N. Fredland, PI, N. Busch-Armendariz, Co-I.

1. Forum Theater, developed by the Argentinean Augusto Boal, is a dramaturgy or process of performing short scenes with a protagonist–antagonist format. The audience is encouraged to stop the performance and, through dialogue and role-play, interact with the actors to suggest alternative scripts. See Boal (2000) for further details.