REVIEW
Addressing Sexual and Relationship Violence
in the LGBT Community Using a Bystander
Framework
Sharyn J. Potter, PhD, MPH, Kim Fountain, PhD, and Jane G. Stapleton, MA
Sexual and relationship violence are two major public health issues that affect an alarming number
of undergraduate students. As a result, many colleges and universities have protocols to serve victims
of these forms of violence. Despite federal legislation stating that all students should have equitable
experiences, current protocols and programs focus primarily on heterosexual students. College student victims of sexual and relationship violence who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender
can face particular challenges, including disclosure of their sexual and gender orientations, and revictimization when seeking services. In recent years an increasing number of campuses have adopted
bystander prevention strategies to address sexual and relationship violence. These strategies seek to
engage community members in the prevention of sexual and relationship violence by training them
to identify and safely intervene in situations where sexual or relationship violence is about to occur,
is occurring, or has occurred. In this article we review published bystander prevention strategies that
focus on preventing sexual and relationship violence in the campus community, and discuss how
bystander strategies are addressing or can address relationship and sexual violence in the LGBT
community. (HARV REV PSYCHIATRY 2012;20:201–208.)
Keywords:
bisexual. bystander prevention strategies, college, gay, lesbian, relationship and sexual
violence, transgender
Sexual assault of women is the most common violent crime
committed on college campuses today; one in four college
From the Department of Sociology (Dr. Potter) and Women’s Studies Program (Dr. Fountain and Ms. Stapleton), University of New
Hampshire.
Original manuscript received 18 August 2011; revised manuscript
received 17 December 2011, accepted for publication subject to revision 17 January 2012; revised manuscript received 9 February
2012.
Correspondence: Sharyn J. Potter, PhD, MPH, Department of Sociology, University of New Hampshire, 20 Academic Way, Durham, NH
03824. Correspondence: sharyn.potter@unh.edu
c 2012 President and Fellows of Harvard College
DOI: 10.3109/10673229.2012.712838
women experiences completed or attempted rape during
their college years.1 The majority of these assaults are
perpetrated by the victim’s acquaintances (e.g., classmates,
residence hall neighbors, dates) or intimate partners.1−3
College women are at higher risk for sexual assault than
peers who are not in college.4 Studies show that college men
also report unwanted sexual experiences.5,6 Recent research
indicates that 25% of women and 14% of men will experience
relationship violence over the course of their lifetimes.7
Exposure to sexual and relationship violence∗ is a key
∗
We use the term sexual violence to refer to a range of behaviors that are unwanted by the recipient, including, but not limited
to, the following: derogatory or insulting remarks about physical
appearance; persistent sexual advances that are undesired by the
recipient; unwanted touching; and unwanted oral, anal, or vaginal
penetration. These behaviors could be initiated by someone either
known or unknown to the recipient, including someone in an existing relationship with the recipient. We use the term relationship
201
Harv Rev Psychiatry
202
S. J. Potter et al.
public health issue and is associated with a multiplicity
of negative outcomes, including increased substance use,
depressive symptoms, health-risk behaviors, and symptoms
of posttraumatic stress disorder among various samples of
survivors.∗,9−13
The extent to which campuses are working to prevent
these problems varies widely.4 Most efforts are aimed
at heterosexual women—statistically, the most highly
represented group. But this population is not the only
one for which sexual and relationship violence is an issue.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) students
represent a marginalized population at the same14 or at
higher risk for sexual and relationship violence15−18 as
their heterosexual peers. Yet the 5%–10% of undergraduate
student populations who identify as LGBT19,20 are significantly underserved by colleges’ prevention strategies for
sexual and relationship violence.
Campus efforts to combat such violence have demonstrated mixed results regarding effectiveness, particularly
over time.21 Some prevention strategies have been viewed as
directly or indirectly victim blaming.22 Others have focused
too much on individuals or small groups (such as athletes or
fraternity members), or on criminal justice policies rather
than wider social change.23,24 Some campuses have therefore
begun to utilize a bystander approach to engage the broader
campus community—in particular, bystanders—in efforts to
reduce sexual and relationship violence on campus. In this
article we examine the extent to which the published bystander prevention strategies have addressed sexual and relationship violence in the LGBT community, and we provide
suggestions to improve bystander-intervention frameworks.
SEXUAL AND RELATIONSHIP VIOLENCE
EXPERIENCED BY LGBT COLLEGE STUDENTS
Campus Climate for Students Who Identify as LGBT
Sociocultural bias against LGBT people and cultures, known
as heterosexism and homophobia, can frame LGBT identities as sinful, sick, perverted, and a threat to the traditional
family.25−27 When heterosexuality is posited as the norm,
violence to refer to a range of behaviors experienced in the context of any type of intimate relationship or friendship. These behaviors include use of physical force or threats of force against a
partner, such as slapping, punching, throwing objects, threatening
with weapons, or threatening any kind of physical harm. It can also
include extreme emotional abuse such as intimidation, blaming,
putting down, making fun of, and name calling.
∗
Although the terms victim and survivor are often used
interchangeably,7 in the legal definition the term victim rather than
survivor is used to describe a person following an assault.8
July/August 2012
acts of violence at every level of society perpetrated against
LGBT people are justified or explained through reference to
such negative constructions.28 The climate of LGBT intolerance on college campuses has been well documented by
researchers.29−34 For LGBT students, college campuses are
often unwelcoming, unsafe environments, where they experience harassment,29−31 isolation, ostracization,32 and physical violence.33 LGBT students can face discrimination or
harassment from their peers (e.g., roommates, classmates,
teammates) and other members of the campus community,
including the professional staff (e.g., coaches, hall directors,
professors, administrators, campus safety, health services
staff). Harassment and discrimination from campus community members can not only make LGBT students feel
unwelcome but also reduce their self-esteem and prevent
them from seeking help from campus professionals.32,33,35
Perpetrator Tactics
Perpetrators most commonly use two tactics to control their
victims: threatening to or actually revealing the victim’s sexuality to others (“outing” the victim), or isolating the victim.
For many lesbians who report abuse, the abuse occurs during their first relationship, when they are most vulnerable
to batterers who have the capacity to control or manipulate
information.36 For students the impact of outing may be devastating and may occur on several different levels. Many students experiment with their sexuality or come out in college.
They may not tell their parents for any number of reasons,
including being cut off from financial and emotional support,
losing parental housing during school breaks, or losing jobs
that might be their only form of support.37−40 The college
environment can offer students the opportunity to explore
same-sex relationships,36 but many such first relationships
are at high risk for relationship violence because the victims
want both to confirm their sense of self and sexual identity,
and to “fit in.” The victims may also lack confidence in what
behaviors are acceptable in intimate same-sex relationships
and may have no or minimal contact with LGBT friendship/community networks, within which they could air their
concerns. The desire to fit in leaves victims vulnerable because they may take risks, explain away the violence, or lack
the vocabulary or life skills to identify, name, and act on the
violence. For those who might possess such skills and support and who might even be out, the embarrassment behind
feeling that they somehow are not expressing their sexual
or gender identities “correctly” contributes to their silence
around relationship violence and sexual assaults. These factors and the perpetrators’ awareness of them increase the
likelihood of relationship violence.41
Isolation—one of the most effective and common tactics
that batterers resort to in heterosexual relationships42 —is
often easy to use against LGBT victims because they may
Harv Rev Psychiatry
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Addressing Sexual and Relationship Violence in the LGBT Community
not be open about their sexuality and are therefore socially
isolated. Alternatively, they may have come out but been
rejected by their social groups or families. A variation on
this theme is for batterers to limit the circle of people who
are allowed to know about the relationship, as the batterer
claims that they are not “out.”41
Barriers to Seeking Help and Reporting
The consequences and implications of sexual and relationship violence in LGBT communities are both similar to, and
different from, those of the heterosexual community. Both
heterosexual and LGBT victims of sexual and relationship
violence who seek help must disclose the crime. Students
who identify as LGBT, however, may feel uncomfortable doing so; the disclosure of the crime may also involve the disclosure of their sexual identities or gender orientations. For
students who are not out, their perceived need to hide their
sexual identities can be a barrier to seeking services. People who are just coming out or who are not accustomed to
talking about their sexual orientations may find the language required to discuss their experiences inaccessible.43
Indeed, the language of sexual and relationship violence
tends to be extraordinarily gendered; female victims are
“attacked” or “abused” by male perpetrators, but fewer expressions are available to describe same-sex assaults. This
linguistic shortfall reflects common thinking; for instance,
some people cannot fathom or may explicitly deny that a
man can sexually assault another man. Even those who are
accustomed to speaking about same-sex situations on a variety of levels may find it difficult to cross the linguistic gap
after a traumatic event. It can be all the more difficult for
someone who has not yet developed the confidence, let alone
the language related to his or her LGBT identity, to make a
report.
Male victims of sexual and relationship violence are often
blamed for not stopping an attack—which makes it difficult
for young men to speak of sexual or relationship violence
perpetrated by other men. Reporting requires them not only
to reveal very personal information but to frame acts of violence in a manner that makes sense in heterosexist culture,
in which victims are presumed to be heterosexual women.
Indeed, the current reauthorization of the Violence Against
Women Act faces opposition—for the first time—in large
part due to the addition of provisions for services addressing the LGBT communities. A gay man just coming to terms
with his sexuality may find it overwhelming to negotiate a
linguistic terrain that clearly marks him as gay and as a
victim of sexual assault.
LGBT individuals who identify as members of a racial or
ethnic minority can face additional burdens in facing stereotypes of LGBT people as white and from Western cultures
203
when seeking help.44,45 Similarly, they face accusations of
being traitors to their racial or cultural identities for taking
on the LGBT identity.
Although all victims may face retribution from their
friends for seeking help or reporting the crime, on many
campuses the LGBT communities are small and insulated,
and the fear of retribution can be compounded. The actual
or perceived homophobia on college campuses may prevent
LGBT undergraduate victims of sexual and relationship violence from seeking help.
As with other marginalized groups, LGBT victims
may choose not to report violence, thereby avoiding further stigmatization of the LGBT community.46,47 Victims
may be concerned that the identification and labeling
of same-sex perpetrators will further compromise the
perception of relationships that already involve negative
stereotyping.48 As members of marginalized communities, LGBT individuals—for fear of discrimination or
harassment—often have serious reservations about accessing authority figures or disclosing their sexuality.49 Many
LGBT youth attempt to access services or safety nets such
as religious figures, school counselors, or the police, only to
be told that their sexuality—not the actual perpetration of
the violence—is the issue. For some victims the inability
to obtain support from the system only underscores their
isolation and vulnerability.47
Existing Treatments
Services for LGBT and heterosexual victims of relationship
and sexual violence commonly take the form of one-on-one
counseling, advocacy efforts, and education. On college campuses, collaborations with medical facilities, law enforcement, and campus judicial boards may be part of these services. In the United States, services for victims of sexual
and relationship violence are rarely fully inclusive, and the
funding of services to meet the needs of LGBT victims, in
particular, is typically inadequate.47 At the present time
lesbian victims of relationship violence have fewer options
than heterosexual victims for accessing safe and effective
services.49 Other studies have shown that some crisis staff
view same-sex relationship violence as less harmful than
heterosexual violence—a result of the stereotypes that men
can defend themselves and women are not violent.50 Because LGBT victims are often unwilling to report violence,
statistical data reflect lower rates of incidence than would
otherwise be the case, leading to minimal funding for direct
services, advocacy, and prevention for LGBT communities.
To be most responsive and effective, direct services, advocacy, and prevention efforts must proactively respond to the
range of vulnerabilities that offenders exploit.51,52
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S. J. Potter et al.
USING BYSTANDER PROGRAMS TO ADDRESS
SEXUAL AND RELATIONSHIP VIOLENCE IN THE
LGBT COMMUNITY
In the social psychology literature, bystanders are defined
as individuals who witness criminal acts, emergency
situations, or instances where community norms are
violated.53−55 A bystander’s action or lack of action can
worsen, maintain, or improve the situation. Using research
on the effectiveness of prevention efforts, scholars and practitioners have tried to engage bystanders as allies in preventing sexual and relationship violence. Further impetus
for engaging bystanders comes from research on perpetrator
characteristics (e.g., hostility toward women, victimization
experiences)56 and situational factors, such as community
norms or community tolerance toward sexual and relationship violence that can facilitate or inhibit perpetrator
behaviors;57−60 indeed, violence occurs when there are motivated perpetrators, vulnerable potential victims, and the
absence of community members who can or will intervene.61
Attention to both perpetrator behavior and community
responsibility can facilitate effective community-level
prevention efforts. Bystander models focus on teaching
bystanders active, helpful behaviors to safely intervene in
situations that involve sexual and relationship violence.62
Although the use of bystander prevention strategies
on college campuses is growing, the majority of bystander
programs have not been formally evaluated, largely as a
result of limited funding and administrative time.63,64 Five
bystander programs for preventing sexual violence, as well
as one social-marketing campaign, have had evaluations
published in the peer-reviewed literature.65 The programs,
each of which utilizes a different approach, are currently in
place on college campuses in the United States and Canada.
The Mentors in Violence Prevention (MVP) model developed by Katz in 1993 is one of the first violence prevention
programs using a bystander framework.66 The MVP program, in addition to being used on college campuses, is used
with sports teams and with members of the U.S. military.
The program utilizes sports metaphors (e.g., a playbook) to
engage men in preventing violence against women.66 Since
its inception, the program has looked at the harassment of
gays and lesbians, and also at other heterosexist behaviors.
The occurrence of domestic violence and sexual assault in
same-sex couples is addressed, but the scenarios in the playbook do not yet deal with bystander intervention when the
abuse is within LGBT relationships themselves—but only
when heterosexuals are abusing, harassing, or talking in
degrading ways about LGBT people (Jackson Katz, personal
communication).
The InterACT Sexual Assault Prevention Program is an
interactive skill-building program that seeks to increase
participants’ knowledge on the importance and effectiveness of bystander interventions in preventing sexual
July/August 2012
assault.67 While relationship and sexual violence within
the LGBT community is not a main focus, this phenomenon
is addressed during the program’s facilitated-discussion
component. InterACT has a separate program that is used
to address homophobia; its main focus is violence and
bullying aimed at LGBT people by heterosexuals, rather
than violence within the LGBT community (Marc Rich and
Courtney Ahrens, personal communication).
The Men’s Project68 incorporates discussion of bystander
techniques and utilizes a social-norms model of change,69,70
where peers’ perceptions of their peers’ attitudes and actions
are used to influence behavioral change. At the present time
this program does not address relationship and sexual violence in the LGBT community (Christine Gidycz, personal
communication).
The Men’s Program,71 a bystander program that utilizes
a film discussing a male-on-male rape as its focal point, does
not address sexual and relationship violence in same-sex
relationships (John Foubert, personal communication).
The Bringing in the BystanderTM in-person prevention
program trains participants to safely intervene when sexual
assault or relationship abuse is about to occur, is occurring,
or has occurred.62 The facilitator guide for this program instructs peer facilitators to explain that perpetrators and victims of sexual and relationship violence are not restricted to
particular sexual identities, relationships, or socioeconomic
backgrounds. “Its perpetrators and victims may be women
or men, young or old, gay, lesbian, straight or bisexual. Relationship abuse affects people of all races, socioeconomic
backgrounds, and educational levels.”72
Most of the educational strategies for preventing sexual
and relationship violence are in the form of in-person prevention programs, and the Know Your PowerTM Bystander
Social Marketing Campaign (developed in 2004) utilizes the
main tenets of the Bringing in the Bystander in-person
prevention program, in particular. The model of a socialmarketing campaign engages bystander behaviors when
sexual assault, relationship violence, or stalking is occurring, is about to occur, and has occurred. The campaign, administered campus-wide for a six-week period, utilizes 11
x 17 posters, bookmarks, table tents, full-side bus wraps,
computer pop-up screens, and products distributed with the
campaign logo.73 Studies have shown that participants who
have been exposed to, and who identified with, the campaign
images (compared to participants who report not identifying with the images) were more likely both to believe that
they had a role to play in reducing sexual and relationship
violence and to have engaged in bystander behaviors.73−75
During the running of a campaign, the images that address relationship and sexual violence in the heterosexual
community (16 images) and the LGBT community (4 images) are displayed together; the goal is to recognize that
sexual and relationship violence is not limited to heterosexual relationships and to engage all community members to
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Addressing Sexual and Relationship Violence in the LGBT Community
acknowledge and safely intervene in these situations. The
first LGBT image, developed in 2006, has two scenes. In the
first scene two friends realize that another friend is lying
about the source of the bruises on his arms. The friends
realize that the bruising is not the result of a skateboarding accident but has been inflicted by the victim’s abusive
boyfriend. In the next scene one friend offers to take the
victim to the campus rape crisis center. In the second LGBT
image, developed in 2009, there are three scenes that illustrate bystanders supporting their friends after the occurrence of a sexual assault. The first two scenes highlight
female victims. In the third scene a male victim discloses
that he has been sexually assaulted. His male friend tells
him that he believes him. In the third LGBT image, developed in 2011, a college party scene is taking place; a female
is being emotionally abusive to her girlfriend. In the image the bystanders identify and label the abuse and devise
a strategy to safely intervene to help their friend. In the
fourth LGBT image, also developed in 2011, two friends are
sitting in a local pizza shop. One of them, a potential perpetrator, describes how he has met a man online and that
he plans on “hooking up” with this man, regardless of what
the man wants. The friend labels his friend’s plan as the
perpetration of a sexual assault and tries to convince him to
change his mind.
The nascent field of engaging community members as
active bystanders to recognize and safely intervene when
they anticipate or witness sexual and relationship violence
provides an opportunity to prevent violence not only in the
majority campus community but also in marginalized campus communities (e.g., LGBTs and the disabled). Programs
that engage community members as both bystanders and
victims work to break down the isolation that threatens
potential victims.76 Anti-LGBT stigma may prevent nonLGBT students from intervening, because of either fears of
association or an inability to identify violence in a situation
involving LGBT students. As college and university officials
continue to develop strategies to address relationship and
sexual violence in the heterosexual and non-heterosexual
communities, care must be taken that all members of the
larger community feel comfortable providing and seeking
help.
PROPOSED DIRECTIONS FOR THE FIELD, AND
CONCLUSION
Any bystander, whether LGBT or heterosexual, who encounters an instance of sexual or relationship violence in
the LGBT community should be able to recognize the violence and to intervene in situations where violence is
occurring—regardless of the sexual orientation of the victims and perpetrators. Bystanders who intervene must also
be taught, however, how to explain their empathic behavior
to their peers and family members (by suggesting, for exam-
205
ple, that LGBT relationships can be healthy and should be
respected), who may otherwise ridicule their choice to intervene and may even see their advocacy as going against social
norms and supporting such relationships.77,78 Intervening
bystanders may be required to cope with guilt by association, including potential violence directed toward them. In
fact, because of the potential for violence, agencies such as
the New York City Gay and Lesbian Anti-violence Project
send outreach workers into the field in pairs (or more) as a
safety measure.
As college administrators implement prevention strategies to reduce sexual and relationship violence in the LGBT
community, it must be remembered that these two types of
violence are not the same as hate violence. That said, within
marginalized communities, all three types of violence can
be intertwined; research indicates the prevalence of hate
crime–related sexual assault among gay or bisexual men
ranges from 3.0% to 19.8% of all such assaults and among
lesbian or bisexual women, from 1% to 12.3%.79 Sexual and
relationship violence and hate violence require unique approaches, each with its own appropriate messaging and effective interventions. While the strategies addressing the
different forms of violence cannot be interchanged, neither
should they be developed in isolation. Only if campus administrators address these issues will all students be free
to pursue their optimal intellectual and emotional growth
during their college or university years.
Although some of the bystander prevention strategies address the discrimination and bullying that is faced by LGBT
students,66,67 most do not. There are a few exceptions.62,73
These findings are problematic considering the prevalence of
sexual and relationship violence in the LGBT undergraduate community and the unique barriers that LGBT students
face when seeking help. The use of strategies to engage
members of the broader community in preventing sexual
and relationship violence within and against the LGBT community needs to be increased. Furthermore, when victims
who identify as LGBT seek help, they often find counselors
that are ill equipped to offer support;14,48,80 counselors must
be trained to provide professional and culturally competent
services to LGBT victims. Finally, since the LGBT community is heterogeneous, efforts need to be made to understand
why some groups access support and others do not.81
Declaration of interest: The authors report no conflicts of
interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content
and writing of the article.
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https://doi.org/10.24839/2325-7342.JN24.1.61
Evaluating a Student-Led Mental Health Awareness Campaign
Dominique Giroux
Olivet College
and Elisa Geiss*
ABSTRACT. The present study evaluated if a week-long mental
health awareness campaign on a college campus would
decrease self-stigma toward seeking help. Participants were
204 full-time undergraduate students attending a small private
liberal arts college in the Midwest (October, 2017). The
mental health awareness campaign offered activities where
students were exposed to interactive events and education
about campus crisis resources. Researchers measured
self-stigma and attitudes toward seeking help through the
Self-Stigma of Seeking Help Scale (SSOSH) and Mental Help
Seeking Attitude Scale (MHSAS) pre- and postawareness
week. Results showed that student self-stigma toward seeking
help decreased after a week-long mental health awareness
campaign. Specifically, we found a decrease in SSOSH scores,
t(52) = 2.66, p = .01, d = 0.25, and an increase in MHSAS scores
from pretest to posttest, t(56) = -2.72, p = .009, d = -0.29,
indicating a reduction of self-stigma. We discuss results in the
context of reducing stigma from a student-led mental health
campaign and further provide suggestions on how to conduct
an awareness campaign and test results at small colleges.
This article is proudly
published in support of
the #Help_HelpedMe
Initiative. Learn more at
https://doi.org/10.24839/
2325-7342.JN23.1.2
Keywords: mental health awareness campaign, college
students, stigma
M
ental illness among college students
is becoming a serious public health
problem, with the onset of illness often
developing during early college years (Garlow et
al., 2008). One third of college students self-report
symptoms of anxiety, depression, and high rates of
stress (Lipson, Gaddis, Heinze, Beck, & Eisenberg,
2015). Further, distressed students have worse
academic performance and exhibit high drop-out
rates (Kitzrow, 2003).
Seeking and receiving treatment is one way
to decrease mental health disorders. Those who
do not seek treatment are more likely to develop
a longer, more intensified comorbidity with other
mental illnesses (Wang et al., 2005). When this
population seeks treatment, functioning and
academic performance improves (Zivin, Eisenberg,
*Faculty mentor
Gollust, & Golberstein, 2009). However, not all
students will seek treatment for a mental health
disorder. One of the most common barriers
to seeking help for a psychological disorder
among young adult populations is stigma. College
student populations deem stigma as a barrier to
involvement in the community, social relationships,
and seeking proper treatment (Eisenberg, Downs,
Golberstein, & Zivin, 2009).
Both public and self-stigma may affect whether
a student decides to seek treatment for a mental
disorder. Public stigma, the stereotyping and
discriminative actions toward those who are known
to have a mental illness (Corrigan, 2004), may be
an external barrier to treatment. For example,
individuals who seek treatment for a mental
disorder are deemed more “emotionally unstable,
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less interesting, and less confident” than persons
seeking treatment for a physical ailment (Vogel,
Wade, & Ascheman, 2009, p. 301). However, selfstigma or the internalized public stigma, can lead
individuals to not try to seek care due to shame of
being labeled as having a mental illness (Corrigan,
Druss, & Perlick, 2014; Vogel, Wade, & Haake,
2006). Both public and self-stigma introduce
barriers toward seeking help, and reducing both
types of stigma may improve mental health on a
college campus.
Colleges have tried multiple interventions to
reduce incidences of mental health crises on campus
by targeting psychoeducation and improving
awareness. Specifically, psychoeducational
interventions can reduce stigma, increase the
mental health literacy of a population (Jorm et
al., 2003), and dispel myths about mental illnesses
(Yanos, Lucksted, Drapalski, Roe, & Lysaker, 2015).
These types of interventions have been effective
in decreasing the stigma of seeking psychological
help (Brown & Bradley, 2002; Komiya, Good,
& Sherrod, 2000), and furthermore have the
potential to reduce barriers to help-seeking. In
fact, student-led campaigns such as the Depression
OutReach Alliance college program uses peer-topeer psychoeducation and intervention to educate
and increase help-seeking among undergraduate
college students. In particular, Funkhouser,
Zakriski, and Spoltore (2017) measured responses
from participants regarding at-risk peers and
stigma and found increased crisis response skills,
less desire for social distance from peers in distress,
and less social stigma toward seeking help. Thus, a
student-led mental health awareness campaign has
shown potential to both target stigma and increase
help-seeking among college students.
Given the potential benefit of student-led
mental health campaigns to reduce stigma, we
aimed to test whether a campaign at a small liberal
arts college would be effective in decreasing
stigma toward seeking help. In a previous study
conducted on our campus, we found that 47% of
student respondents did not know where to go in
crisis, only 22% knew about student services or a
counselor on campus, and 88% of students selfreported that more awareness on campus is needed
(Giroux & Geiss, 2017). Given this data, providing
psychoeducation about mental health concerns and
improving knowledge about treatment resources on
campus were appropriate targets of intervention.
Thus, we created a mental health awareness
campaign focused on giving general information
about mental health disorders and access to campus
resources.
The current study was unique in its approach
because it examined a student-led and-run interven
tion at a small liberal arts college without many
mental health awareness resources available to
students. First, we hypothesized that students’
self-reported stigma about seeking mental health
help would lessen after the mental health aware
ness week given that previous studies have found
improvement of stigma after psychoeducation.
Furthermore, we hypothesized that those who
actively participated and attended mental health
week events would experience a larger decrease in
self-stigma toward seeking help compared to those
who did not actively participate or attend.
This study addressed the feasibility of con
ducting an intervention while testing students
empirically, and aimed to improve mental health
awareness on a small campus. We created a mental
health awareness week and tested stigma before and
after the week, and also gathered demographic data
about the participants.
Method
Procedure
After we gained approval from the Olivet College
institutional review board, we recruited students at a
small, Midwestern, liberal arts college to participate
in two surveys via e-mail. Those who completed
the online consent form completed de-identified
questionnaires on Google Forms a week prior to
the mental health awareness week and immediately
afterward. Because this was a universal intervention,
students who took the surveys could choose to
participate or not in the mental health awareness
intervention. Participants were entered into a
raffle for a FitBit Charge 2 or a $50 voucher to the
college bookstore if they completed both pre- and
postintervention surveys.
Questionnaires
Demographics Questionnaire. Participants were
asked to create a unique identifier to track their
participation from the pretest to the posttest, and
to ensure confidentiality. Participants were then
asked to complete questions about gender, ethnic
ity, year in school, area of study, and participation
in college athletics. In addition, during the posttest,
participants reported whether they participated in
the mental health awareness week, which included
picking up brochures or attending mental health
week events.
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Giroux and Geiss | Evaluating a Mental Health Campaign
Mental Help Seeking Attitudes Scale (MHSAS).
The MHSAS is a 9-item instrument that examines
attitudes toward seeking help from a mental health
professional if respondents hypothetically had a
mental health concern (Hammer, Parent, & Spiker,
2018). Participants were asked to respond to a
single statement on a 7-point Likert-type scale. For
example, they were asked to rate how important
or how healing it is to seek help from a mental
health professional. A higher score indicates a
more positive attitude toward seeking help. These
scores showed strong internal reliability for both
the pretest and posttest; Cronbach’s α = .89 and
α = .91, respectively.
Self-Stigma of Seeking Help (SSOSH). The
SSOSH is a 10-item scale designed to understand
how a participant views seeking mental health
help, and ideas about public stigma toward seeking
psychological help (Vogel et al., 2006). This scale
asked participants to rate the degree to which each
item describes how one would react in a situation.
Examples of statements are “I would feel inad
equate if I went to a therapist,” “My view of myself
would not change just because I made the choice
to see a therapist,” and “I would feel worse about
myself if I could not solve my own problems.” A
higher score represents higher levels of self-stigma.
These scores showed strong reliability for both the
pretest and posttest; Cronbach’s α = .87 and α =
.84, respectively.
Mental Health Week Intervention
The inaugural mental health awareness week
took place in the fall 2017. The college’s Psi Chi
chapter as well as a 3-credit Abnormal Psychology
class contributed to the information and events
held throughout the week. Tangible items such
as stress balls, mental health awareness ribbons,
informational pamphlets describing common
disorders among students, and interactive displays
were freely made available to the public in the main
academic building.
The college’s Psi Chi chapter and the Black
Student Union hosted the first Mental Health
Open Mic Night in the middle of the week for
students to gather and talk about multiple issues
faced on campus or at home in regard to stressors
or mental health disorders. The Open Mic Night
was a free event for students, and Psi Chi provided
informational slideshows and hosted the college’s
school counselor for familiarity. A faculty member
from the psychology department also attended the
event, providing handouts regarding particular
disorders that are commonly faced by students,
such as alcoholism. Once students finished talking
to the audience about personal experiences, the
school counselor held a short debrief and educated
the attendees on what to do when distressed. The
school counselor also handed out her business card
to attendees for further contact if needed. Once
the event ended, the mental health awareness week
intervention was considered complete.
Results
Participants
After conducting the college’s inaugural mental
health awareness week, we received 166 responses
in total. Both women (n = 111), men (n = 54), and
self-reported other gender (n = 1) responded to
our questionnaires. We received responses from
students across all class ranks: first-year students (n =
52), sophomores (n = 39), juniors (n = 31), seniors
(n = 39), and nondegree seeking (n = 4). Although
one student did not self-identify an ethnicity, the
students responding to our surveys self-identified
as White or European American (n = 145), African
American or Black (n = 11), Hispanic or Latino
(n = 8), or Asian (n = 1).
Analyses in this article only included the 57
participants who completed both the pretest and
posttest surveys. Demographic makeup of this final
participant list was mostly female (n = 40) compared
to male (n = 16) or other gender (n = 1), mostly
White or European American (n = 50) compared
to African American or Black (n = 4), and Hispanic
or Latino (n = 3), and mostly first-year students
(n = 20) compared to sophomores (n = 11), juniors
(n = 12), seniors (n = 13) or nondegree seeking
(n = 1). Prior to excluding those who did not
participate in both surveys, we conducted analyses
to ensure that our final participants were not sig
nificantly different from those who only completed
one survey.
Participant Analysis
We ran a Chi Square to determine whether there
was a difference in gender and student class rank
across those participants who took only one (pretest
or posttest) or two surveys (both pretest and post
test). There was no difference in response rate of
genders, χ2 = 0.95, p = .62, d = 0.15, or year in school
across pretest, posttest, or both tests, χ2 = 2.7, p =
.95, d = 0.26. Given the low response rate for some
ethnicities who completed only the posttest (no
African American students and only one Hispanic/
Latino student), we could not run a Chi Square test
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on this data. However, the relative percentage of
students identifying as European American, African
American, or Hispanic/Latino was similar across
the entire sample and final sample.
In addition, we examined if there was a dif
ference in scores on the SSOSH and MHSAS
based on participation in just one survey or across
both. Results showed that there was no significant
difference between participants who completed
the pretest survey and those who completed
both. However, we found a significant difference
between participants who completed the posttest
survey only and those who completed both on the
SSOSH, t(90) = 2.6, p = .01, d = 0.54. Specifically,
participants who completed only the posttest survey
self-reported higher levels of stigma (M = 26.8,
SD = 6.4) compared to those who completed both
(M = 23.5, SD = 5.7).
TABLE 1
Correlation Table for Pretest and Posttest Scores on the MHSAS and
SSOSH
Correlations
N
M
(SD)
MHSAS
pretest
MHSAS
pretest
57
5.7
(1.06)
1
SSOSH
pretest
55
25
(6.6)
-.41**
1
MHSAS
posttest
57
6.0
(0.98)
.62**
-.24
1
SSOSH
posttest
55
23.5
(5.73)
.77**
-.37**
1.19
SSOSH
pretest
MHSAS
posttest
SSOSH
posttest
1
**
. Correlation is significant at the .01 level (2-tailed).
Note. MHSAS pretest = Mental Health Seeking Attitude Scale pretest; SSOSH pretest = Self-Stigma of Seeking Help pretest;
MHSAS posttest = Mental Health Seeking Attitude Scale posttest; SSOSH posttest = Self-Stigma of Seeking Help posttest;
N = number of respondents.
FIGURE 1
Change In MHSAS Scores Based on Participation
6.5
Participated
MHSAS Mean Score
Did not participate
5
5.5
5
Pretest
Posttest
Figure 1. MHSAS mean scores from pretest to posttest based on participating in the mental health campaign activities.
64
Main Analyses
Change in stigma after mental health awareness
week. Before examining the change in pretest to
posttest scores, we first ran correlations between the
variables of interest in participants who took both
the pretest- and posttest (see Table 1). As expected,
scores on both stigma surveys reported at the same
time (either pretest or posttest) were negatively
related to each other (i.e., higher scores on the
SSOSH and lower scores on the MHSAS both reflect
greater stigma). In addition, scores on the same
surveys taken before and after the intervention were
positively correlated with each other.
Next, we used a paired-samples t test to exam
ine change in MHSAS and SSOSH scores before
and after the intervention. We found an overall
decrease in SSOSH scores as seen in SSOSH pretest
(M = 25.0, SD = 6.8) and SSOSH posttest (M = 23.4,
SD = 5.8), t(52) = 2.66, p = .01, d = 0.25. We then
found an increase in MHSAS scores from pretest
(M = 5.7, SD = 1.1) to posttest (M = 6.0, SD = 1.0),
t(56) = -2.72, p = .009, d = - 0.29. Thus, over the week,
there was decreased mental health seeking stigma
as indicated on both stigma surveys.
Participation in awareness week on change in
self-stigma scores. Because we collected data from
students who might not have actively participated
in the mental health awareness week events, we
examined whether changes in self-stigma differed
based on self-report of having participated in
the mental health week activities. Participation
in the awareness week was defined as picking up
brochures or attending an event on a given night.
Although the scores for SSOSH did not differ,
we found that changes in MHSAS scores were
dependent upon participation, F(1) = 5.28, p = .03,
g = 0.68. Using a two-way repeated-measures Analysis
of Variance, we found that those individuals who
participated in the Mental Health Week activities
had an increase in MHSAS scores (N = 16, Mpre =
5.23, SDpre = 1.01, Mpost = 5.97, SDpost = 1.05), t(15) =
2.45, p = .03, whereas those who did not participate
did not have a change in scores (N = 41, Mpre = 5.88,
SDpre = 1.04, Mpost = 6.03, SDpost = 0.97), t(40) = 1.47,
p = .15. Yet, we also found that MHSAS scores were
higher during the pretest in those individuals who
did not participate (Mnon participating = 5.88, SD = 1.04)
compared to those who did participate (Mparticipating =
5.22, SD = 1.01), t(55) = 2.14, p = .04, d = 0.64. This
may indicate that those people who participated in
the mental health activities held more stigmatized
beliefs, and they improved upon their stigma over
time (see Figure 1).
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Giroux and Geiss | Evaluating a Mental Health Campaign
Discussion
On our small sized college campus, students
have expressed a need for more visible mental
health awareness on campus. With only 22%
of students on our campus knowing where to
go if in distress, we sought to educate students
about local resources offered on our campus
(Giroux & Geiss, 2017). After a week-long mental
health awareness campaign, this sample of college
students reported a decrease in help-seeking
stigma on both measures collected. Furthermore,
stigmatized attitudes improved the most for those
who actively participated in the weeklong events,
especially because these students also started with
higher stigma to begin with. Thus, this may be an
intervention that holds promise to reduce stigma
toward seeking help, especially in those who actively
participate.
While exploring the effect of participation in
the events on self-stigma, we found that students
who participated had increased positive attitudes
toward seeking help, but these participants also
self-reported high levels of stigma during the
pretest. Similar to prior research, interventions
such as psychoeducational programming may be
most beneficial for those who actively participate
in mental health awareness events (Lannin, Vogel,
Brenner, Abraham, & Heath, 2015). Yet, it also
seemed puzzling why students who participated
had higher levels of stigma. One reason for this
result could be that those who actively attended
and participated in mental health awareness week
events may self-report high self-stigma because of
experienced negative psychological feelings such
as symptoms of depression (Busby Grant, Bruce,
& Batterham, 2016). However, another study sug
gested that self-stigma was significantly associated
with decreased likeliness to engage in mental health
related activities, seek psychological help, or seek
counseling (Lannin et al., 2015).
The results from the present study support the
importance of evaluating a mental health awareness
campaign to understand how stigma may decrease
in specific populations (Kelly, Jorm, & Wright,
2007). In the process of designing and conducting
a mental health awareness week, we were able to
provide this type of service while also investigating
how it changed stigma perceptions. In running this
study, we received promising preliminary results
that suggest a student-led and student-run mental
health week can decrease stigma toward seeking
help. Specifically, there needs to be considerations
of methods of administration of surveys, who to
sample, and when during the semester to sample
students.
First, when thinking about administration
of surveys to undergraduate college students,
it is important to understand what method of
administration is effective for the demographic.
Our results showed significant attrition rates from
pretest to posttest using online surveys via college
e-mail addresses. Thus, future research may include
testing different types of survey administration (e.g.,
paper and pencil, online) among college students
that may improve attrition rates and provide a more
representative sample of the student population.
Second, we found that time of academic school
year impacted student engagement. Attrition rates
may be linked to the fact that students were asked to
participate in the mental health awareness activities
during midterm exams, which may increase levels
of stress. Therefore, teasing out the effect of the
intervention and timing of the school year is an
important consideration for those running studies
on a college campus.
Last, it is important for pre- and postsurveys to
be filled out by students who actively participate in
mental health awareness events. One suggestion
to capture this would be to provide an incentive
for active participants in the weeklong events to
participate in the pretest and posttest surveys. By
doing this, data may capture the empirical evidence
that incorporates all student perceptions.
This study may be helpful to student-led mental
health awareness campaigns. An undergraduate
student leading a mental health awareness cam
paign on campus may consider survey administra
tion, time of academic year, and more consistent
incentives to better understand the implications
of awareness for mental health help-seeking on a
small sized campus.
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Author Note. Dominique Giroux, https://orcid.org/00000002-2487-7777, Olivet College; Elisa Geiss, Department of
Psychology, Olivet College.
This study was supported by the Olivet College Student
Government Association.
Special thanks to Psi Chi Journal reviewers for their
support.
Correspondence concerning this article should be
addressed to Dominique Giroux, E: girouxd05@gmail.com.
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Enhancing School Success with
Mnemonic Strategies
M A R G O A. M A S T R O P I E R I AND T H O M A S E.
Many students with disabilities and those at risk
for educational failure exhibit problems with
remembering materials covered in school. Suggestions for helping these students improve
memory for school content are described in this
article. In particular, mnemonic instruction is
described and examples are provided of how it
can be used to increase school learning and
memory of students with learning difficulties.
A
few years ago, we revisited an inner-city middle
school where—about a year before—we had
conducted an investigation on the effectiveness
of mnemonic techniques in helping students
with mild cognitive disabilities remember U.S.
states and capitals. As we entered the classroom, Crystal,
a student classified as mildly mentally handicapped, recognized one of our graduate students immediately.
"Hey! I remember you!" she exclaimed enthusiastically. "You were here last year—you taught us states and
capitals! I remember, go ahead, ask me one!"
"Well, uh," replied our colleague, taken slightly by
surprise, "How about . . . Florida? What's the capital of
Florida?"
"That's too easy!" she said, smiling. "Here it is:
Florida, the keyword \$ flower—the flower is on a television set, and television is the keyword for Tallahassee!"
In this scenario, a student classified as mentally
retarded effectively remembered information she had
been taught 1 year previously. Even more impressive was
the fact that she had not reviewed or rehearsed this
INTERVENTION IN SCHOOL AND CLINIC
SCRUGGS
information with any teacher since the last time we had
seen her! As startling as this scenario is, it underscores
something we have been witnessing for many years: the
incredible power of mnemonic strategies to increase dramatically the amount of information students remember,
even students with learning problems.
In this article, we describe the need for effective memory strategies for school learning. Next, we provide a
brief description of what mnemonic strategies are—and
what they are not. Following that, we describe how you
can use these powerful learning tools to enhance the
school success of your own students.
THE
N E E D FOR M N E M O N I C STRATEGIES
According to the Sixteenth Annual Report to Congress on
the Implementation of the Individuals with Disabilities Act
(U.S. Department of Education, 1994), 71.2% of all students now spend all or a substantial part of their school
day in general education classrooms. As many as 78.9%
of students with learning disabilities spend all or most of
their educational time in general education classrooms.
On the secondary level, students with disabilities are
included in content-area classrooms, such as English,
science, and social studies classes. Largely, ability to succeed in these classrooms determines their level of success
in school.
What factors determine whether a student will succeed in secondary content-area classrooms? Putnam
(1992b) surveyed 7th- and lOth-grade teachers in KanVOL. 33, No. 4, MARCH 1996 (PP. 201-208) 201
sas, Indiana, and Florida, and reported that an average of
nearly half of a student's report card grades depended on
test performance. Clearly, such factors as attendance,
punctuality, participation, and homework completion
are also important. However, teachers made it clear that
test scores were the single most important factor in
report card grades. Teachers gave an average of 11 of
these tests over the course of a single 9-week grading
period. Clearly, students' academic survival is tied very
closely with performance on academic tests.
In addition to the number of tests teachers give,
Putnam (1992a) also examined the types of questions
teachers asked on tests. He found that the overwhelming
majority of test questions students were asked required
factual recall:
with. Because Florida sounds like flower (the keyword), it
was easy to teach her to make an automatic connection
between Florida and flower:
What's the keyword for Florida? Flower, good! And,
what state is flower the keyword for? Good, Florida!
It was also easy to teach her to establish a firm association between Tallahassee and television because television was very familiar to Crystal and the two words,
again, sound very similar:
What's the keyword for Tallahassee? television, good!
And, what capital is television the keyword for? Good,
Tallahassee!
Having linked the two words (Florida, Tallahassee) to concrete, familiar words that sound similar (flower, televiThe majority of questions on tests administered by mainsion), all that remains is to link the two familiar words
stream secondary classroom teachers required the student
together. And although memory experts Harry Lorayne
to recall a specific fact—25.3 per test. A sa?nple question
and Jerry Lucas have suggested that these words must be
that asked for a specific fact was "Who discovered
associated "in some ridiculous way" (1974, p. 23), in fact
America?" Other possible responses, such as conclusion,
all that is necessary is that the two keywords be pictured
sequence, opinion, discrimination, compare and contrast,
in some meaningful interaction. In the Florida instance,
purpose, correct an example, and summary, appeared
a picture had been created and displayed on an overhead
about one per test. (p. 131)
projector of a flower sitting on a television set, as shown
in Figure 1.
Thus it can be seen that memory for factual informaAlthough recalling that Tallahassee is the capital of
tion is absolutely essential for success in school, particuFlorida may be difficult for a student with learning problarly at the secondary level. Unfortunately, it is also true
lems, remembering a picture of a flower on a television
that students with learning disabilities and other learning
set was much simpler, and—if the keywords had been
problems have been consistently shown to have parlearned—contained the same information. For this reaticular difficulties remembering academic content
son, we have found mnemonic strategies constructed
(e.g., Cooney & Swanson, 1987). Our work in the area of
mnemonic (memory-enhancing) strategies has been
devoted to finding ways of increasing the amount of
content-area information students are able to remember.
This article provides information on the utility, and
effectiveness, of mnemonic strategies in enhancing
memory for school learning.
WHAT M N E M O N I C STRATEGIES ARE
Mnemonic strategies are systematic procedures for
enhancing memory. Their particular use is in developing
better ways to take in (encode) information so that it will
be much easier to remember (retrieve). Although there
are retrieval strategies that can be employed to attempt
to retrieve information that has been forgotten, research
has demonstrated that the way we encode information
when we first study facilitates memory better. The particular task in developing mnemonic strategies is to find
a way to relate new information to information students
already have locked in long-term memory. If we can
make a firm enough connection, the memory will last a
very long time. For example, Crystal had learned the
capita] of Florida so well because the mnemonic strategy
had carefully linked it to things she was very familiar
202
INTERVENTION IN SCHOOL AND CLINIC
Figure 1. Mnemonic representation of Tallahassee, capital of
Florida. (Copyright 1993 by M. A. Mastropieri and T. E. Scruggs.)
according to these procedures to be extraordinarily effective (Mastropieri, Scruggs, Bakken, & Brigham, 1992).
W H A T M N E M O N I C STRATEGIES A R E N O T
It might be helpful, at this point, to also mention
briefly what mnemonic strategies are not. Mnemonic
strategies do not represent a "philosophy" of education.
We do not use, or recommend the use of, mnemonic
strategies because they are compatible with someone's
particular philosophy or because they are a part of someone's theory about what education should be. We recommend mnemonic strategies for only one reason: Over
and over again, they have been proven to be extremely
effective in helping people remember things (Bulgren,
Schumaker, & Deshler, 1994; Mastropieri & Scruggs,
1989).
It is also true that mnemonic strategies are not an
overall teaching method or curricular approach. The
focus of mnemonic strategies is so specific that they are
intended to be used to enhance the recall of the components of any lesson for which memory is needed. We
have found, for example, that mnemonic strategies can
be used to enhance science learning when the curriculum involves a textbook/lecture format (Scruggs & Mastropieri, 1992) or when the curriculum involves a
hands-on, inquiry learning format (Mastropieri, Scruggs,
& ("hung, 1997). Even though these approaches to science learning are very different (Mastropieri & Scruggs,
1994), mnemonic strategies can still be incorporated for
the elements that require recall.
It is also important to consider that mnemonic strategies are memory strategies, and not comprehension
strategies. Students who are trained mnemonically also
perform better on comprehension tests of that content
(e.g., Mastropieri, Scruggs, & Fulk, 1990; Scruggs, Mastropieri, McLoone, Levin, & Morrison, 1987), but that
is generally because they remember more information
that can be applied on comprehension tests. Nevertheless, when comprehension enhancement is called for,
it is important to consider using specific comprehension
strategies, such as content elaboration, prior knowledge
activation, manipulation, coaching and questioning, or
prediction and verification (e.g., Mastropieri & Scruggs,
1997; Scruggs, Mastropieri, Sullivan, & Hesser, 1993).
Nevertheless, mnemonic strategies do not inhibit comprehension, as suggested by some (e.g., Kilpatrick,
1985), and, more importantly, there are many instances
in school of students who have achieved adequate comprehension of a concept, but who have forgotten the
facts associated with it. For example, it is completely
possible to comprehend the nature of states and capitals
while being unable to retrieve the capital of Florida. For
another example, it is altogether possible to comprehend
the concepts of a cell having a nucleus and consuming
other organisms while being unable to retrieve the
related verbal label {prokaiyotic heterotroph). These are
the areas where mnemonic strategies can help.
Finally, it should be emphasized that mnemonic strategies do not represent an educational panacea. There are
many things that students must do to succeed in school,
and remembering content information is only one part
of the entire picture. However, when there is academic
content to be remembered, mnemonic strategies may be
an important instructional component. In the next section, we discuss some general procedures for improving
memory, followed by a description of how to create specific mnemonic strategies.
GENERAL TECHNIQUES FOR
IMPROVING MEMORY
Mnemonic strategies as described in this article are not
the only way of improving memory in students who
exhibit difficulty remembering things. It is important
that you consider all possible methods for improving
memory and not assume that mnemonic strategies are
your only option. In other publications (Mastropieri &
Scruggs, 1993; Mastropieri & Scruggs, in press), we have
described more general methods for improving memory.
These include the following:
1. INCREASE A T T E N T I O N . Students will not remember something that they did not pay attention to in the
first place. Be sure your students1 memory problems are
not really attention problems. Use strategies for enhancing attention, such as intensifying instruction, teaching
enthusiastically, using more visual aids and activities, and
reinforcing attending.
2.
PROMOTE EXTERNAL MEMORY.
Many things that
need to be remembered can be written down, a practice
known as "external memory." Practices such as keeping
an assignment notebook and maintaining a student calendar can be helpful in remembering to do things.
Unfortunately, external memory is usually of little use
(ethically, anyway) on tests.
3. ENHANCE MEANINGFULNESS. Find ways to relate
the content being discussed to the student's prior knowledge. Draw parallels to the students' own lives. Bring in
concrete, meaningful examples for students to explore so
the content becomes more a part of their experience.
4. U S E PICTURES. Pictures can provide a substantial
memory advantage. Use pictures on the chalkboard or
on the overhead projector. Bring in photographs
or other illustrations. Show concrete images on videotape, when appropriate. If pictures are simply unavailable, ask students to create images, or "pictures in their
heads."
VOL. 33. No. 4. MARCH 1998 203
5.
MINIMIZE INTERFERENCE.
Avoid digressions and
emphasize only the critical features of a new topic. Make
sure all examples relate directly to the content being
covered.
6. PROMOTE ACTIVE MANIPULATION. Students remember content better when they experience it for
themselves (Scruggs, Mastropieri, Bakken, & Brigham,
1993). For example, rather than lecturing the class on
the effect of weak acid (such as vinegar) on calcite, allow
students to place calcite in a glass of vinegar and see for
themselves.
7. PROMOTE ACTIVE REASONING. Students remember better if they actively think through new information, rather than simply repeating it. For example, rather
than simply telling students that penguins carry their
eggs on the tops of their feet, ask students why it makes
sense that penguins would carry their eggs on the tops of
their feet.
8.
INCREASE THE AMOUNT OF PRACTICE.
Students
remember information better if they have practice using
it more frequently. Use lots of review in your teaching;
do not simply finish one topic and then never mention it
again. Remind the class, and have students practice previous information frequently.
All these strategies can be used to improve memory,
and all should be considered. Unfortunately, none of
these strategies specifically targets recall of information
contained in new or unfamiliar words, and this is the
aspect of memory where students most often fail. For
example, in the Scruggs, Mastropieri, Bakken, and Brigham (1993) investigation, students who engaged in active
manipulation remembered more information about electricity and rocks and minerals than students who studied
from textbooks. However, neither condition improved
recall of critical vocabulary or terminology, the area
where mnemonic strategies are most effective. In the following section, we describe several different types of
mnemonic strategies that can be used to improve students' memory.
SPECIFIC M N E M O N I C TECHNIQUES
T h e Keyword Method
The keyword method has already been described for
helping students remember states and capitals. However,
the keyword method is extremely versatile and has a variety of helpful applications. One possibility is in teaching
new vocabulary words. For example, to help students
remember that barrister is another word for lawyer, first
create a keyword for the unfamiliar word, barrister,
Remember, a keyword is a word that sounds like the new
word and is easily pictured. A good keyword for barrister,
204
INTERVENTION IN SCHOOL AND CLINIC
then, is bear. Then, you create a picture of the keyword
and the definition doing something together. It is important that these two things actually interact and are not
simply presented in the same picture. Therefore, a picture of a bear and a lawyer in one picture is not a good
mnemonic, because the elements are not interacting. A
better picture would be a bear who is acting as a lawyer
in a courtroom, for example, pleading his client's innocence. We have created pictures and shown them on
overhead projectors, but you could show them in other
ways as well. When you practice this strategy, be certain
students understand all parts of it:
Class, barrister is another word for lawyer. To remembei'
what a bairister is, first think of the keyword for barrister: bear. Whats the keyword for barrister? [bear]
Good, the keyword for barrister is bear, and barrister
means lawyer. Now [displays overhead] look at this picture of a bear acting like a lawyer. The bear is the keyword for . . ? [barrister] Barrister, good. So remember
this picture ofa bear acting like a lawyer. When you hear
the word barrister, you first think of the keyword . . ?
[Bear] Good, and remember, what is the bear doing in
the picture? [being a lawyer]. Right, being a lawyer. So
what does barrister mean? [lawyer] Lawyer, good.
The keyword method can also be used for more specialized vocabulary such as ranidae, the scientific term for
common frogs. A good keyword for ranidae could be
rain, and you could show a picture of frogs sitting in the
rain. Practice the strategy as in the barrister example.
When you question individual students, ask them to give
the answer and then describe how they remembered.
You should get an answer something like:
Ranidae is the word for commonfi'ogs.I remembered
because the keyword is rain and it was raining on the
frogs.
If you practice the strategy carefully and frequently, students should remember this information very well. At
early stages of learning, you might find some students
give the answer rain when you ask what ranidae means.
In these cases, you simply remind the student,
No, rain is the keyword—it just helps us remember the
answer Now, think in the picture, what is it raining on?
[frogs] Right, frogs. So what does ranidae mean? [com?nonfrogs].Correct, common frogs.
Mnemonics can also be used in acquiring foreign language vocabulary. A list of some Italian vocabulary words
(from Mastropieri & Scruggs, 1991, p. 24) and corresponding mnemonic strategies are given in Table 1.
Before you read, cover up the keywords and strategies
and see if you can come up with your own.
Keywords have also been used to improve recall of
map locations. For example, students with learning disabilities were much more successful in locating
Revolutionary War battle locations on a map when they
Table 1. Sample Italian Vocabulary Words and Corresponding
Mnemonic Strategies
Word & meaning
mela (apple)
capre (goat)
lago (lake)
carta (letter)
fonda (bag)
Keyword
Strategy
mail
cop
log
cart
phone
an apple in a mailbox
a goat dressed like a cop
a log in a lake
a cart with a letter in it
a phone in a bag
were mnemonically encoded (e.g., a picture of a tiger,
keyword for Fort Ticonderoga) than when representational pictures were used. When asked for the location of
Fort Ticonderoga, students proved much more able to
identify where on the map the tiger had been than they
were to identify the location of a more traditional illustration. Further, if the tiger was shown tending a cannon,
students were more likely to remember that at Fort
Ticonderoga, cannons were captured that were helpful
in the American war effort (Brigham, Scruggs, &
Mastropieri, 1995).
(Scruggs, Mastropieri, Levin, & Gaffiiey, 1985). That is,
a picture of a black wolf is much more likely to be
remembered than a picture of wolframite colored black.
Pegwords can also be extended beyond the number 10
(11 is lever, 12 is elf, etc.). For instance, to remember
that the 19th amendment of the U.S. Constitution guaranteed women the right to vote, create a picture of a
woman dressed as a knight (19 = knighting) riding to a
voting booth. To remember that James K. Polk was the
11th American president, create a picture of a polkadotted (keyword for Polk) lever (pegword for 11) as
shown in Figure 3 (Mastropieri, Scruggs, & Whedon,
1997).
INSECTS
6 (sticks) legs
T h e Peg-word Method
Pegwords can be used when numbered or ordered
information needs to be remembered. Pegwords are
rhyming words for numbers and include the following:
One is bun,
six is sticks,
two is shoe,
seven is heaven,
three is tree,
eight is gate,
four is door,
nine is vine,
five is hive,
ten is hen.
Pegwords are substituted for the number to be
remembered and associated with the other information.
For instance, to remember that insects have six legs
whereas spiders have eight legs, create a picture of
insects on sticks (see Figure 2) and another picture of a
spider on a gate. To remember Newton's first law of
motion (objects at rest tend to remain at rest unless acted
on by another force), create a picture of a bun (pegword
for one) resting. To remember that a garden rake is an
example of a third-class lever, create a picture of a rake
leaning against a tree (pegword for three, or third).
Pegwords can also be combined with keywords. To
teach that crocoite is a mineral that is number 2 on the
Mohs hardness scale, create a picture of crocodiles (keyword for crocoite) wearing shoes (pegword for 2). To
remember that the mineral wolframite is hardness number 4, black in color, and used in making filaments for
lightbulbs, create a picture of a black wolf (keyword for
wolframite), looking in a door (pegword for 4), and turning on a lightbulb. Research has shown that elaborate
strategies such as this are very effective, and that color,
appropriately encoded, can also be easily remembered
Figure 2. Mnemonic representation of insects having six legs.
(Copyright 1993 by M. A. Mastropieri and T. E. Scruggs.)
James Polk
(Polka-dotted)
Figure 3 . Mnemonic representation of Polk as the 11th U.S.
president. (Copyright 1993 by M. A. Mastropieri and T. E.
Scruggs.)
VOL. 33. No. 4. MARCH 199B 205
Pegwords can also be extended beyond the number 19,
by using, for example, twenty is twin-ty (twins), thirty is
thirsty, forty is party, and fifty is "gifty," or gift-wrapped.
For example, to remember the math fact, 7 x 8 = 56, create a picture and practice the pegword phrase, "Heaven's
(7) gate (8) holds gifty sticks" (pegword for 56). To
remember that Taft was the 27th president, create a picture of a taffy (keyword for Taft), being pulled between
twin heavens (pegword for 27).
Letter Strategies
Letter strategies, which involve using letter prompts
to remember lists of things, are the most familiar to students. Most former students remember using the
acronym HOMES to remember the names of the Great
Lakes and FACE to remember the notes represented in
the spaces of the treble clef, from bottom to top. Except
for the FACE strategy, however, most acronyms assume
that a name of something will be remembered when the
first letter is retrieved. However, this may not always be
true. For example, if a student is unfamiliar with Lake
Ontario, remembering simply that the first letter is O is
insufficient to prompt recall. The names of the individual lakes must be practiced until they have become
familiar.
Acronyms are most helpful when the first letters of a
list can be used to create an entire word; however, sometimes modifications can be made. For instance, consider
the acronym FARM-B, which represents the five classes
of vertebrate animals: fish, amphibian, reptile, mammal,
and bird, as shown in Figure 4. The B for bird does not
really fit, but it can be added to FARM and practiced
until it becomes automatic.
In other cases, appropriate words cannot be easily constructed from the first letters of the words to be remem-
VERTEBRATES
(Farm-B)
Fish
Amphibian
Reptile
iMammals
Birds
Figure 4. Mnemonic representation of the vertebrates: fish,
amphibians, reptiles, mammals, and birds. (Note. From A
Practical Guide for Teaching Science to Students with Special
Needs in Inclusive Settings /p. J 58], by M. A. Mastropieri and
T. E. Scruggs, 1993, Austin, TX: PRO-ED. Reprinted with permission.)
206
INTERVENTION IN SCHOOL AND CLINIC
bered. For example, if you wished to remember the
names of the planets in their order from the sun, the letters would be M-V-E-M-J-S-U-N-P,
from which a
word cannot be made. In these cases, an acrostic can be
created, in which the first letters are reconstructed to
represent the words in a sentence. In this case, the sentence could be "My very educated mother just sent us
nine pizzas" (Mastropieri & Scruggs, 1994, p. 271).
Again, the names of the planets must be sufficiently
familiar so that students can retrieve a planet name,
given only the first letter. Also, students should be sufficiently familiar with the solar system to know that the
first M stands for Mercury, and not Mars.
For another example, to remember the classification
taxonomy of living things, remember the sentence,
"King Philip's class ordered a family of gentle spaniels."
This sentence helps prompt kingdom, phylum, class,
order, family, genus, and species, in order.
TRAINING INDEPENDENT STRATEGY U S E
Several research studies have described the effects of
training students with memory problems how to use
mnemonic strategies independently (Fulk, Mastropieri,
& Scruggs, 1992; King-Sears, Mercer, & Sindelar, 1992;
Mastropieri, Scruggs, Levin, Gaffhey, & McLoone,
1985; McLoone, Scruggs, Mastropieri, & Zucker, 1986;
Scruggs & Mastropieri, 1992). The earlier studies successfully trained students with disabilities to use the
mnemonic procedures and then to generalize the procedures for learning new vocabulary words (Mastropieri
et al., 1985; McLoone et al., 1986). More recent studies
trained students with disabilities to use the strategies
across different content areas, including science and
social studies (Fulk et al., 1992; King-Sears et al., 1992;
Scruggs & Mastropieri, 1992). All of these studies
demonstrated some positive benefits for training students to use mnemonic strategies independently. More
importantly, however, studies shared seven common elements during the training sessions with students with
disabilities, as described by Fulk (1994) and Bulgren
et al. (1994) and summarized next.
STEP 1. Inform students about the purpose of the
instruction and the rationale for the strategy training.
Tell students that strategy training will be beneficial for
them and that their efforts at using the strategies will
result in better performance. Provide examples of how
the strategy can be beneficial across a variety of learning
situations and content areas. For example, in teaching
students how to implement the strategy to learn science
vocabulary, show them how the method can also be helpful in learning social studies content and for learning
English and foreign language vocabulary.
STEP 2. Provide instruction in the strategy and in positive attributions toward strategy usage. Demonstrate,
model, and lead students using many examples to ensure
their complete understanding of the mnemonic process
during the strategy component training. Provide
instances and noninstances of correct usage and have
them identify and correct any incorrect examples.
Make charts listing the steps involved in generating
strategies. King-Sears ct al. (1992) taught students the
IT FITS strategy:
Identify the term.
Tell the definition of the term,
Find a keyword.
Imagine the definition doing something with the keyword.
Think about the definition doing something with the
keyword.
Study what you imagined until you know the definition.
(King-Sears et al, 1992, p. 21)
Provide ample modeling and practice with students,
attributing their successes to strategy use. Say, for example, "When I try hard and use the strategy, I will remember more information." Reinforce students for trying
hard to use the strategy and attribute success and failure
to strategy usage.
STEP 3. Provide models during which examples and
thinking processes are said aloud. Demonstrate how you
proceed with your thinking while generating a strategy
for specific examples. Include statements attributing
your success to the hard effort and use of the strategy.
STEP 4. Allow students opportunities to practice orally
and provide corrective feedback. Practice several examples with the class as a whole. Encourage brainstorming
during the development of the keyword and interactive
picture phase. Allow students to work in small groups
and practice generating strategies and brainstorming.
Then, have students work with partners to develop strategies before working independently.
5. Arrange guided practice with relevant feedback on both strategy usage and attribution feedback.
Give students additional items to practice using the
mnemonic and attribution strategies. Provide corrective
feedback and allow opportunities for students to share
their thinking with one another about how they developed their strategies.
STEP 7. Include positive reinforcement and positive
attribution training for completing the tasks and for
remembering the information correctly. Provide review
and practice with information that was learned using
strategies. Students will still need to practice retrieving
information learned with strategies. When implemented
as a package of training, students with disabilities may be
more likely to learn to use and generate these strategies
independently.
Limitations
Research has indicated that students who have been
taught strategies for creating their own mnemonics outperform comparison students in free-study conditions.
Unfortunately, however, when students generate their
own strategies, instruction may proceed at a much
slower rate and students' performances may be lower
than when teachers supply the strategies (Scruggs &
Mastropieri, 1992). During a given unit of instruction,
teachers should consider whether learning a strategy or
learning the content is the priority.
Moreover, initial development of many of these strategies can be difficult for anyone. Try developing several
strategies yourself before teaching your students with
disabilities. If you experience difficulties, imagine that
the task will be much more difficult for your students.
Each year, develop a few strategies to accompany the
content areas that you teach most frequently. Over time
you will have a great number of effective strategies that
you can teach your students. This does not mean
that you should not teach your students to develop strategies independently. You can still encourage active
strategy development on the part of your students, but if
students have difficulties generating strategies, you can
supply the ones developed by you or your co-teachers.
Perhaps you will find that a combination of teachercreated and student-generated mnemonic strategies is
the best way to enhance recall and still promote independent strategy use.
STEP
STEP 6. Provide generalization instruction, practice,
and feedback. Use different types of materials to demonstrate how the strategy can be applied across content
areas and various types of factual information. Have students practice generating strategies for vocabulary words
in English, for names of famous people and their accomplishments in history, for minerals and their associated
attributes in science, and other associated factual information they may need to learn in school.
SUMMARY
Although many changes in schooling have taken place
in recent years, memory for academic content remains
an extremely important part of the school learning experience. Students with learning disabilities and other special needs may be at particular risk for failure in this
important arena of school functioning. In order to promote academic su...
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