LeCoseCambiano@Rome (ThingsChange@Rome): A project to Prevent Homophobic Bullying, Gender Segregation, and Gender Violence in Schools

The Department of Education, Childhood, Youth and Equal Opportunities of the Municipality of Rome Capital and Sapienza University of Rome developed a project to prevent homophobic bullying, gender segregation, and gender violence in schools. The project was titled “LeCoseCambiano@Roma” namely “Things Change@Rome”. The project was developed to contribute to the description and understanding the homophobic bullying within the context of schools in Rome. Several studies demonstrated an association between victimization by homophobic bullying and school dropout. There are also important effects of homophobic bullying that can result in serious and long-term disorders, including post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, depression, and suicidal ideation. A website was developed for the purpose of data collection. A total of 1,627 students within 24 different school classes completed a questionnaire largely based on that developed by Kosciw et al. (2012) for the 2011 National School Climate Survey. Participants answered using Likert based scale to several questions surrounded by four areas: 1) school climate and homophobic bullying; 2) satisfaction toward life, emotional well-being, and interpersonal relations quality; 3) contact and friendship with LGBT people; 4) school engagement in teaching about sexual orientation, gender identity, and related issues. About 47% of students reported that they heard homophobic remarks by schoolmates,” and 25% reported that they heard the same remarks by their teachers. There were 8% of the students that claimed that they had experienced homophobic bullying at school “at least once.” The difference in the rate of bullying is high among different sexual orientations: about 6% of the heterosexual students claimed to have suffered homophobic bullying versus 35% of non-heterosexual students. Those who have experienced homophobic bullying reported a lower level of perceived well-being and considered dropping out of school due to the discomfort felt in school contexts. These results have important implications in educational and social fields.