Preventing Youth Violence Through Building Equitable Communities

Summary

Interpersonal or community violence is a long-standing health disparity that disproportionately affects African American youth, and suicide is disproportionately increasing among African American youth. This project evaluates the impact of a multisystemic prevention program designed to reduce health disparities in violence by promoting equity in African American youths' experiences in education systems. This intervention has the potential to reduce morbidity and mortality among African American youth, promote overall quality of life, and reduce the societal costs associated with both interpersonal violence and suicidality.

Conditions

• Suicide
• Violence in Adolescence

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Culturally Responsive Practices (CRP)

The CRP component of the intervention targets pedagogy, curriculum, and potential teacher biases and discriminatory behavior. This component will consist of two intensive 4-hour workshops delivered by Morton and Billingsley in each school's first intervention year as well as one-hour annual boosters (Backpacks for Success and Culturally Relevant Pedagogy). All teachers and school administrators will participate in the workshops. The purpose of Backpacks for Success is to increase participants' awareness of structural racism, empathy for students, and motivation to change, while identifying equity targets and strategies to reach those targets. Culturally Relevant Pedagogy comprises classroom based strategies to promote equity, including use of culturally responsive curriculum, language, attitudes, and actions, with the goal of reducing interpersonal and cultural racism. Ongoing group coaching sessions will provide a space for peer support and learning around increasing CRP.

BEHAVIORAL

Culturally-Responsive Schoolwide Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (C-SWPBS)

We will implement SWPBS according to the equity-focused framework established by the Center on PBIS, with an increased emphasis on community integration. SWPBS involves creating a school team of 6-10 people, including at least one administrator, teachers, and staff members. We will include at least three community stakeholders on each C-SWPBS team to integrate the culture of the community, reducing institutional and cultural racism. Community stakeholders may be parents or other invested members of the local community not employed by the school district. The school climate specialists serve on the C-SWPBS team and provide consultation for the management of violence incidents and mental health concerns.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD)

  collaborator NIH

• National Institutes of Health (NIH)

  collaborator NIH

• University of South Alabama

  lead OTHER

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

PREVENTION

Masking

NONE

Model

SINGLE_GROUP

Eligibility

Min Age

10 Years

Max Age

99 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2022-09-28

Primary Completion

2027-01-31

Completion

2027-05-15

Countries

• United States

Study Locations