Evaluation of Violence Prevention Strategies to Prevent and Reduce Community Levels of Youth Violence

Summary

The goal of this research study is to implement and evaluate a comprehensive community-level approach, Healthy Communities for Youth, that includes both a selective hospital-based prevention strategy, Emerging Leaders, and universal prevention strategies that increase Positive Youth Development opportunities through participatory action research, stakeholder education, community mobilization, and an overall focus on increasing community capacity for prevention. Key project aims are to evaluate the impact of Healthy Communities for Youth on community rates of youth violence using surveillance data and evaluate the impact of each violence prevention strategy on proximal outcomes including their impact on risk factors and protective processes related to multiple forms of youth violence.

Conditions

• Violence
• Exposure to Violent Event
• Adolescent Behavior

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

PAR-Youth Voices

Youth Voices is a developmentally appropriate and culturally responsive PAR approach designed for African American adolescents. The curriculum relies on frameworks including sociopolitical development (e.g., civic engagement and social justice), racial socialization, and racial identity development. Youth Voices will be implemented in high schools serving the intervention communities.

BEHAVIORAL

PAR - the SEED Method

The SEED Method is an evidence-based Participatory Action Research (PAR) approach that engages youth and adult stakeholders in collective decision-making and action in supporting PYD opportunities in their communities.

BEHAVIORAL

Emerging Leaders hospital-based intervention

Emerging Leaders is a violence prevention strategy that provides evidence-based intervention and resources for high-risk youth and their families in the youth's home and community. Emerging Leaders consists of four core components to prevent violence: (1) brief hospital-based violence intervention, (2) 3-months of community case management, (3) an in-home firearm safety counseling program, and (4) an 8-week youth positive development workshop series.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

  collaborator FED

• Virginia Commonwealth University

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Terri Sullivan, PhD · Virginia Commonwealth University

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

OTHER

Masking

NONE

Model

SEQUENTIAL

Eligibility

Min Age

12 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2022-02-16

Primary Completion

2026-05-30

Completion

2026-05-30

Countries

• United States

Study Locations