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

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.

This project focuses on three communities in Richmond selected based on US Census Bureau block groups and their high rates of youth violence and concentrated poverty. The community-level effects of implementing the comprehensive community-level approach will be evaluated using a multiple baseline design. The three communities were randomly assigned such that the intervention would begin in one community starting in the fourth quarter of Year 1, a second community in the fourth quarter of Year 2, and the third community will represent a no-intervention control community receiving training and technical assistance at the end of the project. Analyses will be conducted on community-level surveillance data on violence-related variables to determine if the introduction of the community-level intervention within each community is associated with subsequent changes in outcome measures.

Eligibility Criteria:
PAR-SEED Method:

Inclusion criteria:

* Community residents, youth aged 12-17 and parents, living in one of the intervention communities (Community A and Community B)
* Stakeholders who reside or work in one of the intervention communities (Community A and Community B) or who contribute other expertise
* Be able to consent/assent

Exlcusion criteria:

* Those who do not meet the inclusion criteria
* Those with limited English proficiency

Emerging Leaders:

Inclusion criteria:

* Violently injured or high-risk youth that have either received or are receiving treatment or had a family member or relative receive treatment at VCU Health, or who live in one of the intervention communities, or have been referred by a community partner.
* Aged 14 through 24
* Reside in one of the two intervention communities (Community A and Community B) or in the control community (Community C)
* Be able to consent/assent

Exclusion criteria:

* Youth younger than 14 and older than 24 will be excluded.
* Prisoners will be excluded.
* Those living outside our community boundaries will be excluded.

PAR/Youth Voices:

Inclusion criteria:

* Youth in grades 9 through 12
* Reside in one of the intervention communities (Community A and Community B) and attend the designated high school(s) serving that community (Community A or Community B)
* Be able to consent/assent

Exclusion criteria:

* Youth in grades below 9th
* Youth who have graduated from high school
* Youth recruited for School A, cannot reside in the catchment areas for Communities B or C. Youth recruited for School B, cannot reside in the catchment areas for Communities A or C. Youth recruited for School C, cannot reside in the catchment areas for Communities A or B.