Creating Peace: community-based youth violence prevention to address racism and discrimination

针对RFA-MD-18-005，“包含种族主义歧视的青年暴力预防干预措施-- 这项拟议的研究将通过一项整群随机对照试验来检验 一项注重创伤、改变性别的青年暴力预防方案，融合了种族主义和歧视 预防犯罪。在美国，种族/少数民族青年受到VIO的影响不成比例-- 伦斯的凶杀率、人身攻击和校园斗殴发生率高于非西班牙裔白人，大多数人- 集中在社会和经济劣势集中、枪支泛滥的社区内- 伦斯。虽然越来越多的青少年暴力预防方案正在纳入结构性干预措施 为了解决边缘化社区青年受教育和就业机会有限的问题，几乎没有 直接解决性别和种族不公正问题，将其作为预防青少年暴力的一个可修改因素。这个 拟议的社区合作研究将检查预防青少年暴力计划的有效性 题为《创造和平》(CP)。在6至12周内以小组形式进行12次会议(3小时/次)， 探索种族、性别、性认同和社会阶层的活动，该计划将支持参与者 通过恢复社会关系，挑战促进性行为的性别规范，从创伤的经历中恢复 Lence实施，并练习积极的旁观者干预技能，以安全地干预同伴的疾病 故意和有害的行为。青年领导技能在该计划的后半部分得到培养， 青年将在社会恢复过程中为执法人员提供指导。这项研究将在 宾夕法尼亚州匹兹堡(宾夕法尼亚州)，覆盖24个资源较少的社区，随机接受任一CP 对照组(n=12)(职业技能发展)。匹兹堡社区的合作伙伴关系 包括黑人教堂、青年服务机构、执法、少年司法、儿童保护服务、 学校、卫生部门、公共服务部门以及政策制定者。在计划结束后3个月(时间2)， 与对照社区的年轻人(14-18岁)相比，CP社区的年轻人预计会表现出：更大 减少最近的暴力行为(主要结果)；过去携带武器的次数减少 30天(次要)；积极的旁观者行为增加(次要)；偏见体验减少- 基于歧视(探索性)(目标1)。在计划结束后9个月进行的调查将评估CP 与对照组(AIM)相比，这些结果持续改善(时间3；最终n=1440) 2)。我们将探讨基线风险和保护因素(例如，凶杀案存活率、社会支持) 可以与干预交互以预测感兴趣的结果的变化(即，干预结果如何 不同群体可能有所不同)(目标3)。最后，我们将探讨基于偏见的歧视预防的影响 关于参加青年恢复性练习课程的执法人员的构成部分(目标4)。

In response to RFA-MD-18-005, “Youth Violence Prevention Interventions that Incorporate Racism Discrimina- tion Prevention,” this proposed study will examine, via a cluster-randomized controlled trial, the effectiveness of a trauma-focused, gender-transformative youth violence prevention program that integrates racism and dis- crimination prevention. In the United States, racial/ethnic minority youth are disproportionately impacted by vio- lence, with higher rates of homicide, physical assaults, and school fights than non-Hispanic Whites, most com- monly within neighborhoods with concentrated social and economic disadvantage and high levels of gun vio- lence. While a growing number of youth violence prevention programs are incorporating structural interventions to address the limited educational and employment opportunities for youth in marginalized neighborhoods, few have directly addressed gender and racial injustice as a modifiable factor in youth violence prevention. The proposed community partnered study will examine the effectiveness of a program for youth violence prevention titled “Creating Peace” (CP). Through 12 sessions (3 hours/session) over 6 to 12 weeks in a group format with activities that explore race, gender, sexual identity, and social class, the program will support participants in healing from experiences of trauma by restoring social connections, challenging gender norms that foster vio- lence perpetration, and practicing positive bystander intervention skills to intervene safely with peers' disre- spectful and harmful behaviors. Youth leadership skills are nurtured in the latter part of the program, where youth will offer guidance to law enforcement officers in a process of social restoration. The study will be in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (PA) across 24 lower-resource neighborhoods, randomized to receive either CP (n=12) or the control intervention (n=12) (job skills development). Partnerships from the Pittsburgh community include Black churches, youth-serving agencies, law enforcement, juvenile justice, child protective services, schools, health department, human services as well as policy makers. At 3 months after the program (Time 2), compared to youth (ages 14-18) in control neighborhoods, youth in CP are expected to demonstrate: greater reduction in recent violence perpetration (primary outcome); fewer number of times carrying a weapon in past 30 days (secondary); increased positive bystander behaviors (secondary); decreased experiences of bias- based discrimination (exploratory) (Aim 1). Surveys at 9 months after end of program will assess whether CP results in sustained improvements in these same outcomes (Time 3; final n = 1440), compared to controls (Aim 2). We will explore whether baseline risk and protective factors (e.g., homicide survivorship, social supports) may interact with the intervention to predict changes in outcomes of interest (i.e., how intervention outcomes may differ across groups) (Aim 3). Finally, we will explore impact of the bias-based discrimination prevention component on law enforcement officers who participate in the restorative practice sessions with youth (Aim 4).