Environmental Strategies for Violence and AOD Prevention

描述(申请人提供)：尽管越来越多的证据将环境因素与暴力和毒品接触联系起来，但传统的预防计划并没有针对环境因素。相反，干预计划通常侧重于个人或家庭及其高危行为。拟议的调查旨在通过确定与青少年社区暴力和AOD暴露增加相关的环境因素，对暴力和酒精及其他毒品(AOD)暴露的个人和社区一级的分布和决定因素进行分类。为了实现这些目标，将在277个生态定义的城市社区中随机抽取两个单元街区进行独立的客观社区评级，以(A)收集有关社区实际环境的信息；(B)澄清青少年生活和经历暴力和AOD的环境背景；以及(C)为未来的干预工作提供环境目标的洞察。为了将社区层面的因素与个人青少年暴力和AOD暴露联系起来，我们还将对参与巴尔的摩预防计划(BPP)的316名巴尔的摩青少年进行社区环境评估。BPP数据包含了丰富的关于暴力和AOD暴露的纵向信息，以及从儿童早期到青春期后期的社会适应和心理健康。这项工作将为评估和确定与暴力和AOD暴露增加有关的环境因素提供一种示范办法，并指导今后社区一级的环境预防干预措施。这种针对环境暴力和AOD评估的创新方法构成了下一阶段研究的基础，该研究涉及制定和执行针对具体环境指标的行动计划。因此，这项调查启动了一系列调查，将为程序建模中的策略提供证据基础，并提高现有程序的全面性和有效性。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Despite the growing body of evidence linking environmental factors to violence and drug exposure, traditional prevention programs have not targeted environmental factors. Instead, intervention programs have typically focused on individuals or families and their high-risk behavior. The proposed investigation seeks to classify both individual- and community-level distributions and determinants of violence and alcohol and other drug (AOD) exposure by identifying environmental factors associated with increased neighborhood violence and AOD exposure among youth. To achieve these goals, independent objective neighborhood ratings will be conducted on a random sample of two unit blocks within each of 277 ecologically defined city neighborhoods to (a) gather information on the physical environment of the neighborhood; (b) clarify the environmental contexts in which youth live and experience violence and AOD exposure; and (c) provide insight on environmental targets for future intervention efforts. To link community-level factors with individual youth violence and AOD exposure, we will also conduct environmental assessments of neighborhoods among the 316 Baltimore youth participating in the Baltimore Prevention Program (BPP). The BPP data are rich in longitudinal information on both violence and AOD exposure as well as social adaptation and psychological well-being from early childhood thru late adolescence. This work will provide a model approach for assessment and identification of environmental factors linked with increased violence and AOD exposure and guide future community-level environmental preventive interventions. This innovative approach to environmental violence and AOD assessment forms the basis for the next stage of research that involves development and implementation of action plans to target specific environmental indicators. As such this investigation initiates a line of inquiry that will advance the evidence base for strategies in program modeling and improve the comprehensiveness and effectiveness of existing programs.