VCU ACE: Evaluation of a Comprehensive Approach to Youth Violence Prevention

描述(由申请人提供)： 拟议项目的主要目标是支持全国预防青少年暴力学术英才中心制定和评估一项全面的预防战略，旨在降低里士满、弗吉尼亚州和美国各地类似社区的青年暴力发生率。这一目标符合卫生与公众服务部的2010年健康人目标，即减少与青年暴力有关的故意伤害的水平。该项目的具体目标是：(1)在社区一级实施全面的青年暴力预防战略，包括以下经验性支持的组成部分：(A)针对中学生的以学校为基础的普遍和选择性干预；(B)旨在为社区内高危社区的10至20岁青年提供高质量青年发展方案和资源的社区干预；以及(C)针对11至17岁高危青年的选择性家庭干预；(2)通过在三个高危社区中采用多基线设计，持续收集关于青少年暴力行为和受害情况的社区一级指标的数据，评估这一综合战略在社区层面的影响；(3)通过评估这一综合战略的每一个组成部分对其目标风险和保护因素的影响，评估其成效；(4)制定一项计划，以便在参与社区中持续采取干预措施，并编写材料，支持其在其他社区的传播；以及(5)指导和培训博士后学生、博士后研究员和教职员工预防青少年暴力行为。该项目重点关注弗吉尼亚州里士满的三个高风险社区。1999年至2006年间，里士满15至24岁青少年的凶杀率为每100,000人中有50.5至108.5人被杀，是全国平均水平的5倍多至近9倍。该项目的特定社区代表布希尔中学、埃尔克哈特中学和汤普森中学的中学出勤区。这些社区是根据社区投入和对监测数据的审查选定的，这些数据表明这些社区的青年与暴力有关的伤害率很高。在这些社区中，2008-2009学年，每百名学生中与暴力有关的纪律事件在中学为35至41起。在过去7年中，10至24岁青少年因暴力受伤而前往急诊科就诊的比率从每1000人中有6人到11人不等。2009年，少年司法部报告的10至19岁青少年中与暴力有关的犯罪为每1000人中有11起。该项目将在多基线设计内随机分配社区，这样干预将在第一年年底在其中一个社区开始，在第二个社区在第二年年底开始，在第三个社区直到项目结束后才开始。结果包括关于青少年暴力相关指标的社区监测数据和对中学生的调查，14至19岁青少年的社区样本，以及高危青少年的选择性样本。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The primary goal of the proposed project is to support a National Academic Center of Excellence in Youth Violence Prevention to develop and evaluate a comprehensive prevention strategy designed to reduce rates of violence among youth in Richmond, Virginia and similar communities across the United States. This goal is consistent with the Department of Health and Human Services' Healthy People 2010 goal of reducing levels of intentional injury associated with youth violence. The project's specific objectives are: (1) To implement a comprehensive youth violence prevention strategy at the community level with the following empirically- supported components: (a) school-based universal and selective interventions for middle school youth, (b) a community intervention designed to provide high quality youth development programs and resources for 10-to- 20 year old youth in high-risk neighborhoods within the community, and (c) a selective family intervention for high-risk youth aged 11-to-17; (2) To evaluate the community-level impact of this comprehensive strategy through continuous collection of data on community-level indicators of youth violence perpetration and victimization using a multiple baseline design with three high-risk communities; (3) To evaluate the effectiveness of each component within this comprehensive strategy by assessing their impact on the risk and protective factors they target; (4) To develop a plan to sustain the intervention in the participating communities and prepare materials to support its dissemination in other communities should it be found effective; and (5) To mentor and provide training to doctoral-level students, postdoctoral fellows and faculty in youth violence prevention. This project focuses on three high-risk communities in the City of Richmond, Virginia. Between 1999 and 2006, the homicide rate among 15-to-24 year olds in Richmond ranged from 50.5 to 108.5 per 100,000 representing more than 5 times to nearly 9 times the national average. Specific communities for this project represent middle school attendance zones for Boushall, Elkhardt, and Thompson middle schools. These communities were selected based on community input and review of surveillance data indicating high rates of violence-related injuries among youth in these communities. Within these communities, violence- related discipline incidents in the middle schools were 35 to 41 per 100 students in the 2008-2009 school year. Rates of emergency department visits for violence-related injuries for youth aged 10-to-24 ranged from 6 to 11 per 1,000 in the past 7 years. Violence-related offenses reported by the Department of Juvenile Justice for youth aged 10-to-19 were 11 per 1,000 in 2009. The project will randomly assign communities within a multiple-baseline design such that the intervention will begin in one of the communities at the end of Year 1, in the second community at the end of Year 2, and will not begin in the third community until after the end of the project. Outcomes include community surveillance data on youth violence-related indicators and surveys of middle school students, a community sample of youth aged 14-to-19, and a selective sample of high risk youth.