Promoting Health of Youth with Disabilities through Violence Prevention Efforts

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The promotion of health and well-being among youth with disabilities is a significant public health concern. Almost 54 million Americans have disabilities that interfere with life activities, and research suggests that youth with disabilities are at higher risk that those in the general population for health-compromising behaviors including involvement in violence. Health promotion programs may benefit these youth greatly, and schools offer a practical and important social context for implementing such efforts. Unfortunately, most school-based violence prevention programs were developed for the general population and the effectiveness of these programs has not been evaluated among youth with disabilities, A key step in making progress is this area is to modify violence prevention efforts empirically demonstrated to be effective for the general population, such as Responding in Peaceful and Positive Ways (RIPP), to meet the needs of youth with disabilities and to determine the effectiveness of such interventions for this population. Youth with disabilities are at a high risk for violence perpetration and victimization, health-compromising behaviors that are strongly related to increased rates of anti-social behavior, higher levels of depression and anxiety, and decreased life satisfaction. The goals of this research project include the following: (1) to increase community involvement in violence prevention efforts for youth with disabilities, (2) to work with youth with disabilities and their teachers to better understand the problem situations commonly faced by these youth that place them at risk for violence involvement, and identify supports and challenges in modifying the RIPP interventions for youth with disabilities, and (4) to evaluate the effectiveness of RIPP for youth with disabilities. Participation from youth with disabilities is included at each phase of this research project in hopes of creating a maximally effective program. Although this project focuses on a specific intervention, we anticipate that it will offer a practical template for the replication of health promotion efforts in other schools and school systems.