Violence and Violence–Related Injury
Violence-Related Injury – Child Maltreatment
Research for Preventing Violence and Violence Related Injury Elizabeth A Stormshak, PhD
CDC-RFA-CE08-003
University of Oregon
195 W. 12th Ave
Eugene, OR 97401Phone: (541)346-3538
FAX: (541)346-4858
E mail: bstorm@uoregon.edu
Grant Number: CE001389
The goal of the proposed research is to test the implementation
effectiveness of the Family Check Up (FCU), an ecologically based child and family intervention
designed to reduce problem behavior and coercive family interactions and prevent child maltreatment.
The FCU and related interventions build on 15 years of programmatic research that began with the
design and testing of the Adolescent Transitions Program (ATP) group parenting curriculum and that
culminated into a general ecological approach to child and family intervention called the EcoFIT model
(Dishion & Kavanagh, 2003; Dishion, Reid, & Patterson, 1988; Dishion & Stormshak, 2007; Stormshak
& Dishion, 2002). In this research, we plan to collaborate with 4 major mental health providers in an
urban community to improve their services for families by use of the EcoFIT model and FCU
intervention. The Family Check Up is a 3 session intervention designed to engage and motivate
families in treatment. It is an empirically validated, family centered approach to treatment that has
been used to effectively reduce the growth of problem behavior, enhance parenting skills, and
reduce family violence. Eight therapists will receive intensive training and support in the FCU
intervention and EcoFIT model. One hundred twenty families with youth ages 10–15 will be
randomly assigned to receive the FCU or treatment as usual in the agency. Measures will include a
multirater assessment battery of parenting, family violence, child behavior and adjustment collected
at baseline, after the Family Check Up, weekly during treatment, and monthly for 3 months
following termination. Of particular interest is increasing the potential for therapists to focus on
family management skills known to increase successful child adjustment and to decrease the
coercive family processes associated with child maltreatment. Outcomes of interest will include
successful therapist adoption of the FCU and EcoFIT model, fidelity of implementation, increased
family enrollment and retention in the program, improvements in family management skills,
increased positive parenting skills, and the prevention of child maltreatment.
This study will examine the impact of enhanced versus standard training for trainers and coaches in the
implementation of a train-the-trainer (TTT) approach of the SafeCare parenting program. The research study will be
layered on a training contract being developed between NSTRC and the Georgia Department of Human Resources to
provide SafeCare training to DHR staff. With funds provided by the research grant, we will increase the number of
DHR trainers and coaches trained by NSTRC as DHR begins statewide implementation of SafeCare. We will randomly
assign half of trainees to the standard training model of training, and half to an enhanced model of training.
The standard training model includes workshop training, practice, and in-vivo skill demonstration. The enhanced
training model will consist of the standard training plus coaching or consultation from NSTRC trainers for up to six
months. NSTRC trainers will work with trainers and coaches assigned to the enhanced model by observing them and
providing feedback on their performance to ensure training and coaching is delivered with fidelity and competence.
The primary outcomes of the study are fidelity- and competence- related measures for trainers and coaches and the
home visitors they train/coach, and engagement measures for the families served. The primary analyses will focus on
understanding whether the enhanced training model results in (1) greater fidelity and more competent provision
of services for trainers, coaches, and home visitors, and (2) greater engagement and retention of families.
We will also examine how a variety of individual and organizational characteristics influence fidelity and competence,
alone or in combination with training. Finally, because of the increased cost of the enhanced training model, we will
conduct an economic analysis to calculate the incremental benefits in fidelity, competence, and engagement/retention
afforded by the more costly enhanced training. CDC – RFA-CE07-010
Project Title: A Family Intervention to Prevent Child Maltreatment
Project Period: 09/01/2008 – 08/31/2011
Abstract:
CDC-Public Health Research Awards (OPHR)
Elimination of Health Disparities through Translation Research Award (R18)
RFA-CD-08-001
Lutzker, John
Georgia State University Research Foundation, Inc.
Post Office Box 3999
Atlanta, GA 30302
Phone: (770) 841-0522
Email: jlutzker@gsu.edu
Grant Number: CE001479A
Project Title: Implementing SafeCare to Prevent Child Maltreatment in Underserved Populations: A Study of Training Models
Project Period: 09/30/2008 – 09/29/2011
Abstract:
PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE:
Successful prevention and intervention of child maltreatment requires the implementation of evidence-based practices in child welfare systems and prevention programs. Reducing disparities requires a focus on implementation of evidence-based programs for problems that disproportionately affect vulnerable populations, and attention to how those populations receive
those programs. As the state of Georgia begins a statewide rollout of the SafeCare parent training program, this study will compare two training models for SafeCare(R) with regard to how they influence trainer and coach fidelity and competence, and provider fidelity and competence and client engagement.
Julie Lynn Crouch, B.A.
Northern Illinois University
CSFVSA
DeKalb, IL 60115
Phone: (815)753‑7080
FAX: (815)753‑7030
E‑mail:
jcrouch@niu.edu
Grant Number: CE001185
Project Title: "Thoughtful Parenting" for
Mothers and Fathers: Does Gender Matter?
Project Period: 09/01/2007 ‑ 08/31/2010
Abstract:
The goal of this study is to extend evaluation of a theoretically and empirically‑based prevention program (Thoughtful Parenting: Moment to Moment, TPMM), which was designed to reduce factors associated with problems in parenting (including verbal and physical assault of children). Preliminary data from a clinical trial with at‑risk mothers indicate that TPMM is effective in reducing child physical abuse risk and depressive symptoms. The proposed study was designed to extend these findings, by examining whether gender moderates TPMM effectiveness, hence the target population will include both mothers and fathers at risk for problems in parenting (n = 192). This study will further extend findings beyond that of the clinical trial conducted with at‑risk mothers (which used a treatment as usual control design) by employing a parent education program as the control condition. Use of the parent education control condition will standardize opportunities for contact with other parents and facilitators across treatment and control conditions, thus providing for a more stringent test of TPMM’s effectiveness. In addition to the above goals, this project will provide additional data regarding the extent to which facilitator training (extensive versus nominal) moderates TPMM’s effectiveness. Activities will include a multi‑site evaluation using a randomized controlled design with pre‑, post‑, and six month follow‑up assessments. The design includes two intervention conditions (extensively versus nominally trained TPMM facilitators) and a parent education control condition. Outcomes assessed will include self reports, behavioral assessments (in‑home observations), and official child maltreatment reports. It is hypothesized that across pre‑, post‑, and follow‑up assessments, TPMM groups, but not the control group, will demonstrate significant improvements (e.g., reductions in child physical abuse risk, depressive symptoms and increased ego strength) and that these improvements will be maintained across time.
Sharon G. Portwood, Ph.D.
University of North Carolina at Charlotte
9201 University City Boulevard
Charlotte, NC 28223‑0001
Phone: (704)687‑6746
FAX: (704)687‑6692
E‑mail:
sgportwo@email.uncc.edu
Grant Number: CE001192
Project Title: An Outcome Evaluation of the
ACT Parents Raising Safe Kids Program
Project Period: 09/01/2007 ‑ 08/31/2010
Abstract:
The large number of reported victims of child maltreatment, combined with the general consensus that actual numbers of victims far exceed available figures, highlights the critical need for effective primary prevention programs that can be implemented across diverse communities. In response to this need, the proposed project will evaluate the effectiveness of the Adults and Children Together Against Violence Parents Raising Safe Kids program as an economical primary prevention intervention for child maltreatment. Developed by the American Psychological Association (APA), in collaboration with the National Association for the Education of Young Children, “the ACT program” has two overarching goals: (1) to make early violence prevention a central and ongoing part of the community; and (2) to educate adults about their role in creating healthy and safe environments for children. Like the majority of child violence prevention programs, the ACT program targets parents. However, ACT is unique in its universal approach to prevention and its ability to be implemented in diverse settings and integrated into the broader community framework of services for parents, regardless of their level of risk. The program is designed to be delivered in 8 sessions; content includes understanding child behavior, children and violence, conflict resolution, and positive parenting. University of North Carolina at Charlotte researchers will work with APA and community service sites in Chicago, IL; Newport News, VA; and Milwaukee, WI to evaluate the ACT program. Using an experimental design with random assignment to groups, this study will examine program impact on participating parents’ (n=125) knowledge, behavior, and attitudes compared to a control group (n=125) of parents. More specifically, the project will address the following research questions: Does participation in the ACT program increase positive parenting skills, partner conflict management skills, and/or use of supportive networks?; Does the ACT program decrease parenting stress?; Do characteristics of service provision (i.e., whether ACT is offered in combination with Head Start vs. other community‑based support services) impact program outcomes?; and Do the demographic characteristics of participants impact program outcomes? It is hypothesized that the ACT program will produce positive outcomes in each of the target areas and benefit all participants equally across all program delivery formats.
CDC-RFA-CE07-004
Abusive Head Trauma (AHT) Prevention
Mark Steven Dias, M.D.
Pennsylvania State University Hershey Medical
Center
500 University Drive
P.O. Box 850, H110
Hershey, PA 17033‑0850
Phone: (717)531‑3040
FAX: (717)531‑3858
E‑mail:
mdias@psu.edu
Grant Number: CE001274
Project Title: Pennsylvania Abusive Head
Trauma Prevention Program
Project Period: 09/30/2007 ‑ 09/29/2012
Abstract:
This proposal will evaluate the effectiveness of two prevention strategies to reduce the incidence of abusive head trauma (AHT) in Pennsylvania (PA). A post-natal hospital based prevention program, developed by the PI to educate parents of all newborn infants about the impact of violent infant shaking and already underway in PA, will be continued. Parents will be exposed to both written and video information about violent infant shaking before they leave the hospital and asked to voluntarily sign a commitment statement (CS) affirming their participation. Hospital compliance will be measured through the monthly return of the CS to the investigators. The incidence of AHT in children < 24 months will be tracked using a state-wide centralized registry and compared both with historical incidence rates for the six preceding years and with contemporaneous multi-state AHT incidence rates from the Kids Inpatient Database (KID). In addition, 31 counties in central PA will be randomized to two groups: parents in both groups I and II will receive the hospital based intervention. Pediatric care providers (PCP) having offices in the Group II counties will additionally provide parents with information about crying and violent infant shaking, in the form of a ‘crying card’, at the 2, 4, and 6 month health maintenance visits. Parents will in turn be asked to sign a response form affirming their participation; these response forms will be returned to the investigators for compliance tracking. The feasibility, costs, and effectiveness of the two interventions in reducing AHT will be evaluated and contrasted.
Desmond K. Runyan, M.P.H.
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Room 360, Wing C
CB 7240
Chapel Hill, NC 27599‑7240
Phone: (919)962‑1136
FAX: (919)962‑3352
E‑mail:
drunyan@unc.edu
Grant Number: CE001275
Project Title: The Period of PURPLE Crying:
Keeping Babies Safe in North Carolina
Project Period: 09/30/2007 ‑ 09/29/2012
Abstract:
Our 2000-01 North Carolina (NC) study revealed serious abusive head trauma (AHT) among children under 2 years old at a rate of 17.0/100,000 children per year. Twenty-six percent died. A second study revealed that 2.6% of NC and SC parents admit shaking children < 2 for discipline. Other work has revealed the central role of infant crying in triggering shaking by caregivers. A multi-agency Leadership Committee in NC has developed a plan to implement and evaluate an AHT prevention program designed to prepare parents and other caregivers to deal with infant crying. The intervention will educate parents about normal infant crying patterns, how to respond to crying, and the dangers of shaking. We propose to disseminate “The Period of PURPLE Crying” curricula developed by the National Center on Shaken Baby Syndrome in a manner designed to reach every new parent three times. Building upon randomized controlled studies in Seattle and Vancouver, we will examine the effectiveness of this approach in NC over five years (~125,000 births / year). We anticipate reducing the numbers of children hospitalized or dying from AHT by at least 50%. The Leadership Committee plans to deliver this curriculum three ways. One, nurses will educate the parents of every newborn including discussion, a video, and a booklet about infant crying in the newborn nursery at all 86 hospitals/birthing centers in NC. Two, county health departments, pediatricians, and family physicians, will provide a second dose of the intervention in prenatal classes and/or at 2-week well-child checks. Third, the National Center on Shaken Baby Syndrome and the UNC School of Journalism and Mass Communications will develop a media campaign to be delivered statewide addressing social norms about shaking and reinforcing program messages directly and through family and friends To evaluate these efforts, we propose six strategies: 1) active surveillance with all 11 PICU’s and the Medical Examiner’s Office (OCME) to measure the incidence of AHT in North Carolina and look for a change in ratio of intentional and unintentional traumatic brain injury in young children from our earlier study; 2) two anonymous surveys of parents to see if the rate of shaking parents reported in the earlier survey is declining from our prior study; 3) a time series analysis using hospital, OCME, and KID national hospital discharge records to examine the trends in AHT cases from 1999-2011, before and during the program; 4) process evaluation of the delivery of the messages through a survey of nurseries to measure intervention fidelity and a random-digit-dial phone survey of new parents to assess program reach ; 5) a nested case-control study of AHT cases, compared to other hospitalized brain injured children under age 2 to examine receipt of intervention, in context of family composition, and other family stressors and 6) an economic analysis to examine program costs and benefits. Anticipated support from two foundations will enable this statewide effort to be a rigorous evaluation of program delivery, effectiveness, costs, and benefits.
CDC-Public Health Research Awards |
The CDC Office of Public Health Research (OPHR) facilitates CDC research prioritization, planning, and evaluation across both intramural and extramural programs, and ensures the CDC research portfolio is designed for maximum impact on public health and is achieving the desired ends. The OPHR offers several awards in collaboration with the various CDC Centers, including the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control (NCIPC). The following awards were made through the NCIPC.
CD-07-005: Improving Public Health Practice through Translation Research (R18)
Dr. Mark J. Chaffin, Ph.D.
Professor of Pediatrics
University of Oklahoma
Health Sciences Center
Pediatrics Division:
College of Medicine
CHO 3B3406 Street 2: PO
Box 26901
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
73190
Phone: (405)271-8858
Fax: (405)271-2931
Email:
mark-chaffin@ouhsc.edu
Grant Number: CE001334-01
Project Title:
Cascading Diffusion of an
Evidence-Based Child Maltreatment Intervention
Project Period:
09/30/2007-09/29/2010
Abstract:
Project Abstract Child neglect is the dominant referral problem among families entering the child welfare service system, comprising two-thirds of all entering cases nationally. Neglect cases are characterized by high recidivism, and relatively high negative impact on children with respect to health, mental health, and behavioral outcomes. Most neglect cases are served by in-home family preservation/family reunification (FP/FR) service systems. Many FP/FR services-as-usual are based on a loose social support and case management model, and more effective models with stronger scientific support, such as the SafeCare model, have not yet penetrated into FP/FR service systems. How to diffuse evidence-based models throughout these systems, and maintain sustained fidelity, is an open question. Results from two ongoing NIMH-funded studies of a statewide SafeCare controlled-trail implementation in Oklahoma have yielded initial findings that some implementation features (e.g. in vivo provider coaching) are critical. In this proposal, we will test a new and promising implementation and diffusion approach developed for transporting SafeCare into an existing FP/FR service network in San Diego County California. The proposed study will take advantage of a new, recently funded implementation project, scheduled to begin in September, 2007. The proposed study will use this already funded implementation as a vehicle for expanding scientific knowledge about the implementation and diffusion project. The diffusion model involves a cascading approach, first developing a small seed program of exceptionally high quality, then using providers from the seed program as in vivo coaches and implementation agents for sequential implementations at other provider agencies in the system. This study will examine whether or not the planned diffusion model can develop a network of services with self-sustaining levels of model fidelity and provider competency across cascading waves of individual agency implementation. Also, using a mixed-methods (quantitative/qualitative) approach, we will examine and describe the relationship between individual provider staff, system, and organizational factors, and their impact on the implementation process. The anticipated results of the study will be a rich data set systematically describing key factors and issues involved in diffusion of an EBT within a child welfare FP/FR service system along with data on the effectiveness of the diffusion model in achieving sustained model uptake
Ronald Prinz, Ph.D.
University of South
Carolina Research Foundation
1512 Pendleton St
Columbia, SC 29208
Phone: (803)
777-7143
Fax: (803) 777-5502
Email:
prinz@sc.edu
Grant
Number: CE001340
Project
Title: Population-Level Parenting
Interventions to Reduce Prevalence of Child Abuse
Project
Period: 9/30/2007 –
9/29/2010
Abstract:
This project focuses on improving public health practice through translation research in the context of a population trial aimed at the prevalence reduction of child maltreatment. This trial, called the U.S. Triple P System Population Trial, is the only known study on prevention of child maltreatment that has randomly assigned geographical areas (in this case 18 counties) to condition and is examining impact on population indicators of child maltreatment. The public-health-based intervention is the Triple P (Positive Parenting Program) system for which efficacy and effectiveness has been well established through over 30 previous RCTs. The key aims are: (1) to identify and better understand facilitators and impediments to maintenance of service-provider implementation of evidence-based parenting interventions for prevention of child maltreatment; (2) to evaluate how well the translation of the evidence-based parenting interventions into a broad-scale dissemination strategy has succeeded with respect to the sustaining the prevention of child maltreatment over multiple years with respect to child out-of-home placements, child hospitalizations and emergency-room visits for maltreatment-related injuries, and child maltreatment cases; (3) to evaluate the cost effectiveness of the population-wide dissemination over multiple years; and (4) to characterize variation in child-maltreatment prevention outcomes across counties and explore associations with implementation and socio-demographic variables. The methodology includes randomization and experimental control at the level of county (controlling for prior rates of child abuse), repeated field assessments with 400 service providers, and ecological dissemination of the public health intervention.
Violence-Related Injury – Youth Violence
CDC-RFA-CE08-003
Research for Preventing Violence and
Violence‑Related Injury
Lourdes Oriana Linares
New York University School of Medicine
215 Lexington Avenue
New York, NY 10016
Phone: (212)263‑8847
FAX: (212)263‑3690
E mail: oriana.linares@med.nyu.edu
Grant Number: CE001378
Project Title: Promoting Sibling Bonds in Foster Care
Project Period: 09/01/2008 – 08/31/2011
Abstract:
Given their history of family adversity, foster children are a high risk population for negative
sibling relationships and frequent physical aggression toward a sibling leading to increased
risk for physical aggression toward other children i.e., non sibling peers. The foster
placement context provides a critical window for timely and amenable youth violence
prevention to alter the downward behavioral trajectories of children with histories of
neglect. This study uses the context of the sibling relationship to develop and evaluate
the effectiveness of a youth violence prevention intervention. The goal of this application
is to reduce sibling aggression which is prevalent in neglected children placed in foster
homes and forecasts significant risk for youth violence. Sibling aggression among
maltreated children remains a highly under identified and untreated problem. The failure
to intervene represents a major public health concern. This intervention utilizes a trans theoretical model that implicates child vulnerabilities (altered cortisol
and emotion dysregulation), sibling pair risk (low positively, and poor conflict management), and
foster parent (non mediation) factors into a testable intervention model to decrease risk for sibling
and peer physical aggression among young neglected children. The ‘Promoting Sibling Bonds’
intervention combines two promising short term psychosocial sibling programs: Sibs Together
(Bank, 2000; 2004) and Mediation Based Intervention Strategy for Sibling Conflict (Smith & Ross,
2007) adapted to meet the needs of neglected children in the foster care system. The study
involves two phases. In Phase 1 Intervention Development, we will refine and expand the
intervention protocol, adapt and integrate manuals, train therapists (interventionists), make
changes from iteration work and try out behavioral outcome measures. In Phase 2
Implementation of a controlled trial, we will recruit a sample of N = 144 children (nested in 72
pairs) between ages 5 8 years old; collect baseline data (wave1); randomize sibling pairs and
their families (foster parent or biological parent for cases who reunite) to intervention and
comparison groups, and collect post intervention (wave2) and 6 months follow up (wave3)
outcome data of the adapted intervention. We hypothesize that at post intervention (wave2), and
again at follow up (wave3), as compared to children assigned to the comparison ‘usual care
‘(UC), children assigned to the experimental intervention condition (IC) will show improvement in
reported sibling aggression, non sibling peer aggression, emotion dysregulation; and children will
be more likely to exhibit a typical diurnal cortisol pattern. Sibling pairs will show improved
relationship quality (positivity and negativity). The proportion of foster parents and sibling pairs
who engage in conflict mediation, compromise, and reconciliation strategies will be higher in the
intervention group. The public health impact of this intervention for violence prevention is high.
Our innovative outcome model is a part of a second generation of studies aimed at integrating rich
behavioral science and advances in neurobiology to better understand the multilevel change
mechanisms in prevention trials.
CDC-RFA-CE07-010
Research for Preventing Violence and Violence‑Related Injury
Francis Brett Drake, B.A.
Washington University
Campus Box 1196
One Brookings Drive
St. Louis, MO 63130
Phone: (314)935‑4880
FAX: (314)935‑8511
E‑mail:
BRETTD@GWBSSW.WUSTL.EDU
Grant Number: CE001190
Project Title: YOUNG ADULT VIOLENCE:
MODIFIABLE PREDICTORS AND PATHS
Project Period: 09/01/2007 ‑ 08/31/2010
Abstract:
Our understanding of the developmental pathways and social circumstances contributing to the perpetration of violence in young adulthood is sharply limited.
This study, “Young Adult Violence: Modifiable Predictors and Paths (YAVMPP) will help fill this gap as the first large (n=6,987), longitudinal (subjects followed for an average of 23 years) study of low‑income subjects to determine predictors and pathways to early adult violence. YAVMPP informs prevention of intimate partner violence, sexual violence and child maltreatment, as well as other forms of violence. We explore developmental timing and salience of key risk factors, child and adolescent characteristics and behaviors, and public social services use as they relate to perpetration and victimization in young adulthood. We are particularly interested in identifying those service systems which engage future perpetrators before perpetration begins, so that venues for the basing of preventative services can be identified. The proposed work will also contribute to the emerging knowledge base around gender differences and their association with perpetration and victimization. This research project includes two “value added” components not specified in the FOA. First, we track perpetration and victimization, allowing a more complete understanding of violent injury. Second, tracking other forms of violence allows us to evaluate generalist vs. specialist conceptualizations of violence better. Study aims are pursued using state‑of‑the‑art statistical techniques to identify subjects with particular clusters of modifiable factors as well as individual developmental trajectories. The study uses an integrated database, drawing from many administrative sources. From birth to age 18, our data include court records (restraining orders against subjects and caretakers), mental health services, special education, child welfare, emergency room visits and inpatient hospitalization (health/mental health), income maintenance, juvenile court and corrections, birth and death records, runaway shelter, Census data, and community demographics and crime rates. In adulthood, data include arrests, child welfare (as perpetrator), corrections, court (TRO/RO for perpetrators and victims), income maintenance, mental health, ER visits (health/mental health), birth, death and marriage records. The integrated database to be used in the proposed work will be an extended and enhanced version of the databases developed during three prior grants from ACYF and NIH over the past nine years. The proposed research team is uniquely positioned to do this work. It includes research expertise in child maltreatment, crime, youth violence and delinquency, mental health services to children, and intimate partner violence, as well as clinical practice experience in child welfare (Drake), school social work (Jonson‑Reid) domestic violence victim (Kohl) and perpetrator (Jonson‑Reid) counseling, as well as mental health (Kohl) counseling. Consultants add additional expertise on longitudinal analysis (Widom) and criminality (Decker).
Donna Martsolf, B.S.N.
Kent State University
PO Box 5190
Kent, OH 44242‑0001
Phone: (330)672‑7930
FAX: (330)672‑2433
E‑mail:
dmartsol@kent.edu
Grant Number: CE001183
Project Title: Adolescent Dating Violence:
Development of a Theoretical Framework
Project Period: 09/01/2007 ‑ 08/31/2010
Abstract:
Dating violence among adolescents is a prevalent public health problem with serious proximal and distal effects, including increased risk for adult intimate partner violence. An in‑depth explanatory theory that is focused on the development of dating violence during adolescence and informed by the perspective of those who have experienced adolescent dating violence has not been developed. The lack of theory has hindered efforts to develop dating violence prevention programs that show evidence of long‑term efficacy. The purpose of the proposed research is to use an innovative, qualitative research design to develop a theoretical framework that describes, explains, and predicts how dating violence unfolds during adolescence. The specific aims are to: a)Identify common processes by which adolescents respond to their experiences of dating violence from a narrative/life course perspective, b) Develop a typology of common trajectories of violent events that occur over the course of adolescent dating relationships from a situational/events perspective, c) Examine the influence of social circumstances on adolescents’ experiences of dating violence, and d) Use grounded theory methods to analyze and integrate information about the processes, trajectories, and influential social circumstances in order to create the theoretical framework. The project will be conducted by a collaborative team of university and community‑based researchers. Women and men between the ages of 18 and 21 living in one of 12 Summit, Medina, or Portage counties in Ohio who have experienced dating violence as adolescents will be recruited by a community‑based recruitment strategy developed by the researchers. In‑depth interviews will be used to obtain narratives of the participants’ responses to dating violence and detailed descriptions of the violent events they experienced. These data will be supplemented by narratives of professionals who work with adolescents at risk for dating violence and information regarding community responses to dating violence. Grounded theory methods will be used to analyze the data and develop the theoretical framework. The university / community collaborative research team, with the assistance of a consultant who is a world renowned expert on interpersonal violence, will determine the implications of the theory for prevention efforts.
CDC-RFA-CE07-005
Understanding Risk and Protective Factors for
Sexual Violence Perpetration and the Overlap of Bullying Behavior
Dorothy L Espelage, B.S.
University of Illinois at Urbana‑Champaign
1310 South Sixth Street
Room 220a
Champaign, IL 61820
Phone: (217)333‑9193
FAX: (217)244‑7620
E‑mail:
espelage@uiuc.edu
Grant Number: CE001268
Project Title: Middle school bullying and
sexual violence: Measurement issues & etiological models
Project Period: 09/01/2007 ‑ 08/31/2010
Abstract:
Schools have taken up bullying prevention as the panacea for school violence. This bullying prevention approach ignores sexual violence/harassment, but has gained momentum as a more palatable topic for school administrators, parents, and teachers. Although this is a practical solution, it ignores the fact that there exists no empirical support that bullying prevention efforts in elementary or middle school are associated with decreases in sexual violence perpetration or victimization over time. In fact, in Australia data are emerging that this approach is in fact not effective (Rigby, 2004). Thus, it remains critical to examine the overlap of bullying perpetration/victimization and sexual violence in order to inform sexual violence prevention in our US schools. This proposed study is the first comprehensive examination of the association between bullying experiences and co-occurring and subsequent sexual violence among middle school students. This proposed study uses a social ecological framework to explore the risk and protective factors of bullying experiences and sexual violence in which adolescent behavior is shaped by a range of nested contextual systems, including family, peers, and school environments (Brofenbrenner, 1977, 1979; Heise, 1998; CDC, 2004). The ecological perspective provides a conceptual framework for investigating the combined impact of these social contexts and influences on behavioral development. Bullying is conceptualized to include name-calling, teasing, rumor spreading, verbal threats, and social aggression. Sexual violence is conceptualized as including sexual coercion, sexual harassment, and homophobic teasing. Participants will include approximately 3,500 middle school students (6th through 8th grade) in 140 classrooms across five cohorts and their teachers from two school districts. The sample was selected deliberately to be ethnically (40% Black Students) and economically (range from 0% to 60% low income). Students and teachers will complete surveys at multiple time points across three years of data collection to assess a wide range of bullying attitudes and behaviors, frequency of bullying perpetration and victimization, sexual harassment victimization and perpetration, and measures of proposed risk (e.g., anger, attitudes toward violence) and protective factors (e.g., empathy). Confirmatory factor analysis will be used to examine psychometric dimensions of multiple forms of bullying and sexual violence across multiple informants (self, peer, and teacher). Hierarchical linear modeling will be used to identify trajectories of bullying perpetration, victimization, and witnessing, and sexual violence perpetration and victimization. In addition, HLM will provide for the identification of unique and shared risk (e.g., anger, pro-attitudes toward violence, peer supports for violence, child abuse experiences) and protective factors (e.g., empathy, attachment to parents) of bullying and sexual violence experiences emerge from multiple levels of social influence. Focus groups and interviews with both students and teachers will be conducted to elucidate additional information regarding the connection between bullying and sexual violence perpetration.
CDC-RFA-CE07-003
Maximizing Protective Factors for Youth Violence
Albert D. Farrell
Virginia Commonwealth University
P.O. Box 842018
Richmond, VA 23284-2018
Phone: (804)828‑8796
FAX: (804)827‑1511
E‑mail:
afarrell@vcu.edu
Grant Number: CE001296
Project Title: Individual, Parent, and
School‑level Protective Factors in Early Adolescence
Project Period: 09/15/2007 ‑ 09/14/2009
Abstract:
Although important progress has been made in youth violence prevention, further work is urgently needed to improve the effectiveness of current prevention efforts. This project focuses on early adolescence ‑a crucial transition point during which youth are at increased risk for violence and victimization. The limited impact of current interventions for this age group underscores the importance of clarifying the risk and protective factors most relevant to these youth. Developmentally, early adolescents may be particularly susceptible to the influence of peers, and peer group and school norms related to violence. The goal of this project is to examine the role of modifiable protective factors representing processes at the individual, parent, peer group, and school level that have the potential to reduce the impact of risk factors encountered in the school and peer domains. This information could inform efforts to develop more effective programs to reduce the escalation of violence associated with adolescence. This project was designed to take advantage of an existing longitudinal data set collected as part of the recently completed Multi‑site Violence Prevention Project (MVPP). Within the MVPP, data on risk and protective factors were obtained from multiple sources for students at 37 schools across multiple waves from the start of the sixth grade through the end of the eighth grade. Access to a data set that sampled teachers (N = 263) and two cohorts of students (N = 5,615) at a large number of schools representing four diverse sites provides a relatively unusual opportunity to examine the influence of risk and protective factors within the individual, peer, parent, and school domains on changes in individuals' level of violence during early adolescence. Few previous studies have sampled a sufficiently large or diverse sample of schools, or collected data that provided the depth and scope needed to examine the interaction between risk and protective factors at different levels of influence, particularly those that involve peer group and school‑level processes. The specific aims of this project are to (1) Determine the extent to which association with delinquent peers, peer group norms, and school processes supporting violence increase risk for violence among middle school students; (2) Determine the protective effects of individual beliefs (e.g., beliefs against violence, beliefs supporting nonviolent strategies), parenting variables (parental support for nonviolent strategies, parental involvement and monitoring), and group norms for nonviolent strategies; (3) Test competing models of the relations among risk and protective factors; and (4) Determine the consistency of these effects across gender and ethnicity with the context of schools that differ in their ethnic compositions and structures.
Marvin D. Krohn, M.A.
The Research Foundation of the State University of
New York at Albany
135 Western Avenue
DR‑241
Albany, NY 12222
Phone: (518)442‑5219
FAX: (518)442‑5603
E‑mail:
m.krohn@albany.edu
Grant Number: CE001295
Project Title: Examining Protective Factors
for Youth Violence within a Developmental Framework
Project Period: 09/15/2007 ‑ 09/14/2009
Abstract:
While there is a long history of research identifying the risk factors for and consequences of youth violence, there has been somewhat less scientific study of the factors that protect youth from violent behavior, and the mechanisms through which protection continues. Identifying these modifiable protective factors and how they operate is important to develop policy that can reduce youth violence, injury, and death. The proposed research utilizes the Rochester Youth Development Study (RYDS, n=1000) and the Rochester Intergenerational Study (RIGS, n=500) to provide a comprehensive assessment of factors that protect youth from engaging in violent behaviors from childhood through adulthood. These studies follow three generations of families over 19 years and include a comprehensive set of violent outcomes, risk factors, and protective factors over much of the life course. The project has four specific aims. The first is to identify theoretically derived protective factors that statistically interact with risk factors, using quadratic equations, to decrease the likelihood that youth will participate in violent behavior. This will be done at each major stage of the life course from childhood to adulthood. The second specific aim is to identify protective factors that can deflect individuals from various violent behavioral trajectories during adolescence and early adulthood. We will use semi‑parametric growth curve models to accomplish this and we will use a novel technique to exchange protective resources between groups experimentally to determine if bolstering protective resources changes the individuals' violent offending trajectories. The third aim is to determine if, for specific histories of violent offending, the causal impact of protective factors is due to their unique effect or to other complex selection mechanisms. Here we will use propensity score matching emulating an experimental design to determine if the impact of the protective factor is real or a chimera of selection bias into the protective factor. The final specific aim is to study the causal impact of family and environmental protective factors predicting violent outcomes in young adults of one generation to assess the effect on their children. We will determine whether and how protective factors can benefit the generation to which they are applied as well as the children of that generation.
CDC-Public Health Research Awards |
The CDC Office of Public Health Research (OPHR) facilitates CDC research prioritization, planning, and evaluation across both intramural and extramural programs, and ensures the CDC research portfolio is designed for maximum impact on public health and is achieving the desired ends. The OPHR offers several awards in collaboration with the various CDC Centers, including the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control (NCIPC). The following awards were made through the NCIPC.
CDC Mentored Public Health Research Scientist Development Award (K01)RFA-CD-07-003
Catherine Bradshaw,
Ph.D.
Johns Hopkins University
Bloomberg School of Public
Health
624 North Broadway, Suite
831
Baltimore, MD 21205
Phone: (410)
502-2557
Fax: (410) 955-9088
E-mail:
Cbradsha@JHSPH.EDU
Grant No: CE001333
Project
Title: Increasing Utilization of
Evidence-Based Violence Prevention Programs in
Schools
Project
Period: 9/30/2007 - 9/29/2010
Abstract:
Although the President's Commission identified schools as promising sites for early intervention with children manifesting aggressive behavior problems, the available evidence-based violence prevention programs (EBPs) are not readily adopted by schools. It is critical that we work in partnership with schools and school districts to bridge the gap between efficacy and effectiveness research by facilitating the process of EBP implementation and optimizing their impact in real world settings. The proposed Mentored Research Scientist Development Award (K01) will enable Dr. Catherine Bradshaw, a developmental psychologist, to design and conduct research that will increase the use and effectiveness of school-based violence prevention programs. The training takes place within a robust research environment that utilizes resources from 2 federally funded research centers, the CDC-funded Center for the Prevention of Youth Violence, directed by Dr. Philip Leaf, and the NIMH/NI DA funded Center for Prevention and Early Intervention, directed by Dr. Nicholas lalongo. The proposed training focuses on: 1) Developing skills and expertise in the design, implementation, and analysis of school-based violence prevention trials; 2) Applying formal decision-making models to the selection and implementation of EBPs to prevent youth violence. Drs. Leaf and lalongo will provide mentorship on youth violence and school-based prevention trials, Dr. David Murray will provide training on the design and analysis of group-randomized trials, and Dr. Harold Lehmann will provide training on informatics and decision support. The research plan builds on a CDC/NIMH-funded group-randomized trial of the Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) school-wide universal prevention model and a state-wide network of over 600 schools implementing PBIS to: 1) Create a web-based risk and protective factors screening instrument to guide an adaptive preventive intervention for children with aggressive behavior problems not responding to the universal PBIS program; 2) Implement and pilot a school-based adaptive preventive intervention for children with aggressive behavior problems. The objective of this research is to prevent youth violence by increasing dissemination and optimizing the effectiveness of school-based violence prevention programs. This award will prepare the PI for a career as an independent researcher focused on the implementation and effectiveness of school-based violence prevention programs. PERFORMANCE SITE(S) (organization, city, state) The Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health Department of Mental Health 624 N. Broadway, Suite 831 Baltimore, MD21205 PHS 398 (Rev. 04/06) ' Page 2 Form Page 2 Principal Investigator/Program Director (Last, First, Middle): Bradshaw, Catherine
Eric Sigel, M.D.
The Children’s Hospital
1056 E 19th St B-025
Denver, CO 80218
Phone: (303)
861-6133
Fax: (303) 837-2962
E-mail:
sigel.eric@tchden.org
Grant No: CE001332
Project
Title: Assessing an Adolescent
Violence Screening Tool Longitudinally for Primary
Care
Project
Period: 9/30/2007 – 9/29/2010
Abstract:
This K award will be integral in the development of Dr. Sigel's career, which is focused on youth violence detection and intervention in the primary care setting. Dr. Sigel will work with the Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence, under the primary mentorship of Dr. Terence Thornberry. To become an independent researcher in this field, the candidate has identified several skill sets that need enhancement, including: improving knowledge of psychometric properties of screening tools, improving ability to conduct longitudinal, randomized control intervention trials, learning skills to evaluate program implementation, increasing understanding of what interventions work for youth violence intervention, and understanding the interface between violence as a public health problem and how the medical setting can be used to address this issue. A combination of working at the CSPV, taking didactic classes, interfacing with the community, and carrying out the proposed research project will accomplish this. Long term career goals include: 1) becoming an independent clinical investigator in the field of youth violence assessment and intervention; 2) studying and implementing evidence-based interventions at the primary care level to decrease morbidity and mortality from youth violence and 3) establishing a center of excellence in youth violence assessment and treatment, in collaboration with community partners. The research project is: Assessing Predictive Validity at 1 and 2 Years of the Violence Injury, Protection and Risk Screening Tool for Primary Care. Specific Aim: Determine the predictive validity at one and two years of the Violence Injury, Protection and Risk Screening (VIPRS) Tool that identifies youth at risk for future violence involvement (aggression, violence perpetration, violence victimization, and injury from violence).Methods: An initial cohort of 165 youth, and 131 parents have been enrolled to evaluate the reliability and validity of the VIPRS cross-sectionally. This proposed study will examine the future predictive validity of the VIPRS by assessing the initial cohort of youth and parents at one and two year follow-up from initial enrollment. Questionnaires evaluating aggression and victimization will be administered, as well as repeating the VIPRS. Chart review will be done at one and two year follow-up to determine whether the primary care practitioner diagnosed any behavior related to violence involvement, or any violence related injury. Analysis The predictive validity of the VIPRS will be examined using multivariate linear or logistic regression analysis to determine whether:1) the VIPRS baseline scores are associated with violent behavior occurring between baseline and the one-year and two year follow-up interview; and 2) change in VIPRS scores from baseline to one-year is associated with violent behavior occurring between the one-year follow-up interview and the two-year follow-up interviews, adjusted for baseline VIPRS scores. Project Narrative/Relevance: This project is vital to the public health issue of youth violence. Primary care health professionals have not been actively involved in treating youth violence, mostly because it is time consuming and challenging to recognize youth at risk. By creating an easy to administer screening tool, health professionals will be able to recognize, and ultimately intervene before youth suffer the consequences of violence involvement.
Violence-Related Injury – Intimate Partner Violence
New Awards
CDC-RFA-CE08-003
Ernest N. Jouriles
Southern Methodist University
PO Box 750442
Dallas, TX 75275 0442
Phone: (214)768‑2360
FAX: (214)768‑3921
E mail: ejourile@smu.edu
Grant Number: CE001432
Project Title: Perpetration of Partner Violence Among Adolescents from Violent Homes
Project Period: 09/01/2008 – 08/31/2011
Abstract:
Adolescent partner violence (APV) is an important social and health problem with
potentially dire consequences. Youth exposure to IPV is also a problem, and children
from families characterized by IPV, compared to children from nonviolent families, are
more likely to act violently toward their own dating partners and spouses. However, not
all youth exposed to IPV go on to act violently toward others. In fact, although the
witnessing of IPV increases risk for perpetration of APV, many youth who witness IPV do
not become violent in their intimate relationships. Unfortunately, very little is known
about why some youth in families characterized by IPV are violent in later relationships,
while others are not. The primary goals of the proposed research are to (a) identify
potentially malleable variables that predict APV perpetration over a period of 6 months
in a sample of youth whose families are characterized by IPV, (b) evaluate the utility of
conceptual models derived from empirical research and theory for predicting the perpetration
of APV, and (c) develop and test a comprehensive conceptual model that
subsumes other, more circumscribed models for predicting the perpetration of APV. The
proposed research will recruit and follow approximately 240 14 to 17 year olds over a 6
month period. Adolescents and their mothers will be recruited from agencies providing
services to families characterized by IPV (DV agencies, courts). Comprehensive
assessments will be conducted at two separate time points, 3 months apart. Phone
assessments of APV will be conducted every 2 weeks throughout the 6 month
participation period. Specifically, each comprehensive assessment will be followed by a
6 month series of telephone contacts with the adolescents to obtain data on APV. During
each of the comprehensive assessments, data will be collected directly from the
adolescents, their mothers, and a friend nominated by the adolescents. During the
biweekly assessments, data will be collected from the adolescents. This research will
offer insights into the processes that shape the etiology of APV for adolescents growing
up in highly stressful circumstances. In addition to its contributions to science, the
proposed research will inform intervention and prevention programs designed for
adolescents from violent homes. Identification of risk and protective factors and the
processes by which they predict APV will facilitate the development of targeted
interventions designed to prevent or arrest the development of APV.
Karen A McDonnell
The George Washington University
2175 K Street, NW
Washington, DC 20037
Phone: (202)467‑2282
FAX: (202)416‑0433
E mail: sphkxm@gwumc.edu
Grant Number: CE001409
Project Title: Etiologic Frameworks to Prevent Gender Based Violence Among Immigrant Latinos
Project Period: 09/01/2008 – 08/31/2011
Abstract:
It is without question that youth and adult gender based interpersonal violence (GBV) pose formidable
threats to public health. Interpersonal violence in general and gender related violence in particular, do
not occur as isolated phenomena; they are part and parcel of larger syndemic relationships that act in
concert to affect multiple aspects of population health and well being. Certain populations bear a
disproportionate burden of gender violence and yet have not benefited from research and appropriate
interventions. Immigrant Latinos represent one such vulnerable group.
The proposed collaborative team at the George Washington University (GWU) School of Public Health
and Health Services is in an excellent position to undertake etiologic research focusing on gender related violence
among immigrant Latino populations. This application to the CDC NCIPC RFA CE 08 003 thus fulfills the
needs expressed in NCIPC research objective #3: Etiologic Research. The goal of this proposed study is
to explore the relations between neighborhood and individual level characteristics, and interpersonal
violence with specific models being developed that link intimate partner violence and gender related
youth violence. We have a unique opportunity to examine the proximate as well as more distal correlates
of interpersonal violence building upon the efforts of our current work with the CDC funded SAFER
Latinos project. Consistent with the goals and mission of the NCIPC, we propose to work with NCIPC to
incorporate a range of disciplines and associated methodologies including the combination of qualitative
and quantitative methods. We will conduct formative qualitative investigations into the ecological
constructs of interest and integrate these findings into a larger quantitative survey of 400 Latinos, 100
from each of the following groups: female youth, male youth, adult females and adult males. The findings
from these data collection efforts will be utilized to assess and describe the community problem solving
capacity in an immigrant Latino neighborhood to address the identified etiological constructs, and
concomitantly to identify capacity building needs. We will assess current evidence based IPV and other
gender related violence interventions to determine their “fit” vis a vis the model. As a result, gaps in
available programming will be identified. Utilizing research perspectives from several social science
disciplines and a conceptual framework adapted from validated program planning and evaluation
models, we propose to develop an etiological model and best practices approach that can provide the
basis for a community based intervention development.
CDC-RFA-CE07-002
Family
Dyadic Focused Interventions to Prevent Intimate Partner Violence
Miriam Kehinde Ehrensaft, Ph.D.
Research Foundation of the City University of New
York for the John Jay College of Criminal Justice
230 West 4th Street
New York, NY 10036
Phone: (646)557‑4683
FAX: (212)740‑5394
E‑mail:
mehrensaft@jjay.cuny.edu
Grant Number: CE001247
Project Title: Can Family Based Prevention
of Conduct Problems Prevent IPV Development?
Project Period: 09/30/2007 ‑ 09/29/2011
Abstract:
This application responds to CDC‑RFA‑CE‑07‑002, 'Family and Dyadic Focused Interventions to Prevent Intimate Partner Violence'. Substantial evidence from both prospective longitudinal and clinical studies points to the role of early conduct problems as one of the most robust risk factors for IPV, even net of other risks. Despite strong evidence of overlap of antisocial/criminal behavior and intimate partner violence (IPV), there have been no evaluations of the effects of preventive interventions for antisocial behavior, on IPV risk. This study builds on a previously funded 10‑year study entitled “Early Primary Prevention of Conduct Problems” (NIMH R01 1997‑2007; L. Brotman, PI). The original study found immediate and short‑term effects (from age 4 to age 8) in a randomized controlled trial (RCT) of a family intervention with poor, urban, minority preschool‑age younger brothers and sisters of adjudicated delinquents. These youth are at high risk for juvenile delinquency, given a range of biological, family, and environmental risk factors (Brotman, Gouley, O'Neal, & Klein, 2004). With 3 yearly follow‑up telephone assessments, we aim to test (1) The impact of the intervention on mean levels and slopes of physical, psychological, and sexual IPV, and attitudinal and behavior correlates of IPV in intervention participants versus controls, starting when the preschool age targets are entering adolescence (n = 68; 9‑16 years old; M = 13 years); (2) The impact of the intervention on IPV risk in their older siblings’ (n = 84) in adolescence and early adulthood (the intervention produced immediate and long term change in their antisocial behavior and peer aggression); (3) Test whether the preventive intervention delivered during the preschool period reduces the risk for IPV in adolescence by: Increasing social competence and reducing negative parenting practices in early childhood; decreasing conduct problems in middle childhood; and decreasing antisocial behavior and affiliation with deviant peers, and improving critical aspects of the family environment. If untreated, children at high risk for antisocial behavior and delinquency are at greatest risk for IPV. This proposal has significant implications for public health, as findings may inform a novel approach to preventing IPV in youth who would be most resistant to standard IPV interventions when they reach adolescence.
Amy M. Smith Slep, Ph.D.
The Research Foundation of the State University of
New York at Stony Brook
SUNY Stony Brook
Stony Brook, NY 11794‑2500
Phone: (631)632‑9346
FAX: (631)632‑7876
E‑mail:
amy.slep@sunysb.edu
Grant Number: CE001246
Project Title: Dyadic, Skills‑Based Primary
Prevention for Partner Violence in Perinatal Parents
Project Period: 09/30/2007 ‑ 09/29/2012
Abstract:
Couple CARE for Parents is a dyad-based intervention that addresses interpersonal processes within relationships and promotes skills-based changes in behavior among couples with a newborn. Couple CARE for Parents uses an approach developed in Australia that is very easy and cost-effective to disseminate widely l (i.e., home-visitation and video- and telephone-assisted skills training). It has demonstrated efficacy for significantly enhancing couples’ relationship satisfaction in three Australian randomized trials (Halford, Petch, & Creedy, 2004; Halford, Moore, et al., 2004; Halford et al., 2001). Arresting the normal decline of satisfaction of new parents to near-clinical levels (Schulz et al., 2006) is noteworthy for the purpose of this announcement because relationship dissatisfaction is one of the strongest predictors of partner physical assault (Pan et al., 1994). Managing relationship conflict is critical to the health and well-being of both parents and their children (e.g., Cummings & Davies, 2002; Robles & Kiecolt- Glaser, 2003). Given the high prevalence in perinatal parents of partner physical and emotional aggression (a precursor to the more serious form labeled “intimate partner violence” [IPV]) in new parents), the need for efficacious prevention services is acute. This randomized, controlled trial will test if couples with a newborn who receive Couple CARE for Parents (n = 150) report significantly less IPV than control couples who do not receive the program (n = 150). No couple will report ever having experienced IPV. All couples will have three empirically documented risk factors for the development of IPV: youth (each couple will have at least one partner under 30 years of age), parenting a newborn, and psychological aggression in the past year. The project has the following aims: (1) Determine the outcomes of Couple CARE for Parents. We hypothesize that, among other positive outcomes, couples who receive Couple CARE for Parents, compared with those who do not, will report at follow-up (a) less IPV; and (b) less partner physical and emotional aggression. (2) Identify factors that may contribute to reduction in IPV and in physical and emotional aggression (e.g., communication skills, conflict behaviors, parenting expectations, , quality of adult attachment, partner attributions, child abuse potential, family income, marital status, parenting stress, infant difficultness).
Casey Tyler Taft, Ph.D.
Boston Veterans Affairs Research Institute, Inc.
150 S. Huntington Ave. (151B)
Boston, MA 02130
Phone: (857)364‑4344
FAX: (857)364‑4501
E‑mail:
casey.taft@va.gov
Grant Number: CE001248
Project Title: PTSD‑Focused Relationship
Enhancement Therapy for Returning Veterans and their Partners
Project Period: 09/30/2007 ‑ 09/29/2012
Abstract:
Five years of support are requested through the RFA entitled Family and Dyadic Focused Interventions to Prevent Intimate Partner Violence (U49). The purpose of the proposed project is to develop and test a couples-based relationship enhancement group intervention for married or partnered Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF)/Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) veterans to prevent the perpetration of intimate partner aggression (IPA). This intervention will incorporate components of several interventions for PTSD and IPA and will target mechanisms implicated in the PTSD-IPA association. The intervention approach has been labeled PTSD-Focused Relationship Enhancement Therapy (PF-RET). Participants will be randomly assigned to receive PF-RET or supportive therapy (ST), both in a conjoint group format, and will be followed for 12 months post-intervention. Consistent with recommendations for the prevention of mental health problems (Mrazek & Haggerty, 1994), the intervention will target empirically-supported risk factors implicated in the development of IPA (proximal targets) to prevent IPA (distal targets). Specifically, the proximal targets of PF-RET include PTSD symptoms, anger, social problem solving skills, anger-related cognitive distortions, relationship satisfaction, generalized aggression, and conflicts related to power in relationships. The distal targets of the intervention include reduced incidence and frequency of intimate partner physical assault and psychological aggression. Participants will consist of 400 couples that are at risk for the development of IPA due to the presence of a male in the couple with PTSD, as well as high levels of marital distress. However, consistent with a secondary prevention approach (National Advisory Mental Health Council Workgroup on Mental Disorders Prevention Research, 1998), participants will be excluded on the basis of histories of IPA.
Research for Preventing Violence and
Violence‑Related Injury
CDC-RFA-CE07-010
Jack Stevens, Ph.D.
Children's Research Institute
700 Children's Drive
Columbus, OH 43205
Phone: (614)355‑8000
FAX: (614)722‑3544
E‑mail:
StevensJ@chi.osu.edu
Grant Number: CE001196
Project Title: Telephone Care Management to
Prevent Further Intimate Partner Violence
Project Period: 09/01/2007 ‑ 08/31/2010
Abstract:
Importance: Despite the high prevalence and serious consequences of intimate partner violence (IPV), there is a dearth of interventions that have scientific support for addressing this serious public health issue. Objectives: We will investigate the acceptability, safety, efficacy, and cost of a theoretically‑based Telephone Care Management (TCM) intervention to prevent further IPV. We expect that the majority of approached individuals will agree to participate in the study, complete the intervention, and report no adverse events. We expect that intervention recipients will have less recent IPV and greater perceived health relative to control group recipients and that these positive outcomes will be mediated by social support and effectiveness in obtaining community resources. Study Design: We will conduct a randomized controlled trial in which half of the participants will receive TCM while the remaining half will receive the control condition‑‑Enhanced Usual Care (UC+). Setting: TCM and UC+ will be delivered through registered nurses at Columbus Children’s Hospital emergency department, which is considered a primary care setting according to this CDC announcement. Participants: Three hundred women who report IPV through touch screen computers in this emergency department will participate. One hundred fifty women will be in each study condition (TCM and UC+). Intervention: In the former condition, an emergency department nurse will educate caregivers about the impact of IPV, provide referral assistance, and problem‑solve common barriers to receiving advocacy services. In the latter condition, a nurse will telephone caregivers only to monitor the physical health of the child after the emergency room visit and discuss non‑IPV injury risks in the home. Outcome measures: Participants will complete the following standardized questionnaires at baseline, 3 months, and 6 months: the Revised Conflict Tactics Scale‑2 (IPV), the Short Form‑12 (perceived health), Social Provisions Scale (social support), and the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (depressive symptoms). Participants will also answer questions regarding intervention safety and utilization of community resources. The study team will carefully monitor treatment fidelity through audio recordings of TCM and UC+ sessions.
Violence-Related Injury – Sexual Violence
CDC-RFA-CE08-003
Victoria Banyard
University of New Hampshire
Conant Hall
Durham, NH 03824
Phone: (603)862‑2869
E mail: vlb@cisunix.unh.edu
Grant Number: CE001388
Project Title: Enhancing Bystander Efficacy to Prevent Sexual Violence: Extending Primary Prevention to
First Year College Students
Project Period: 09/01/2008 – 08/31/2011
Abstract:
While programs addressing youth violence have multiplied and have been subjected to increased empirical evaluation, less has been done to evaluate primary prevention of sexual violence, particularly in the high risk environment of
college campuses. Prevention science has demonstrated that prevention messages must begin
at an early age and need to be reiterated throughout secondary and post secondary education.
This is especially true for sexual violence, which peaks during the college years.
Objective: To extend and evaluate promising preliminary work on preventing sexual violence
by using a pro social bystander approach (Research objective 1B in the current RFA), training
and empowering first year college students to actively intervene before, during, and after the
occurrence of risky situations in order to ultimately reduce relationship violence. We
hypothesize that participants receiving the intervention will consequently manifest reduced
acceptance of rape myths, reduction in norms supporting dating violence, increased bystander
efficacy, and increased bystander behaviors as well as lower assault proclivity and lower
victimization. These gains will be in comparison to a control group which does not receive the
program and has lesser exposure to social marketing messages
Study Design: The proposed study will use a multi method approach, a technique strongly
recommended in the prevention science literature. It builds on earlier work by this research
team which has conducted the first experimental evaluation of a comprehensive bystander
program and community wide bystander oriented social marketing campaign. We will
empirically evaluate the efficacy of two forms of primary prevention: 1) a multi session, in person
prevention program, and 2) a bystander oriented social marketing campaign. The
research will examine both the independent and combined effects of each preventative strategy.
Participants: Seven hundred participants across two college campuses will be used to
evaluate the in person program. They will be recruited from the pool of first year students on
each campus and will be randomly assigned to either the prevention or control groups, and will
be followed longitudinally for up to 12 months.
Settings: Participants will be drawn from two very different college campuses (one campus that
is primarily a rural residential campus and another which is a more urban, diverse, commuter
school). On both campuses there will be specific focus on the high risk groups of first year
college students. Both university communities will be exposed to the bystander oriented social
marketing campaign. Ten percent of each campus will answer questions on their exposure to
the social marketing campaign and its impact on their attitudes and behaviors.
Interventions: Two methods of prevention will be assessed individually and together in the
proposed study. One is a multi session, in person educational program that uses active learning
strategies and best practices from theory and research on prevention (including the Health
Belief Model and founding work on bystander prevention) to teach participants how to be
empowered bystanders before, during, or after instances of relationship violence (particularly
sexual assault). The second method of prevention, the bystander oriented social marketing
campaign will consist of a multi method campaign portraying bystander behavior. The “tag line”
for the social marketing campaign is “know your power, step in, speak up, you can make a
difference.” The research team will “blanket” each university with three types of mixed media for
30 days during the first and second year of the proposed research. The first component of the
mixed bystander oriented social marketing campaign is a series of four posters portraying
“typical” college scenes explicitly modeling bystander behavior in the prevention of violence
against women. The second component of the social marketing campaign consists of “tailwrapping”
eight campus based shuttle buses with life size posters of the four social marketing
campaign posters. The third campaign component will include products displaying the social
marketing campaign tag line, “know your power, step in, speak up, you can make a difference.”
The marketing products will be distributed to all first year students. It is an important feature of
our bystander prevention program model that certain aspects of the program and social
marketing campaign are specific to the community in which they are implemented (e.g.
students modeling in the posters, examples of incidents of sexual and relationship violence
discussed in the in person program).
Outcomes: Outcome measures draw from best practices in sexual violence and dating violence
prevention to date, including specific measures of bystander attitudes, efficacy, decisional
processes and actual social behaviors. Measures also include peer norms, rape myth
acceptance, and measures of behavioral intent to commit sexual assault and a measure of
victimization. The research team believes that effective community based prevention that finds
roles for all community members to play in reducing sexual and relationship violence is a key
component of primary prevention efforts. The proposed research will enable us to replicate our
work in this area on a larger scale in two very different communities serving college age
individuals.
Research for Preventing Violence and
Violence‑Related Injury
CDC-RFA-CE07-010
Michael Miner
Regents of the University of Minnesota
1300 S 2nd St, Suite 180 WBOB
Minneapolis, MN 55455
Phone: (612)624‑7875
FAX: (612)624‑5930
E‑mail:
miner001@umn.edu
Grant Number: CE001210
Project Title: Roots of Sexual Abuse
Project Period: 09/01/2007 ‑ 08/31/2010
Abstract:
Importance: A major obstacle to developing prevention programs for child sexual abuse is lack of information about its causes and correlates, especially in young offenders. We propose to continue our development of models for understanding sexual abuse perpetration by determining whether factors that distinguish sexual abuse perpetration from delinquent behavior are unique risk factors or causes and correlates of internalizing disorders in youth. Objectives: Aim 1: Determine the generalizability and applicability of a model of child sexual abuse perpetration based in attachment theory. Aim 2: Determine whether hostile masculinity, masculine adequacy, and an impersonal attitude toward sexuality are specific risk factors for sexual aggression. Aim 3: Expand our understanding of how attachment style confers risk for sexual abuse or sexual assault perpetration by including developmental and parental relationship data from primary caregivers. Seven specific hypotheses will be tested. Our central hypothesis is that child sexual abuse perpetration has both unique and shared risk factors with adolescent internalizing disorders and that the causes and correlates of sexual assault differ from those for child sexual abuse perpetration. Participants: We will recruit from probation and treatment programs to enroll male adolescents (n=400), 13‑18 years old, who have either sexual abused a child, sexually assaulted a peer or adult, perpetrated a non‑contact sex offense (e.g., exposing, voyeurism), or are being seen by a professional for a mental health or substance use disorder. Primary caregivers (n=200) of the adolescents will be recruited from community based sites. Design: This study uses a multi‑method, cross‑sectional design. Data will be collected from the four groups of adolescents and their primary caregivers by use of chart reviews, interviews, computer‑administered self‑report protocol, and blind ratings of the History of Attachments Interview. Setting: This project is a continuation of a successful collaboration between researchers at the University of Minnesota’s Program in Human Sexuality, treatment providers, juvenile justice agencies, and residential placement agencies.
Violence–Related Injury – Suicide
CDC-RFA-CE08-003
Pamela Orpinas
University of Georgia Research Foundation, Inc.
313 Ramsey Student Center
Athens, GA 30602
Phone: (706)542‑4372
FAX: (706)542‑4956
E mail: porpinas@uga.edu
Grant Number: CE001397
Project Title: Developmental Pathways to Dating Violence and Suicidal Behavior: The Healthy Teens Project
Project Period: 09/01/2008 – 08/31/2011
Abstract:
The goal of Healthy Teens is to increase scientific understanding of different levels
of risk and protective factors that influence the developmental pathways (i.e., patterns of
continuity or patterns of change over time) that children and young adolescents follow from 6th
through 12th grade, in relation to dating violence and suicidal thoughts and behaviors. Healthy
Teens differs from much of the extant research literature in that it: a) is a longitudinal study of a
large sample (cohort of approximately 700 students); b) uses multiple methods (student
surveys, teacher ratings, archival data on academic achievement and discipline, focus groups,
and interviews; c) includes two samples of students (random and high risk); d) evaluates a large
number of violence related constructs and behaviors, including risk and protective factors at
multiple levels of an ecological framework; and e) includes students who dropped out of school.
The unique, comprehensive design of Healthy Teens will serve to enhance our comprehension
of the development of dating violence and its interrelation with suicidal thoughts and behaviors
and, thus, provide a firm foundation to enhance prevention strategies.
Objectives: Specific objectives are to: a) evaluate developmental trajectories from middle to
high school in relation to dating and dating violence victimization and perpetration and its
interrelation to suicidal thoughts and behaviors; b) evaluate the risk and protective factors that
influence these developmental trajectories; and c) explore the context and meaning of dating
violence from students’ perspectives. Study Design: Healthy Teens is a mixed method study that began when students were in the
6th grade; they are currently in the 11th grade. This study proposes to complete one more year of
data collection (12th grade—Year 1) so that that there will be complete, comprehensive data set
of this cohort from middle through high school. Data analyses will be conducted during Years 1,
2 and 3 of the proposed study. This study will employ the same data collection strategies used
since students were in the 6th grade, that is: a) student self reported assessments; b) teacher
behavioral ratings of students (BASC); and c) archival data. Additionally, individual interviews
will be conducted with a purposeful, maximum variation sample of students who have been
victims and/or perpetrators of dating violence.
Setting: Healthy Teens researchers will work cooperatively with school administration and staff
to collect data in the schools, as in years past. When this is not possible (e.g., student who has
dropped out of school), data will be collected in students’ homes or another convenient location
(e.g., public library).
Participants: Healthy Teens has followed a cohort of approximately 700 students (currently in
the 11th grade) in eight Northeast Georgia high schools. When students were in the 6th grade (9
middle schools), two types of samples were recruited: a random sample and a high risk for aggression
sample. The random sample (676 students) represented the student population of
each school; the high risk sample (213 students) consisted of students who were considered by
their teachers to be aggressive and influential with peers. A small number of students (107) in
the random sample were also selected for the high risk sample.
Outcome Measures: All students have completed questions on dating violence norms, dating,
and dating violence behaviors; high school students have completed questions related to
feelings of sadness and hopelessness and suicidal thoughts and attempts. In addition, all
students have completed an array of measures of risk and protective factors at the individual,
family, peer, and school levels. Census data on individual neighborhood characteristics are also
available.
Malfred van Dulmen
Kent State University
PO Box 5190
Kent, OH 44242
Phone: (330)672‑2504
FAX: (330)672‑3786
E mail: mvandul@kent.edu
Grant Number: CE001395
Project Title: Prospective Risk and Protective Factors for Suicide and co occurring Risk Behaviors
Project Period: 09/01/2008 – 08/31/2011
Abstract:
Suicide is the 3rd leading cause of death among adolescents and young adults aged 10 24 years
(CDC, 2008). Despite a long period of declining rates of suicide among youth, suicide rates are twice
as high as those in the 1950s and a recent study identified the first increase among adolescents
in more than a decade (CDC, 2007). Previous studies have identified theoretically grounded
and empirically validated risk and protective factors for suicide among adolescents and young
adults (Borowsky et al., 2001, Bridge, Goldstein & Brent 2006, van Heeringen 2001). However,
relatively few studies have attempted to explicitly compare the influence of specific risk and
protective factors across samples of youth in different contexts and with different risk
exposures. By considering the relationship between risk characteristics and socioenvironmental
context, the results of the current project have direct implications for the development of
targeted prevention and intervention efforts designed to reduce adolescent and young adult
suicide. The long term goal of the proposed study is to reduce rates of suicide by directly
informing suicide prevention and intervention efforts by identifying differences in theoretically
informed risk and protective factors across diverse samples of adolescents and young adults.
The current project will use data from four prospective longitudinal studies (National
Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth
Development, National Study of Child and Adolescent Well Being, Behavioral Health/Juvenile
Justice Project) to achieve the specific aims. These four data sources include information from
more than 25,000 individuals on risk and protective factors for suicide from childhood through
young adulthood.
The overall objective of this study is in accordance with several national level objectives related
to decreasing suicide prevalence, including: the Surgeon General's Call to Action to Prevent
Suicide (Enhance research to understand risk and protective factors, their interaction, and their
effects on suicide and suicidal behaviors) “Healthy People 2010” (reduce the suicide rate
among 10 14 year old and 15 19 old youth), and the National Center for Injury Prevention and
Control’s research priorities in preventing suicidal behavior (priority E: Clarify the influence of
contextual forces on suicidal behavior and priority F: Clarify the impact of individual level factors
on suicidal behavior). The study will achieve its aims through a comprehensive examination of
existing data to better understand the risks for suicidal behavior across socio environmental
contexts. This inter disciplinary and collaborative project involves three research institutions and
is led by a uniquely and highly qualified research team guided by an oversight committee
comprised of distinguished and renowned suicide scholars. The project is uniquely positioned to
provide cost effective and useful new findings that will directly inform efforts to reduce injuries
and deaths from suicides. Because the proposal relies on existing data, analyses can be
conducted quickly and findings can be disseminated rapidly to inform the prevention community
and have an impact on suicide prevention within the next 3 5 years.
The long term goal of this study will be achieved by addressing three specific research aims:
Aim I. Investigate whether risk and protective factors for suicidal behavior are unique in
predicting suicidal behavior versus predicting co occurring behavior problems. Recent
empirical evidence indicates that protective and risk factors associated with suicide overlap with
those predicting youth violence (Lubell & Vetter, 2006). Because these factors may overlap in
predicting risk behaviors co occurring with suicide, it is important to investigate the unique role
of contextual factors and individual characteristics in the development of suicidal behavior
versus other high risk behaviors such as violence perpetration. It is hypothesized that the
identified risk and protective factors will have similar associations with suicidal behaviors and
other high risk behaviors such as interpersonal violence, substance use, and delinquency.
Aim II. Identify differences in trajectories for suicidal behaviors associated with the
presence of co occurring risk exposures. Incidence and prevalence rates for suicidal
perpetration (CDC, 2008) vary greatly by age among adolescents and young adults. In addition,
risk and protective factors of behaviors co occurring with suicide –such as violence—differ across
developmental stages (Dodge & Pettit, 2003). Thus, conducting age specific analyses of protective
and risk factors will allow us to investigate the potential optimal timing for suicide interventions and
which factors should receive priority for interventions at specific ages. It is hypothesized that individual
level factors will interact with socioenvironmental characteristics and risk exposures to create
significant differences in trajectories for suicidal behaviors among comparable populations.
Aim III. Investigate whether risk and protective factors for suicidal behavior are different
for various demographic characteristics, including gender. In 2004, suicide rates increased
for adolescent females and some younger males (Centers for Disease Control, 2007). In light of
this increase and the need for targeted interventions, it is important to investigate whether risk
and protective factors for suicidal behavior differ for females versus males. We hypothesize that
peer, family, and neighborhood connectedness is a stronger predictor of suicidal behavior for
females when compared to males. In addition to considering how the risk and protective factors
for suicidal behavior vary by gender, we also will consider whether they differ across levels of
various other demographic characteristics including race, ethnicity (Goldston et al., 2008) and
SES.
Extramural Violence-Related Injury Prevention Research
Grantee Abstracts
Vangie A. Foshee, PhD
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Injury Prevention Research Center
204 Chase Hall, CB#7505
Chapel Hill, NC 27599-7505
Phone: 919-966-6616
Fax: 919-966-2921
E-mail: foshee@email.unc.edu
Project Title: Violence Towards Peers, Dates, and Self: A
Developmental Focus
Project Period: 09/01/03–08/31/06
Description: Using a developmental perspective, this study will examine
the interrelationships among violence directed at peers, towards dates
(psychological, physical, and sexual), and towards self (suicide
attempts) and identify unique and shared risk factors across those types
of violence from four levels of influence: individual, peer, family, and
neighborhood. The study will involve collaboration with a currently
funded panel study (the Context Study) that is assessing three cohorts
of adolescents in the 6th, 7th, and 8th grades in three North Carolina
counties, using self-administered questionnaires every 6 months until
the adolescents are in the 8th, 9th, and 10th grades, for a total of
five data collection waves. Waves 1 (N=5,220) and 2 (N=5,304) are
complete and Wave 3 is ongoing. The questionnaires used in those waves
measured risk factors, dating violence, and physical and verbal
aggression.
This project will collect two additional waves of data from adolescents
in grades 9 through 11, and it will add questionnaire items to Waves 4
and 5 to measure all proposed violence outcomes. Peer relationships will
be measured using social network methods, which provide an innovative
but underused means of advancing understanding of how peer context
shapes and is shaped by adolescent violence. Hierarchical linear models
and latent curve analysis will be used to address various aims of the
project. Specifically, the project will 1) model and compare
trajectories of each type of violence across multiple grades, providing
information about the timing of onset and patterns of escalation and
deceleration for each type of violence; 2) determine the developmental
trajectories for each type of violence; 3) model trajectories of each
type of violence as a function of baseline risk factors and changes in
risk factors over time; and 4) identify the prevalence of perpetration
profiles, based on combinations of different types of violence used and
risk factors for the different profiles.
Project Title: Piloting a Family-based Program
for Preventing Adolescent Dating Violence
Project Period: 09/01/03–08/31/06
Description: This project will develop and pilot test Families for Safe
Dates, a family-based program designed to address multiple types of
youth violence, including dating violence (psychological, physical, and
sexual), victimization and perpetration, and violence directed at peers.
The content of Families for Safe Dates will draw heavily from Safe
Dates, an effective school-based, dating violence prevention program.
The premise and structure will model the Family Matters program,
developed and evaluated by the investigators in a national randomized
trial and found to be successful in reducing the prevalence of
adolescent substance use. Family Matters consisted of successive
mailings of four booklets to families throughout the United States
identified by Random Digit Dialing (RDD) with each mailing followed two
weeks later by a telephone call from a health educator.
This research will include five pilot studies that will support the
conduct, if indicated, of a subsequent national randomized efficacy
trial that will use the same methods as the efficacy trial of Family
Matters. Two pilot tests will develop and refine the Families for Safe
Dates program. Two pilot tests will develop and refine the RDD screening
protocols and the telephone interview protocols for adolescents and
parents. The final pilot test, the prototype study, will replicate the
procedures to be used in the future efficacy trial.
For the prototype study, 500 households with adolescents ages 13 to 15
will be identified through RDD. Baseline telephone interviews will be
administered with the adolescent and parent, and half of the families
will be chosen randomly to receive the Families for Safe Dates program.
Follow-up telephone interviews will be conducted with parents and
adolescents 3 months after program completion. In addition to being a
pilot test of the full set of procedures to be used in the future
efficacy trial, the prototype study will have sufficient power for
examining the effects of the program on the proposed theory-based
mediating variables and on several violence outcomes. The pilot tests
are essential to adequately prepare for and justify the subsequent
national randomized trial with sufficient sample size, study duration,
and funding to fully examine the impact of the family program on the
prevention of multiple forms of violence.
Debra E. Houry, MD, MPH
Emory University
1518 Clifton Road, NE
Suite 230
Atlanta, GA 30322
Phone: 404-727-9978
Fax: 404-727-8744
E-mail: dhoury@emory.edu
Project Title: Safety and Effectiveness of Computer Screening for IPV
Project Period: 09/01/03–08/31/06
Description: The study will address the lack of knowledge about the effectiveness of routine screening and intervention for IPV in the health care setting and
the possible harm derived from such actions. The overall goal is to assess the potential benefit or harm resulting from routine computer-based screening for emotional, physical, and sexual abuse in both women and men in an acute care setting. The researchers will test computer screening for IPV to examine a screening method that will minimize provider time spent on information gathering and maximize provider time for responding to the patient's needs. This study, a randomized clinical trial with longitudinal follow-up, has four specific aims:
- To assess the safety of screening, identifying, and referring IPV victims as part of an overall computer-based health risk assessment in an ED setting;
- To assess the effect of computer screening with automatic advocate notification, compared with physician notification alone, on rates of patient contact with community-based IPV resources;
- To assess the effect of screening in a health care setting on incidents of violence and on IPV victim-defined desirable outcomes;
- To assess the safety of screening and identifying IPV perpetrators as part of an overall computer-based health risk assessment in an ED setting.
The researchers hypothesize that a) the computer screening will not result in violence related to the screening; b) automatic advocate notification in addition to physician notification in IPV-positive cases will result in higher IPV resource contacts, improved patient knowledge of resources, and greater likelihood of having a safety plan; c) advocate counseling in addition to the physician contact will lead to small improvements in victim-desired outcomes and victim mental health and quality of life; d) the computer screening will not result in adverse incidents during
the ED visit, nor increase the rates of 911 calls from the address of patients disclosing victimization and/or perpetration; and e) self-identified perpetrators will report predominantly positive reactions on an exit questionnaire following a simple health care intervention.
Screening positive for either victimization or perpetration on the computer-based survey will branch into questions assessing potential danger as part of the computer screening. Investigators will track all potential danger and harm to the patient and/or their cohabiting partner in three time periods (1-week,
3-month, and 6-month prearranged follow-up visits).
Mary A. Kernic, PhD, MPH
University of Washington
Harborview Injury Prevention and Research Center
325 9th Avenue, Box 359960
Seattle, WA 98104-2499
Phone: 206-521-1556
Fax: 206-521-1562
E-mail:
mkernic@u.washington.edu
Project Title: Prevention of IPV: Victim Support Team Evaluation
Project Period: 09/30/03–09/29/06
Description: Many studies have evaluated interventions for IPV, but they have lacked rigorous designs, critically affecting their interpretability. This study seeks to address this gap by evaluating the preventive effects of an existing crisis intervention program, the Victim Support Team (VST), developed through the Seattle Police Department’s Domestic Violence Unit to meet the needs of victims immediately after an incident of police-reported IPV. Team members assist victims by identifying needed resources (e.g., emergency shelter, domestic violence agency services, food and clothing),
providing relevant referrals, and developing a safety plan. The VST is also intended to alleviate some of the burden of attending to victim needs thereby allowing responding officers additional time to focus on investigating the crime. This, in turn, is intended to provide better evidence collection for increasing the odds of successful prosecution.
The broad aim of this study is to examine the effectiveness of Seattle’s Domestic Violence VST in lessening future adverse outcomes by promoting improved evidence collection, prosecution, and access to preventive services related to IPV. The investigation will be accomplished through two complementary projects: a retrospective cohort to examine long-term uncommon adverse outcomes and a smaller randomized controlled trial examining short-term, more frequently occurring outcomes. The specific aims of the retrospective component are—
- To compare the relative risk of subsequent incidents of police-involved IPV incidents among victims receiving VST services with that among victims not receiving these services;
- To estimate the relative risk in measures of police evidence collection (e.g., proportion of cases with photos and victim statements taken) among cases where VST services were involved as compared with cases without these services;
- To estimate the relative risk of adverse outcomes including hospitalizations and death resulting from abuse-related injury.
Guy Diamond, PhD
Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia
Joseph Stokes Jr. Research Institute
3615 Civic Center Boulevard
Philadelphia, PA 19104-4318
Phone: 215-590-7550
Fax: 215-590-7410
E-mail:
Gdiamond@psych.upenn.edu
Project Title: Preventing Youth Suicide in Primary Care: A Family
Model
Project Period: 8/1/04–7/31/07
Description: Suicide among adolescents is a serious public health
problem and clinical challenge for medical and behavioral health
providers. Yet few preventive interventions have been tested for this
population. This project addresses this deficit by testing the efficacy
of brief family therapy for adolescents presenting with serious risk for
suicide in a primary care setting.
Several innovations characterize this study:
-
Patients will be identified and treated directly in the primary care
setting. Integrating behavioral health services into primary care may—
a. reduce burden on physicians by promoting parents as safety monitors,
b. increase behavioral health treatment adherence, and
c. address many underlying family problems associated with suicide. - To identify high-risk adolescents, the study will assess severe and persistent suicidal ideation and co-occurring depression. Patients who take part in the study must score above clinical cutoffs on both ideation (SIQ > 31) and depression (BDI-II >20) at two consecutive appointments (generally within 3 days of each other).
- Treatment will target two of the most critical suicide risk factors: depression and family conflict. Depression is the most consistently associated risk factor for suicide and family conflict is the most common precipitant of completed suicide (20%) and non-fatal suicidal episodes (50%).
- The intervention approach will be Attachment-based Family Therapy (ABFT), an efficacious and manualized family therapy model designed specifically for adolescent depression. ABFT has been successful in reducing suicidal ideation, hopelessness, depression, anxiety, and family conflict.
The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia's Adolescent Care Center will be
the performance site, where typically one to three adolescents a week
present with severe and current ideation. Eighty-seven percent of
patients are African American and 60% are females. One hundred and
twenty adolescents will be randomized to 6 to 10 weeks of either ABFT or
enhanced usual care. Patients will be evaluated at baseline and 6, 12,
24, and 52 weeks.
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Madelyn S. Gould PhD, MPH
Research Foundation for Mental Hygiene, Inc.
New York State Psychiatric Institute
1051 Riverside Drive, Unit 72
New York, NY 10032
Phone: 212-543-5329
Fax: 212-543-5966
E-mail: gouldm@childpsych.columbia.edu
Project Title: Help Seeking by At-Risk Youth after Suicide Screenings
Project Period: 8/1/04–7/31/07
Description: A suicide screening procedure is only as effective as its
ability to get at-risk students the care they need. Unfortunately,
little is known about service use by vulnerable youth following a
suicide screening program. This project will conduct a retrospective
cohort study of youth identified as at-risk for suicidal behavior. The
cohort of at-risk teenagers (N=273) was identified during a two-stage
screening program that was conducted in six schools in Nassau, Suffolk,
and Westchester counties in New York State from fall 2002 through winter
2004. Each at-risk youth and his/her parent will be interviewed
approximately 2 years after the screen to assess information about
service use during the intervening period, barriers that may have
interfered with seeking or receiving treatment, and the risk status of
the youth at follow-up. The present project will expand efforts to
optimize youth suicide screening programs by establishing a better
understanding of the natural course of both suicidal adolescents'
improvement and use of services after a screening program. This
information is critically needed to guide efforts to develop optimal
help-seeking strategies tailored to at-risk youth and their parents in
order to establish effective screening programs to prevent suicidal
behavior in youth.
Neil B. Guterman, PhD
Columbia School of Social Work
622 West 113th Street
New York, NY 10025
Phone: 212-854-5371
Fax: 212-854-2975
E-mail: nbg2@columbia.edu
Project Title: Building Social Support to Enhance Home Visitation
Project Period: 8/1/04–7/31/07
Description: Physical child abuse and neglect remains a serious public
health concern, with more than 5 million children suspected as victims
in the United States each year. In addition to immediate medical
consequences, physical child abuse and neglect predicts some of
society's most intractable social problems, including an increased risk
violence perpetration later in life. In this context, early home
visitation services have emerged as one promising primary prevention
strategy that aims to stop physical child abuse and neglect and its
later consequences. Although prior research indicates the generally
positive impact of such services, growing evidence indicates that social
contextual factors and most especially qualities of parents' social
networks, long identified as playing a key role in the etiology of
physical child abuse and neglect, also play a substantial role in
shaping the degree to which such services succeed in preventing
maltreatment.
The present study will examine the efficacy of a social networking
enhancement integrated within home visitation services. Initial pilot
work has yielded a manualized intervention that has been showing highly
promising preliminary trends on child maltreatment proxies, social
network qualities, parenting stress, and related factors. The present
study proposes a cross-over wait-list control group design. Two hundred
families will be randomly assigned to either a home visitation plus
social network enhancement condition or to a wait-list control group of
families only receiving home visitation services for 4 months, later to
receive the social networking enhancement component. Data on physical
child abuse and neglect risk, social networks, parents’ sense of
control, participation in home visitation, and associated other factors
will be collected at baseline and at 3- and 9-month follow-up points.
This study will be conducted in close collaboration with two of the
major home visitation programs in New York City that served as pilot
sites: Best Beginnings of Alianza Dominicana, and Healthy Families
Staten Island of the New York Foundling Hospital.
Lourdes Oriana Linares, PhD
NYU Child Study Center
215 Lexington Avenue, 13th Floor
New York, NY 10016
Phone: 212-263-8847
Fax: 212-263-3690
E-mail:
Oriana.linares@med.nyu.edu
Project Title: The Study of Sibling Violence among Foster Children
Project Period: 8/1/04–7/31/07
Description: This investigation builds on prior work. Researchers will
collect two assessments on 260 African American and Latino maltreated
siblings placed in foster care for whom two assessments were obtained 1
year apart, and who were 7 years old when the study began. Given their
substantiated histories of exposure to past familial violence, the
sample is at high risk for psychological problems, disruptions in school
competence, and perpetration of sibling violence.
Researchers, working closely with participating child welfare agencies
in NYC and with biological and foster mothers, retained 82% of the
siblings and completed clinically meaningful analyses of a complex data
set. Preliminary studies indicate that 68% reported moderate to high
sibling conflict, 41% showed elevated behavior problems, and 62% met
criteria for a child mental disorder. In random regression analyses,
sibling conflict, foster caregiving warmth, and less rejecting
caregiving contributed independently to increased sibling problems.
Building on this unique, recruited sample, the research objectives of
this project are:
- To examine correlates of sibling violence, namely, past familial victimization (exposure to child neglect, abuse, and/or intimate partner violence), child mental disorder (particularly disruptive behavior disorders), and placement variables (together or apart; and foster home instability) over time.
- To examine the contribution of sibling violence on increased psychological symptoms (increased internalizing, externalizing) and disruptions in school competence, over time.
- To evaluate the moderating role of sibling positivity, foster caregiving quality, and differential warmth and responsive management in the linkage between sibling violence and increased symptoms and disruptions in school competence, over time.
The identification of modifiable risk and protective factors in the social ecology of foster care is a crucial first step in effective prevention of sibling violence among foster children.
Michael Miner, PhD
Regents of the University of Minnesota
Program in Human Sexuality
1300 South Second Street, Suite 180
Minneapolis, MN 55455
Phone: 612-625-1500
Fax: 612-626-8311
E-mail: miner001@umn.edu
Project Title: Risk for Sexual Abuse: A Study of Adolescent Offenders
Project Period: 8/1/04–7/31/07
Description: Healthy People 2010 prioritized sexual violence and child
maltreatment (including sexual abuse) as important targets for
prevention and intervention. In its Injury Agenda for 2004, the Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention indicates that a major barrier to
prevention efforts is the lack of information about the causes and
correlates of child sexual abuse, especially in young perpetrators. This
project addresses this gap by applying attachment theory to identify the
unique and shared risk factors for child sexual abuse, sexual assault,
and youth violence. This objective will be accomplished through a
multi-method, cross-sectional study of 300 adolescent males: those who
have sexually abused children, those who have sexually assaulted peers
or adults, and those who have committed other, non-sexual types of
delinquent behavior. Data will be collected through a review of
available records, semi-structured and structured interviews, and a
computer-administered questionnaire.
The project will identify the unique and shared risk factors for
perpetrating child sexual abuse, sexual assault, and delinquent behavior
by investigating perpetrator group differences in the following
constructs:
- Aim 1 will examine attitudes toward intimate relationships (attachment style) and their involvement with peers, including consensual sexual experiences.
- Aim 2 will examine attitudes toward masculinity, including beliefs about the importance of competition, violence, and face-saving as an indication of masculinity and confidence in their own masculinity, and beliefs about sexuality, self-reported sexual behavior (including paraphilias), and sexual interest and fantasies (including various paraphilias).
- Aim 3, a collaboration between the Program in Human Sexuality, treatment programs for juvenile sex offenders, and juvenile probation departments, will promote primary and secondary prevention through dissemination of project results in collaboration with Stop It Now, Minnesota, which is a primary prevention program.
Lydia Nuelander O’Donnell, EdD
Center of Research on High Risk Behaviors
Educational Development Center, Inc.
55 Chapel Street
Newton, MA 02458
Phone: 617-969-7100x2368
Fax: 617-969-3995
E-mail: lodonnell@edc.org
Project Title: Violence Over Time: Growing Up and Parenting in
Poverty
Project Period: 8/1/04–7/31/07
Description: This study examines developmental pathways of violence
perpetration among young women and men who have grown up in severely
distressed neighborhoods of the inner city and are now mothers and
fathers. It focuses on young parents' resiliency in challenging
circumstances, as demonstrated by their ability to avoid violence with
family members and others and to engage in pro-social parenting
practices that are negatively associated with child maltreatment and the
development of aggression in the next generation. Researchers will
survey a sample of young African-American and Latino parents who began
participation in a longitudinal study, Reach for Health (RFH), when they
were in middle school, about a decade ago. With funding from National
Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and the National Institute of Child
Health and Human Development (NICHD), researchers have followed more
than 1,000 young people from adolescence into high school and beginning
adulthood, documenting multiple forms of violence perpetration and
victimization, including high levels of physical aggression, as well as
suicidal behaviors, and most recently, intimate partner and sexual
violence. Findings from this work highlight the need to better
understand shared and unique risk and protective factors for violence
perpetration among young adults who have grown up in violent contexts
and become parents in their teens and early twenties.
Two primary research questions are addressed in this project: How do
past experiences with violence shape parenting attitudes and practices
as well as ongoing involvement in violence? What protective factors
foster resiliency in the face of adversity, leading to less violent
pathways among young mothers and fathers? To answer these questions, RFH
participants who have become mothers and fathers will be re-contacted
and surveyed to investigate the inter-relationships among multiple forms
of violence toward self and others during the critical developmental
stage of early parenting.
The specific aims are:
- Identify concurrent protective factors that foster resiliency in young mothers and fathers, as demonstrated by low levels of multiple forms of violence perpetration (i.e., intimate partner violence, sexual violence, violence toward other adults, violence toward self).
- Identify concurrent protective factors that foster resiliency in young mothers and fathers, as demonstrated by parenting attitudes and practices associated with low risk of child maltreatment and nonaggressive behavior in offspring.
- Examine interconnections among multiple forms of violence perpetration and parenting attitudes and practices associated with low risk of child maltreatment and nonaggressive behavior in offspring.
- Identify developmental pathways that lead to lower violence perpetration and parenting attitudes and practices associated with low risk of child maltreatment and nonaggressive behavior in offspring.
- Determine whether protective factors, interconnections among forms of violence, and developmental pathways differ for mothers and fathers.
- Use findings to inform strategies for addressing multiple forms of violence in young parents' lives, including key messages that can be incorporated into parent education and community violence prevention programs.
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Jane F. Silovsky, PhD
University of Oklahoma
940 NE 13th Street
CHO 3B-3406
Oklahoma City, OK 73104
Phone: 405-271-8858
Fax: 405-271-2931
E-mail: Jane-silovsky@ouhsc.edu
Project Title: Preventing Child Maltreatment in High-Risk Families
Project Period: 8/1/04–7/31/07
Description: The greatest potential for child maltreatment prevention
effects is with high-risk populations. Unfortunately, home-visiting
programs have failed to prevent child maltreatment in the highest-risk
populations, such as families with parental substance use disorders,
intimate partner violence (IPV), parental depression, or other multiple
risk factors. These discouraging results with high-risk populations may
be best understood as a mismatch of service aims and family needs. In
many respects, high-risk child maltreatment prevention populations have
more in common with child welfare cases than with perinatal prevention
populations. Reductions in child maltreatment recidivism with child
welfare populations have been found with the home-based intervention
model SafeCare, a promising intervention for high-risk child
maltreatment prevention.
Oklahoma University Health and Science Center (OUHSC) has conducted a
randomized pilot and feasibility trial of SafeCare, enhanced with
specific components to address substance abuse, IPV, and depression in
high-risk prevention populations (SC+). The initial results are
encouraging. The overarching goal of this project is to extend current
work by conducting a full-scale randomized efficacy trial of the SC+
protocol with a high-risk child maltreatment prevention population. The
main hypotheses are:
- Hypothesis 1: Compared with services as usual (SAU), high-risk parents randomized to receive SC+ will have improved survival for future child welfare reports and will have lower rates of out-of-home placements due to child maltreatment.
- Hypothesis 2: Compared with SAU, families randomized to receive SC+ will show greater improvements on factors proximal to child maltreatment, including observed measures of the home environment, home safety, physical child care, and self-reports of verbal and physical aggression toward children.
-
Hypothesis 3: Compared with SAU, high-risk parents randomized to
receive SC+ will show greater improvements on risk factors, including
measures of child abuse potential, levels of IPV, depression, and
substance abuse.
Jay Silverman, PhD
Harvard School of Public Health
1552 Tremont Street
Boston, MA 02120
Phone: 617-432-0081
Fax: 617-495-8543
E-mail:
jsilverma@hsph.harvard.edu
Project Title: Development of Partner Violence Perpetration Among Men
Project Period: 8/01/04–7/31/07
Description: Data on the risk and protective factors that contribute to
the development of intimate partner violence (IPV) perpetration among
adult males is woefully lacking. The few previous studies in this area
have failed to include major social contexts for IPV, have typically
included a very narrow range of factors within these ecologic strata,
and have failed to examine protective factors. Identifying protective
factors is considered especially critical to constructing effective
prevention programming.
This project uses a mixed-methods retrospective cohort study of men ages
18 to 35 (age group found to perpetrate IPV at the highest rates;
N=4,000) attending eight community health centers within
racially/ethically diverse neighborhoods in the Boston area to assess
risk and protective factors for perpetration of IPV. Quantitative survey
data will be collected regarding developmental pathways and social
contexts (including individual, family, peer, and community levels)
hypothesized to relate to IPV perpetration. Additionally, qualitative
data will be collected from in-depth interviews with men (n=80)
participating in quantitative surveys selected for both perpetration and
non-perpetration of IPV, but reporting similar risk profiles, to
elucidate protective factors/mechanisms and provide context/meaning for
quantitative data.
The researcher will also use this mixed data set to assess
interrelations of IPV perpetration and perpetration of other forms of
violence (suicide, sexual violence, child maltreatment, general
violence). Finally, the researcher will assess the relevance of findings
regarding risk and protective factors for IPV perpetration to the
population of men enrolled in treatment programs from these same
communities via quantitative surveys of men ages 18 to 35 (n=450)
participating in five batterer intervention programs situated within
communities served by participating community health centers. This
comparison will be vital to determining whether the risk and protective
factors identified are relevant to present interventions for men who
batter their female partners.
Matthew Chinman, PhD
RAND Corporation
PO Box 2138
Santa Monica, CA 90407-2148
Email: chinman@rand.org
Project Title: Building Community Capacity to Conduct Effective Violence Prevention
Project Period: 9/1/05-8/31/08
Description: Youth violence exacts a high toll in local communities. Effective violence prevention programs can improve community safety, but only when they are implemented well. This can be challenging given the advanced capacity needed to implement high quality prevention, resulting in a large gap between the positive outcomes often achieved by prevention science and the lack of these outcomes at the local level. This project will assess the effects of community participation by implementing a capacity-building model in schools, called “Getting to Outcomes” (GTO).
This study will test whether using GTO leads to better implementation of an evidenced-based violence prevention program, “Too Good for Drugs and Violence” (TGDV), and as a result, decreased violent behavior in schools. Investigators will use a quasi experimental design. Six high schools in Santa Barbara County will administer TGFDV during six semesters over a three-year period. Three high schools will be assigned to the intervention group (i.e., receive the capacity building tool, GTO) and three in the same county will serve as comparison sites (TGFDV only). The intervention will consist
of delivery of the GTO manual, an annual training in GTO, and biweekly technical assistance to violence prevention school staff delivering the TGFDV curriculum. Standardized assessments of GTO use and TGFDV implementation will be administered each semester across the life of the proposed project. The investigators will assess school violence behaviors and perceptions at the intervention and comparison sites prior to TGFDV and GTO implementation and up to two years later using school records on disciplinary actions and a bi annual cohort survey of 9th and 11th graders. They will also
measure the financial costs associated with implementing GTO over and above TGFDV. This project proposes to narrow the gap between prevention science and practice by empirically testing a tool to build capacity to implement evidence-based violence prevention in the community. As such, this project is consistent with the cross-cutting and youth violence research priorities developed by CDC, which also emphasizes capacity issues.
Ann Coker, MPH, PhD
The University of Texas
Health Science Center at Houston
1200 Herman Pressler Dr, RAS E643
Houston, Texas 77030
Email: Ann.l.coker@uth.tmc.edu
Project Title: Using Batterer Psychological Profiles for Prevention of Partner Violence
Project Period: 9/1/05-8/31/08
Description: This project will use psychological profiles described by Holtzworth-Munroe & Stuart to identify batterer typologies in a population-based, cross-sectional study of partner violence (PV) perpetration.The three subtypes that will be employed (GVA, BD, and RO) have all been described. All participants will be asked about their violence perpetration, victimization, and their psychological profile. These data will be used to assess batterer subtypes and grouped as (a) current IPV perpetrators by batterer subtype, and (b) those with psychological profile of a batterer yet do not report
physical PV (labeled high-risk non-perpetrators). Identifying the last group will allow for applying batterer typologies that may have important implications for prevention research. The investigators will explore protective factors for PV among this high-risk, non-perpetrator group.
Researchers will estimate the prevalence of and risk factors for both PV perpetration by batterer subtypes and high-risk, non-perpetration among 2000 students sampled from a large community college system in Houston, Texas. Measures of distal and proximal risk factors based on a theoretical model will be used to guide the assessment of correlates of both perpetrator and high-risk, and non-perpetrators by psychological batterer subtypes over three levels of influence (individual, family, and ethnic community). Point estimates and confidence intervals for PV typologies and perpetration will be
estimated by gender. Multinomial logistic regression will be used to assess risk factors (e.g., childhood abuse and witnessing IPV, substance abuse, affect) for the three PV typologies by level of influence. To determine whether the novel, high-risk, non-perpetrator group is at increased risk of using force against a partner, a short-term (eight month) cohort study will be conducted to prospectively estimate PV risk among those not reporting perpetration in the cross-sectional interview by psychological profile. All respondents scoring as high-risk, having the psychological profile consistent
with a battering subtype, yet not perpetrating PV will be included. A similar number of low-risk (no batterer psychological profile and non-perpetrators) will also be included as unexposed. Cox proportional hazards modeling will be used to estimate time to first use of physical force by psychological profile. Project outcomes will lead to more effective strategies for preventing partner violence.
Howard Dubowitz, MS, MD
University of Maryland
Division of Child Protection
520 W Lombard St., 1st Floor
Baltimore, MD 21201
Email: hdubowitz@peds.umaryland.edu
Project Title: Preventing Child Maltreatment: Community Pediatrians' Role
Project Period: 9/1/05-8/31/08
Description: Child maltreatment (CM) and intimate partner violence (IPV) jeopardize the health and safety of many children and families. The primary focus has been on addressing these problems “after the fact.” There is a need to rigorously evaluate prevention strategies. This project proposes to enhance pediatric primary care to help prevent CM and to address IPV.
This study involves training pediatricians to identify and assist families at high risk for CM and to implement Model Care, which includes screening parents at their preschooler’s check-ups; assessing problems; initial pediatric and/or social work intervention; and referral to community resources. Investigators will evaluate the impact of training on pediatricians’ attitudes, knowledge, comfort, competence, and practice, and will also evaluate the effectiveness of Model Care. The proposed project will take place in 20 pediatric private practices in Maryland, involving 80 pediatricians. These
practices cover a diverse patient population; approximately one third are low income, and one third are minority. The first component involves training pediatricians to identify and assist families at high risk for CM. The second component involves the Model Care, which represents a modest, but important modification of the existing child health care system. Via random assignment, half will be trained to implement the Model Care. The control group will provide standard care. Investigators will evaluate the impact of training on pediatricians' attitudes, knowledge, comfort, competence, and
practice; evaluate the effectiveness of the Model Care upon screening practices; and identify risk factors for CM and whether they are addressed; and will also examine the rates and severity of both CM and IPV. This project meets both the “Healthy People 2010” and CDC Research Agenda goals. It applies sound theory and clinical experience, attending to common psychosocial problems, and contributes to knowledge and practice. This model can be replicated if the risk factors are identified and the problems of CM and IPV are effectively addressed.
Nadine Kaslow, PhD
Emory University
Office of Sponsored Programs
1784 N Decatur Road, Suite 510
Atlanta, GA 30322
Email: nkaslow@emory.edu
Project Title: Preventing Suicidal Behavior in Abused Black Women
Project Period: 9/1/05-8/31/08
Description: Given prior research of the link between intimate partner violence (IPV) and suicide attempts among low income, African American women, secondary preventive interventions are needed for abused women with suicidal ideation to reduce the likelihood of their attempting suicide and to decrease associated morbidity.
This study will evaluate the efficacy of a group empowerment psychoeducational intervention (PEI) versus enhanced treatment as usual (ETAU) at post-intervention and follow-up in reducing suicidal behavior and its correlates; compare the efficacy of PEI versus ETAU at post-intervention and follow-up in reducing IPV; compare the effectiveness of PEI versus ETAU at post-intervention and follow-up in reducing individual, family-social, and community-level risk factors; compare the effectiveness of PEI versus ETAU at post-intervention and follow-up in enhancing individual, family-social, and
community-level protective factors; and determine those individual, family-social, and community-level background variables that moderate the group assignment–outcomes link.
A hybrid efficacy-effectiveness trial using a mixed model design will be used to explore the aims of this study. Between-subjects variables are intervention condition (PEI, ETAU) and within-subject variable is time (pre-intervention, post-intervention, six months and one year follow-ups). The sample consists of two groups (95 each) of low income, African American women currently in an abusive relationship with suicidal ideations. The ETAU includes a compliance enhancement intervention, treatment as usual in the community, and suicidal and IPV behavior monitoring. The PEI includes the
ETAU plus a 10-session, culturally-competent and gender-sensitive empowerment group intervention. The data for the first four specific aims will be analyzed with multiple linear and logistic regressions. Intent-to-treat analyses will also be conducted. This study is innovative in its focus on suicidal ideation among abused women; its inclusion of low income, African American women; and in its use of culturally-competent assessments and interventions.
Elizabeth Letourneau, PhD
Medical University of South Carolina
Dept. Of Psychological & Behavioral Sciences-FSRC
261 Calhouns Street –Suite 243
Charleston, SC 29401
Email: letourej@musc.edu
Project Title: Preventing Sexual Violence: Does Sex Offender Registration and Notification Work?
Project Period: 9/1/05-8/31/08
Description: Reducing sexual violence is one of the research priorities identified in CDC’s Healthy People 2010 and its Research Agenda. This study will examine whether sex offender registration and notification policies have the intended effects of reducing sexual violence by juveniles; and whether these policies have an unintended effect of reducing the probability that youths who commit serious sexual offenses will be adjudicated. Registration and notification laws have largely escaped empirical investigation, thus this study will represent the first of which to examine the effects of
sex offender-specific policies on juvenile offenders.
Researchers will examine whether South Carolina registration and notification polices have the intended effect of preventing sexual offending and of reducing sexual recidivism; and whether the unintended effect of reducing the probabilities that youth who commit sexual crimes will be prosecuted or adjudicated. To accomplish these aims, 12 years of juvenile justice data from South Carolina will be examined for changes in trends of first-time sexual offending and sexual recidivism. Victim reports of sexual violence over this same time period will also be examined to determine whether
changes in adjudication rates parallel changes in victim reports. Data on nonsexual crimes will be explored to determine whether changes in rates of sexual offending simply parallel changes in other types of offending or appear due to sex offender-specific policy changes. Ultimately, researchers will conduct research comparing the impact of less restrictive versus more restrictive registration and notification policies on juvenile sex offenders throughout the U.S., including research detailing the specific mechanics of the effects of these policies. Study outcomes will help detect
whether broad policies that impact thousands of juvenile sexual offenders have, in any way reduced sexual violence. If so, this information must be communicated to policy makers who have thus far, acted with little, if any empirical data. If not, the resources required to maintain these policies should be redirected towards more promising violence prevention programs.
Lourdes Oriana Linares, PhD
NYU Child Study Center
215 Lexington Avenue, 13th Floor
New York, NY 10016
Email: Oriana.linares@med.nyu.edu
Project Title: Early Prevention of Youth Violence Among Foster Children
Project Period: 9/1/05-8/31/08
Description: Despite the strong links between early childhood aggression and future youth violence, little attention has been given to promoting and disseminating effective childhood violence prevention for young (< 10 years of age) urban African American and Latino maltreated children raised in foster homes. Preliminary studies support the feasibility of training foster care staff in manualized interventions delivered in their agency, retaining families through the duration of the intervention, and obtaining high ratings of consumer satisfaction.
The PI proposes to adapt, integrate, and experimentally evaluate a child centered intervention of two existing, protocol driven, empirically supported child programs called “The Dina Dinosaur's Curriculum for Young Children Social Skills” and “Problem Solving and the Kids Club: An Intervention Group for Children Exposed to Domestic Violence.”
Researchers will examine the short-term impact of the 12-week intervention to reduce early physical aggression and its correlates (problems in social competence, emotional regulation, and social cognitions about violence) in the foster home and classroom; the reduction of foster placement instability; and will explore the impact of quality implementation (dosage and adherence) and initial level of child aggression on intervention effects. The sample under study consists of 102 foster children ages 5 to 8 years with substantial neglect, exposure to domestic violence or physical abuse
nested with six agencies. A randomized field trial will be used to assign children to intervention (n=62) or a “usual care” comparison (n=40) condition. Primary outcomes include measures of early physical aggression and behavior correlates, and the stability of the placement assessed by multiple agents (the child, foster parent(s), trained observer, and teacher) and across settings (foster home, classroom) at pre-test, post-test, and three-months follow-up. Postive project outcomes will aid the development of effective violence prevention programs for underserved children in Latino and
African American communities.
John MacDonald, PhD
RAND Corporation
1776 Main St., PO Box 2138
Santa Monica, CA 90407-2138
Email: John_MacDonald@rand.org
Project Title: Treatment Effects on Desistance from Youth Violence
Project Period: 9/1/05-8/31/08
Description: Youth violence presents a public health challenge of critical importance. There is growing optimism that violence prevention efforts can be effective. However, the mechanisms by which treatment and prevention programs exert lasting violence reduction effects are not well understood. For this proposed project, investigators will examine whether effective treatment encourages desistance by facilitating the kinds of positive life events related to peers, family, workplace, and romantic relationships associated with desistance from violence in populations with serious youthful
offenders.
Researchers will identify the pathways to desistance from crime and violence as the sample enters young adulthood; identify the psychosocial events during young adulthood that are associated with desistance pathways for this cohort; examine whether any direct effects of treatment on desistance from crime and violence exist; and test if treatment effects on desistance are mediated by treatment effects on key developmental events of young adulthood. This research builds on an ongoing study of drug abuse among serious juvenile offenders and draws on developmental models of criminal behavior
to examine the long-term effects of an effective adolescent treatment model on desistance from serious offending and violence. RAND’s Adolescent Outcomes Project is an ongoing study of 449 youth referred by probation to the Phoenix Academy of Los Angeles (PHA; n=175), or to one of six residential group homes (n=274). The sample is representative of youths sent to large residential treatment programs by the Los Angeles Probation Department. Now, as part of a separate NIDA???)-funded study, survey waves are being conducted 72, 87 and 102 months after the baseline interviews, creating the
opportunity to examine transitions to young adulthood when desistance from crime and violence is most likely to occur. This project will be one of the few longitudinal studies of serious youthful offenders to examine desistance during the transition into early adulthood, and the only one to examine the effect of treatment on desistance during this period.
Pamela Orpinas, MPH, PhD
University of Georgia
Health Promotion and Behavior
300 River Road
319 Ramsey Center
Athens, GA 30602
Email: porpinas@uga.edu
Project Title: Healthy Teens: Understanding Social Development from Middle to High School
Project Period: 9/1/05-8/31/08
Description: The goal of Healthy Teens is to examine protective factors that influence the development trajectories (i.e., patterns of continuity or patterns over time) that children and adolescents follow from 6th to 11th grade of single and combined violence-related behaviors. This study will follow into high school, a cohort of 800 middle school students who were evaluated in 6th, 7th, and 8th grade as part of a CDC-funded project: the “GREAT Schools and Families Program.”
Researchers will administer a laptop student survey each spring; request that teachers annually complete a standardized, nationally- normed student behavioral rating on participating students (BASC); collect archival data (attendance, standardized test scores, and discipline records); survey and conduct semi-structured interviews with school dropouts; and conduct interviews and focus groups with students to understand the meaning violence-related behaviors and of the factors that protect them from aggression. This mixed method approach will provide a comprehensive and in-depth
description of the most significant factors that protect students from violence and their impact on trajectories and turning points.
Guterman, Neil
Columbia University
1210 Amsterdam Avenue; MC 2205
New York, NY 10027
E-mail: nbg2@columbia.edu
Project Title: Fathers and Risk for Physical Child Maltreatment: Prevention Pathways
Project Period: 9/1/2006 – 8/31/2009
Despite the fact that fathers and father surrogates are disproportionately represented as perpetrators in the most severe and sometimes fatal incidents of physical abuse and neglect, little is known about their specific role in the etiology of physical child abuse and neglect, hindering prevention efforts. The proposed study will conduct a series of interrelated analyses that will isolate the fathering pathways that shape a family's risk for physical child abuse and neglect, drawing data from a national prospective longitudinal population-based birth cohort of families across 20 U. S.
cities (N=4,800 at baseline). The design of this study provides unique opportunities as it draws from a nationally representative, rather than local problem-based, sample, and permits the identification of fathering factors prospectively before any maltreatment has occurred, from birth
through three years of age, the period of children's greatest vulnerability to the most severe forms of physical child abuse and neglect. Self-report and in-home observational data on physical child abuse and neglect risk and predictors were collected from both mothers and fathers, and include data on father surrogates, permitting in-depth examination in corroboration and comparison across informants. Four interrelated substudies are proposed that will examine fathers' and father surrogates' roles in a longitudinal fashion across levels of concern (i.e. community, parent subsystem,
parent-child interaction), progressing from: 1) multivariate regression analyses that control for maternal and other background factors to identify unique fathering predictors linked to physical child abuse and neglect risk; 2) path analyses that trace the important father related direct and mediating pathways shaping both mothers and fathers risk for physical child abuse and neglect; 3) analyses of community factors as they are related to the parenting subsystem and shape individual level fathering factors related to physical child abuse and neglect risk; and 4) :multivariate regression
analyses that include non-biological father-figures as well as fathers and use longitudinal
data to examine pathways to risk. Given differing etiological processes, father-related factors will be examined differentially in their capacity to predict young children's risk for exposure to physical child abuse as contrasted with physical child neglect. Findings from this study will provide scientific information that identifies specific modifiable father related pathways linked with maltreatment risk promoting the development of preventive interventions that alter parent-child interactions away from physical child abuse and neglect risk.
Ludwig, Jens
Georgetown University
3520 Prospect Street, NW - Suite 426
Georgetown Public Policy Institute
Washington, DC 20007
Email: ludwigj@georgetown.edu
Project Title: Long-Term Effects of the Moving-to-Opportunity Experiment on Youth Violence
Project Period: 9/1/2006 – 8/31/2009
Importance: Youth violence varies dramatically across neighborhoods in the U.S. These patterns highlight the potential value of "place-based" interventions to prevent youth violence.
Objectives: We propose to evaluate one notable place-based intervention: The Moving to Opportunity (MTO) randomized housing-mobility experiment, which randomly assigns some public housing families but not others the chance to relocate to less disadvantaged and dangerous neighborhoods. We seek to
understand the intervention's long-term effects on youth violence perpetration and victimization (9-12 years after randomization), how these impacts evolve over time, whether effects are larger for youth participants who are very young children at random assignment as recent research would suggest, and the behavioral or environmental mechanisms through which MTO affects youth violence.
Study Design: Comparison of average violence victimization and perpetration rates for youth randomly assigned to different MTO mobility treatment groups.
Setting: Since 1994 a total of 4600 low-income, mostly minority public housing families have enrolled in MTO in 5 cities (Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York City).
Participants: All youth and their parents or other adults in MTO households at random assignment.
Interventions: MTO changes youth exposure to a wide variety of risk and protective factors that may vary systematically across neighborhood contexts, including peer and adult norms about violence and community-level organizations such as schools and public health or criminal justice agencies.
Outcome Measures: We seek funding to collect administrative data on violent crime and other arrests for all MTO youth and adults to measure youth violent behavior, as well as child maltreatment by parents or other adult guardians 9-12 years after randomization. We also seek funding to expand our planned surveys
of up to 6800 youth ages 10-20 at the end of 2006 to include measures of violent and risky behavior violence victimization, sexual abuse and other forms of child maltreatment.
van der Kolk, Bessel A.
The Trauma Center at Justice Resource Institute
1269 Beacon Street
Brookline, MA 02446
E-mail: jkershner@jri.org
Project Title: RCT of Urban Improv-lntensive, A Youth Violence Prevention Program
Project Period: 9/1/2006 – 8/31/2009
Importance: The aim of this project is to advance the development of a promising new youth violence prevention program, Urban Improved Intensive (UI-I), through a rigorous evaluation of its effectiveness in preventing high risk, young, urban adolescents from engaging in youth physical and sexual violence. This research is critical because UI-I advances the field of youth violence prevention by targeting the root causes of violence, integrating physical and sexual violence prevention for middle school youth, and addressing the violence and trauma to which this population has been exposed.
Objectives: UI-I and this study aim to: 1) Build interpersonal problem-solving skills and empathy, and reduce emotional constriction and the psychological impact of violence exposure; 2) Change youths' beliefs about aggression so that prosocial means of resolving conflict are viewed as acceptable, while violence is viewed as unacceptable;3) Reduce aggressive behaviors and problem behaviors at school, and build general prosocial skills ;and 4) Enhance general classroom climate.
Study Design: We will conduct a randomized, controlled trial of UI-I in order to evaluate its effectiveness at reducing risk factors linked to youth violence and preventing sexual and physical violence perpetration by high-risk youth.
Participants: All students enrolled in 14 selected seventh grade Boston Public School classrooms within a single school district will participate. Based on random assignment, six classrooms (120 students) will receive UI-I and eight(120 students) will serve as controls. Intervention: UI-I is a 24-session program that is based on a clinically informed and empirically supported theater- and action-based violence prevention program integrated with evidence-based intervention components for children exposed to chronic violence or trauma. Initial pilots of UI-I have supported its feasibility
and positive effect on youth.
Outcome Measures: Psychometrically sound student-and teacher-report measures as well as a school based Behavioral tracking system of students' disciplinary actions, attendance, and grades, will be used to Asses study aims and hypotheses.
Rheingold, Alyssa Ann
National Crime Victims Research and Treatment Center
Medical University of South Carolina
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
Charleston, South Carolina
E-mail: rheingaa@musc.edu
Project Title: CSA Prevention Training for Child Care Professionals: Stewards of Children
Project Period: 9/1/2006 – 8/31/2009
Given the significant rates of child sexual abuse (CSA) in the United States (12%), as well as the deleterious consequences for victims exposed to such maltreatment, identifying an effective prevention program is clearly
a priority. As discussed in Healthy People 2010, "the evaluation of ongoing programs is a major component to help identify effective approaches for violence prevention." There is growing awareness that child care professionals, such as teachers, child care personnel, and clergy, are in a unique position to identify possible sexual abuse cases and intervene on behalf of children by virtue of their accessibility to children and their expertise in child development. Programs to train child care professionals about child maltreatment have received insufficient attention and evaluation. The
primary goal of this study is to conduct a multi-site
controlled evaluation of an already existing CSA prevention program, Darkness To Light's Stewards of Children, on impacting child care professionals' knowledge, attitudes, and behavior related to CSA. Darkness to Light (DTL), a national non-profit organization seeking to protect children from sexual abuse, has developed a three hour training program for child care professionals to assist them in understanding, recognizing, and appropriately responding to CSA. DTL's sexual abuse prevention training is offered via an m-person training format and soon via a web-based training format.
Investigating best implementation
strategies is also a key issue in developing and implementing cost effective programs aimed to prevent CSA. This proposed project involves 300 child care professionals recruited from children advocacy centers across three states to be randomly assigned to one of three conditions: (1) in-person training, (2) web- based training, or (3) no training exposure. Dependant variables will include measures of CSA knowledge, attitudes about CSA, self report preventative behaviors, response to hypothetical behavioral vignettes, and organizational
policy and behavior changes. The current proposal involves a joint collaboration between well-established researchers at the Medical University of South Carolina's National Crime Victims Research and Treatment Center, a non-profit community organization Darkness to Light, as well as partnering children's advocacy centers across several states.
Salazar, Laura F.
Emory University
Rollins School of Public Health
1784 N. Decatur Road, Suite 510
Atlanta, GA 30322
E-mail: OSP@Emory.edu
Project Title: Preventing Violence against Women: A Web-based Approach
Project Period: 9/1/2006 – 8/31/2009
Violence against women is a serious public health problem, young women are disproportionately assaulted or raped by men indicating a need for effective and innovative prevention programs. A newly emerging trend in the violence against women (VAW) prevention field is the design of programs that move beyond targeting individual characteristics only or male perpetrators only by addressing the broader context in which violence against women occurs. This type of environmental approach acknowledges that the vast majority of young men does not engage in violence, but rather comprises a culture
where normative influences contribute to the victimization of women. The proposed study will seek to develop and test an innovative prevention program designed to have an impact on VAW by targeting young men and focusing on affecting personal as well as environmental influences. The program will be guided by empirical research and social cognitive theory and will incorporate a social norms approach. Specifically, the program will attempt to dispel misperceptions regarding normative beliefs and behaviors related to VAW while enhancing the knowledge and skills necessary for engaging in
behaviors that reduce risk for women. The program will be adapted for a web-based modality. There are two primary goals; (1) to prevent psychologically, physically, and sexually abusive behaviors toward women, and (2) to increase the "intervening" behaviors that reduce risk for VAW perpetration (e.g., express disapproval when a peer is verbally disparaging toward women; attempt to stop a peer who tries to be coercive/abusive). These primary goals will be achieved by affecting theoretically and empirically derived mediators such as: correcting misperceptions in normative beliefs,
attitudes, and behaviors, increasing knowledge of the elements constituting informed consent to have sex, increasing knowledge of legal definitions of assault, enhancing communication skills, and increasing empathy for female victims. The program will incorporate web-based activities designed to modify these theoretical and empirical constructs. The program will be tested for its efficacy by using a randomized controlled design implemented among a randomly selected sample of 680 male college students. Study outcomes to be assessed will be the psychological, physical, and sexual
perpetration of women and intervening behaviors. These outcomes will be assessed via web-administered interviews at baseline, post intervention, and at 6 months.
Slep, Amy M. Smith
The Research Foundation of SUNY Stony Brook
Dept. of Psychology
State University of NY at Stony Brook
Stony Brook, NY 11794-2500
Email: Amy.slep@stonybrook.edu
Project Title: Risk and Protective Factors for Partner Abuse, Child Maltreatment, & Suicidality
Project Period: 9/1/2006 – 8/31/2009
Partner abuse, child abuse and neglect, and suicidal behavior are costly occurrences in American society, in terms of both human suffering and economics. Healthy People 2010 targets all three problems for reduction. However, prevention of each of these areas is hampered by inadequate knowledge about the relative relations of risk and protective factors to the problems. The purpose of this project is to use a large (over 100,000 respondents), representative archival sample of 83 communities to provide effect sizes of risk factors at various levels (i.e., individual, family, work, and community), to test hypotheses about the buffering effects of protective factors, and use these results to create exploratory models of risk and resilience for these problems. The archival data set contains detailed assessments of suicidality, partner and child physical assaults and their impacts, partner and child emotional assaults and their impacts, and child neglectful omissions. We will test the effect sizes of risk factors using correlations, the buffering effects of
protective factors using correlations and backward stepwise logistic and linear regressions, and overall models using structural equation modeling. We will use statistical packages that can appropriately estimate standard errors in a complex data set collected at 83 communities. Prevention science is guided by a five stage, recursive research cycle: (1) defining the problem and measuring its prevalence; (2) establishing risk and protective factor relations with the problem; (3) efficacy trials; (4) effectiveness trials; and (5) dissemination trials (Mrazek & Haggerty, 1994). Large gaps
remain in the risk factor literature on all forms of partner abuse and child maltreatment (Slep & Heyman, 2001); very little is known at all about putative protective factor relations. Because this knowledge provides the bedrock on which to build effective prevention activities, reaching the Healthy People 2010 objectives is unlikely without improvements. This project is unique and innovative because (a) it is large enough to have very high power and low standard errors in its estimations of risk and protective factor effect sizes and additive effects; (b) it will examine risk and
protective relations for injury as well as lower level behaviors (e.g., assault); (c) it will test these relations for partner and child physical abuse, partner and child emotional abuse, child neglectful omissions (lack of supervision and exposure to physical hazards), and suicidality; (d) t will examine risk and protective factors for comorbid conditions; and (e) it is large enough to examine these relations for children in different age groups.
Gidycz, Christine A.
Ohio University
Psychology Dept.
231 Porter Hall
Athens, OH 45701
Email: gidycz@ohio.edu
Project Title: An Investigation of a Sexual Assault Prevention Program
Project Period: 9/1/2006 – 8/31/2009
The problem to be addressed in the proposed investigation is the high rates of sexual violence on college campuses. Typically, very brief psycho educational interventions have been administered to groups of men and women, often in a mixed-sex format. Despite the inherent problems with conducting mixed-sex and brief interventions, most efforts on college campuses have utilized this format. The purpose of the proposed project is to investigate a comprehensive sexual assault prevention program for men and women, utilizing theoretically-derived interventions administered in a single-sex
format. Participants will be 1,200 college students (600 men and 600 women) living in dormitories on the campus of a mid-sized university. Dorms will be randomly assigned to either the intervention dorm or the waiting-list control dorm. Interventions for men will involve a program based on a social norms model of change and the women's intervention includes the teaching of self-defense and risk reduction strategies. It is hypothesized that the intervention group men will evidence positive attitude changes as they relate to the acceptance of sexual aggression, decreases in bystander
behavior, a clearer understanding of consent, more prosocial behavioral intentions, and decreases in rates of sexual perpetration over a seven-month follow-up period compared to the waiting-list control group. For the women, it is hypothesized that they will evidence
greater assertiveness in responding to threatening situations, a better understanding of risky situations, greater use of protective behaviors, increases in self-efficacy, and experience lower rates of sexual victimization over a seven-month follow-up period compared to the control group women. Analyses will be conducted using Analyses of Variance and Regression techniques. If proven effective, the program can easily be disseminated to other universities throughout the country.
Peek-Asa, Corinne
The University of Iowa
Occupational and Environmental Health
C21M GH
200 Hawkins Drive
Iowa City, IA 52242
Email: corinne-peek-asa@uiowa.edu
Project Title: Is motivational interviewing an effective intervention for women coping with IPV
Project Period: 9/1/2006 – 8/31/2009
This will be a randomized controlled clinical trial to motivate women who screen positive for IPV to develop and achieve specific goals that will help them address the violence in their lives. This intervention trial will be integrated into the setting of a busy family planning clinic in the rural Midwest. This clinic is unique in that it serves a rural population with a relatively high proportion of minority residents. The study's first aim is to evaluate the integration of IPV screening through self-administered touch-screen computer surveys from all clinic clients. IPV will be
screened using the Women's Experiences with Violence (WEB), the Index of
Spousal Abuse - Physical and the Danger Assessment Screen (DAS). Based on analyses of the clinic population and the investigators experience with similar samples of Iowa women, an expected 250 women who screen positive will be recruited, randomized into the intervention (n=150) and control groups
(n=100), and will complete the study. The intervention will include a tailored domestic violence intervention that uses motivational interviewing to guide the patient towards identifying feasible goals and steps she can take to increase her self-efficacy and control over her relationship. Motivational interviewing is a client-driven communication technique that has been effective in increasing many types of health behaviors. The trained interviewer will help participants identify local resources that can help them meet their self-efficacy goals. Follow-up interviews using a CATI will be
conducted at one and three months post-intervention to reinforce the intervention and assess the participants' level safety. A Safety Monitoring Committee will continuously monitor safety risks. The control group will receive usual clinic care, which includes talking with a domestic violence advocate and receiving a list of domestic violence resources. Six-months after enrollment, all participants will return to the clinic to complete a self-administered follow-up survey. The effectiveness of the intervention will be increased self-efficacy, as measured by the Domestic Violence Coping
and Self-Efficacy Scale, a validated tool for use among women with a recent history of domestic abuse. The impact of the intervention be assessed as an increase in participants' readiness-to-change, and extent of their involvement in a wide variety of self-help and coping activities over the follow-up period. If successful, this screening and intervention program will be translated to other clinical settings.
Craig Anderson
Iowa State University
Department of Psychology
W112 Lagomarcino Hall
Iowa State University
Ames, IA 50011-3180
Email: caa@iastate.edu
Project Title: Center for the Study of Violence
Project Period: 9/01/05–8/31/06
Description: This grant provides core support for the Center for the Study of Violence. The objective of the Center is to improve the scientific knowledge base about factors that contribute to the development of violence-prone individuals versus factors that promote the development of healthy, productive citizens. The Center will foster collaborative research efforts across Iowa State University, and with state and federal agencies; communicate findings to citizens, communities, public policy officials, and scientists through extension, consultation, conferences, and publications; and will
enhance undergraduate and graduate training for the next generation of violence researchers.
Anthony Fabio, PhD
University of Pittsburgh
Department of Neurological Surgery
Suite B400, UPMC Presbyterian
200 Lothrop Street
Pittsburgh, PA 15213
Phone: 412-648-3901
Fax: 412-648-8924
Email: fabioa@msx.upmc.edu
Project Title: Why Some Generations Are More Violent Than Others
Project Period: 9/30/04–9/29/07
Description: Violence rates fluctuate from generation to generation.
Are some generations more violent than others because of differences
among cohorts or variations in social and environmental factors? The aim
of this project is to further the knowledge about why violence rates
fluctuate. Currently, violence trends are not clearly understood, and a
diversity of contrasting explanations exists, including increased
prevalence in certain age cohorts (the cohort effect) and social risk
factors occurring during certain periods of time (the period effect). A
major reason that so many explanations exist is that the causes for
violence trends are multifactorial and occur at different levels, such
as the community and individual levels. The study of these various
factors and levels are rooted rather independently in public health,
sociology, psychology, medicine, and other disciplines. Understanding
these multifactorial public health problems can be improved if the gap
between various disciplines is bridged. Previous analyses have shown
that cohort effects are rendered insignificant by period effects,
suggesting the importance of social factors on violence trends. This
research program will undertake a series of analyses culminating in the
development of a second-generation model, the proposed
contextual-developmental model for violence. This model will expand on
the individual developmental pathways identified by Rolf Loeber by
incorporating social and environmental factors. Research findings will
help to integrate public health and criminal justice prevention efforts
into an effective overall program that will improve on past efforts and
foster development of primary, secondary, and tertiary strategies aimed
at the human, environmental, and instrumental elements of violence.
Paul Smokowski, MSW, PhD
University of North Carolina
School of Social Work, Room 324-L
CD# 3550, 301 Pittsboro Street
Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3550
Phone: 919-843-8281
Fax: 919-962-0890
Email: smokowsk@email.unc.edu
Project Title: Acculturation and Health Protection in Latino Youth
Project Period: 9/30/04–9/29/07
Description: The aim of this investigation is to study
acculturation, health protection, and health risk behavior in Latino
adolescents residing in North Carolina and Arizona. Researchers will map
modifiable risk factors that lead Latino adolescents to engage in
negative health behaviors, such as alcohol, tobacco, and drug use,
aggressive behavior, and suicide. Using a prospective, longitudinal
design, researchers will assess these negative health behaviors in 300
Latino adolescents (150 in NC and 150 in AZ) four times over a
three-year period. Mixed-methods analyses using Hierarchical Linear and
Nonlinear Modeling (HLM) growth curve modeling and qualitative interview
data will be used to examine how acculturation processes and health
behaviors evolve over time in different environmental settings.
Jacquelyn Campbell, PhD, RN, FAAN
Associate Dean for PhD Programs and Research
Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing
525 North Wolfe Street – Room 436
Baltimore, MD 21205
Phone: 410-955-2778
Fax: 410-614-8285
E-mail:
jcampbell@sonijhmi.edu
Project Title: An Arts-Based Initiative for the Prevention of
Violence against Women and Girls
Project Period: 09/30/00-09/29/05
Description: This demonstration project further develops and
evaluates an existing Historic East Baltimore anti-violence Summer
Theatre Project involving students from five middle schools in a
year -round after school mentoring and arts -based anti-violence
program.
Initiatives include a variety of arts -based student activities
related to violence prevention (summer and after school theatre
projects, a during and/or after school visual arts project, and a
web page design project) and curricular components for all 7th
graders violence prevention and early intervention student support
groups, and teacher and staff training on the subject. High school
students who are part of the summer theatre performance will be
mentors in the after school middle school theatre project. In
addition, there will be a collaboration with a university urban
health initiative, an RWJ funded initiative to increase capacity in
Baltimore after-school programs (Safe and Sound), and the Baltimore
City Schools and the School of Nursing.
The evaluation will be based on a change theory approach with
baseline, intermediate, and long-term outcomes (quantitative and
qualitative data) contrasting three intervention schools with two
comparison schools. The comparison schools will begin development
and implementation of the intervention during the third and fourth
years of the project with evaluation of their progress as well as
analysis of differences with the index schools at year three. In
addition, participants of the summer theatre project will be
compared with other youth without exposure to such programs to
determine attitude changes about violence.
Mark Chaffin, Ph.D.
University of OK Health Sciences Center
Director, Office of Research Administration
Ouhsc Lib 121
P.O. Box 26901
Oklahoma City, OK 73190
Phone: 405-271-8858
Fax: 405-271-2931
E-mail:
mark-chaffin@ouhsc.edu
Project Title: Alternatives for Families III: Retention
Enhancement
Project Period: 09/30/02 – 09/29/06
Description: Oklahoma University Health Sciences Center on
Child Abuse and Neglect (CCAN) is comparing the effect of a group
motivational enhancement approach (ME) based on principles of
motivational interviewing with standard parent orientation services
(OS). Researchers will examine the effects of ME and OS on
participation and retention in two different parenting programs
(i.e., Parent-Child Interaction Therapy and standard agency
services). Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT) is a dyadic
parent-child intervention focused on improving parent-child
relationships and parents’ child management skills. Standard agency
services consist of a parenting skills and knowledge group and a
supplemental parent anger management group. Participating families
are referred based on their risk for child physical abuse (e.g.,
substantiated incidents of physical abuse). A double-randomization
design will be used for analyses of the individual and combined
impact of the different parenting interventions on family outcomes.
Ann L. Coker, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Epidemiology
University of Texas
School of Public Health
P.O. Box 20186
Houston, TX 77225
Phone: 713-500-9955
Fax: 713-500-9406
E-mail:
acoker@sph.uth.tmc.edu
Project Title: Domestic Violence in Rural Health Care Clinics
Project Period: 09/30/00-09/29/05
Description: The University of Texas School of Public Health,
with the University of South Carolina, and the University of North
Carolina at Greensboro are conducting a demonstration project. In
collaboration with researchers and clinical and intimate partner
violence (IPV) service providers, the universities will help design
and implement culturally-competent, clinic-based, IPV screening and
services for women seeking health care from clinics.
The study includes both primary and secondary prevention
interventions and will target a rural, low-income population. As
part of this health-focused intervention, a follow-up study of IPV
victims and their children will be conducted to determine the
long-term impact of the intervention on violence and health.
Goals of the study are to improve the health, well-being, and safety
of women who experience the effects of IPV and its negative effects
on their children; to evaluate the cost effectiveness of the
intervention; and to test the conceptual model for how IPV affects
health outcomes.
Anne K. Duggan, ScD
General Pediatrics Research Center
Johns Hopkins School of Medicine
Reed Hall, Room 203
1620 McElderry Street
Baltimore, MD 21205-2196
Phone: 410-614-5280
Fax: 410-614-5431
E-mail: aduggan@jhmi.edu
Project Title: Practices to Improve Skills of Home Visitors
Project Period: 9/30/04–09/29/09
Description: This project is evaluating the effectiveness of an
improved method of implementing Hawaii’s original Healthy Start
Program (HSP)—a popular and prevailing paraprofessional model of
home visitation to prevent child abuse and neglect in at-risk
families of newborns.
20%–30% of children are born into families at risk for child neglect
or abuse. If risk factors are not addressed, parenting and child
outcomes will be adversely influenced. Parenting outcomes are
defined as family functioning and parenting (e.g., risks for
maltreatment, observational, or self-reported measures of
maltreatment); child outcomes are defined as social development and
behavior.
The HSP model, disseminated in 39 states, comprises population-based
screening for at-risk families of newborns and assessment of home
visits by trained paraprofessionals. The program links at-risk
families to primary care and other services to reduce the risk of
child maltreatment. Results from the first RCT motivated Hawaii to
refine its HSP and implementation system to better integrate HSP
services with pediatric primary care.
The project aims to:
-
Develop and pilot test two modifications to the implementation system: performance criteria and fidelity measures. Building on activities now underway, this work will include a national survey of existing approaches, qualitative and quantitative studies of HSP knowledge and attitudes, HSP record review to measure current service quality, and consultation with experts to develop core competencies. Investigators will develop and pilot test methods to assess home visitor skills. They also will generate timely staff-member performance profiles for comparison with standards and norms.
-
Conduct a quasi-experimental study to assess the impact of these modifications on the (a) delivery of home-visiting services, and on (b) family functioning, parenting, and child outcomes. This will involve random assignment of HSP sites to intervention and control groups; enrollment of a representative, population-based sample of 240 at-risk families of newborns; baseline measurement of risk and protective factors; and follow-up at 1 and 2 years to measure parenting and child outcomes.
The investigators hypothesize
that (a) the enhanced implementation system improves actual delivery
of home visiting services; (b) the enhanced implementation system
improves HSP impact on family functioning and on parenting and child
outcomes; and (c) HSP impact on family functioning and parenting
mediate its impact on child outcomes.
Jean Dumas, Ph.D.
Purdue University
Sponsored Program Administration
1063 Hovde Hall
West Fayetteville, IN 47907-1063
Phone: 765-494-0119
Fax: 765-496-2670
E-mail: jdumas@purdue.edu
Project Title: Promoting Involvement in Parenting Programs to Reduce
Risk of Child Maltreatment: Engaging and Retaining Parents Who Are
Not Asking for Help
Project Period: 09/30/02 – 09/29/06
Description: Purdue University is examining the impact of
enhancements on participation and engagement in the Parenting Our
Children to Excellence (PACE) program. PACE is a group intervention
program for parents and caregivers of preschool children. The
University will examine partnership (organizational involvement in
recruitment and retention), cash incentives, and motivated action
plans (setting clear goals and making specific plans for goal
attainment). Families with socioeconomic disadvantages are being
recruited through preschools and day care centers.
L. Rowell Huesmann, PhD
Institute for Social Research
426 Thompson Street
Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1274
Phone: 734-764-8385
Fax: 734-763-1202
E-mail: huesmann@umich.edu
Project Title: Serious Youth Violence and Long-Term Use of Violent
Media
Project Period: 08/02/04–08/01/07
Description: This investigation will explore the role of prior
exposure to media violence on subsequent serious aggressive and
violent behavior in the following populations: incarcerated juvenile
delinquents residing in county and state facilities; juvenile
delinquents enrolled in county day treatment and diversion programs;
preschool and kindergarten students attending schools in socioeconomically disadvantaged communities; high school seniors
attending schools in similarly disadvantaged communities;
incarcerated violent and nonviolent adult offenders who live in a
state penitentiary; and two normative groups of individuals enrolled
in long-term prospective longitudinal studies that began when
individuals were in middle childhood and since have continued into
middle adulthood.
The investigation aims to:
-
Examine the association between serious violent and criminal behavior in adolescent delinquent and young adult criminal populations and their concurrent and prior exposure to violent media.
-
Investigate the association between violent and potentially criminal behavior in at-risk youth populations and their concurrent and prior exposure to violent media.
-
Use two existing longitudinal data sets to study the long-term prediction of early and middle adulthood violent and criminal behavior from childhood exposure to violent media.
-
Analyze each sample for individual, contextual, viewing, and programming factors likely to moderate the strength of the relation between exposure to media violence and serious violent behavior.
-
Investigate how social-cognitive factors (internal and external aspects of human nature) can resolve aggressive and violent behaviors associated with exposure to violent media.
The results of this investigation will contribute critical
information to our understanding of the relationship between
childhood, adolescent, and adult media violence exposure and
concurrent and subsequent serious aggression, violence, antisocial
and criminal behaviors.
Lisa Jaycox, Ph.D.
RAND Corporation
1200 South Hayes Street
Arlington, VA 33303-5050
Phone: 703-413-1100, ext. 5118
Fax: 703-414-4726
E-mail:
jaycox@rand.org
Project Title: Prevention and Early Intervention for Intimate
Partner Violence Among Latino Youth
Project Period: 09/30/00-09/29/05
Description: The RAND Corporation will evaluate Ending Violence, an
innovative prevention and early intervention program that will focus
on the legal rights and responsibilities of ninth graders. The
program was created and will be implemented by Break the Cycle (BTC),
a nonprofit organization in West Los Angeles that seeks to end
domestic violence among 12 to 22 year olds. It will be taught by
attorneys who will offer attorney-client privilege to students, and
will focus on the legal aspects of domestic violence, affording
students advice and legal counsel without risking mandated reports
as is the case when speaking with counselors, teachers, or police.
The goals of the study are to evaluate BTC’s impact on student
attitudes, knowledge, victimization, perpetration, and help seeking;
to provide a culturally-competent school- or community-based early
intervention/prevention program to promote healthy relationships and
to prevent dating, sexual, and intimate partner violence among
school-age youth.
Results will help inform BTC of the impact of its curriculum so that
improvements can be made if necessary; guide other prevention
efforts; and lay the groundwork for disseminating such a program to
other parts of the nation.
Ronald J. Prinz, Ph.D.
Department of Psychology
University of South Carolina Research Foundation
Columbia, SC 29208
Phone: 803-777-7143
Fax: 803-777-7143
E-mail:
printz@sc.edu
Project Title: Multi-Level Parent Training Effectiveness Trial
Project Period: 09/30/02 – 09/29/07
Description:
CDC is funding the University of South Carolina to examine the
effectiveness of a multilevel intervention program called Triple
P-Positive Parenting Program (www.triplep.net). The Triple
P-Positive Parenting Program is a parenting and family support
strategy to prevent severe behavioral, emotional, and developmental
problems among children by enhancing the knowledge, skills, and
confidence of parents. The project tests broad strategies aimed at
preventing and reducing the risk of child maltreatment in the
population and promotes positive parenting to reduce stress and
child behavior problems.
Parenting program attrition and compliance efficacy trial
CDC is funding Purdue University in Indiana and the University of
Oklahoma Health Sciences Center to test the role of different
enhancements or service delivery methods (e.g. motivational
techniques, practical assistance) in reducing attrition and
improving emotional and cognitive engagement and behavioral
compliance in an existing efficacious parenting program. Researchers
will examine the impact of the strategies on parental attendance,
attrition rates, compliance, behavior change, parent and child
outcomes, and incidents of child maltreatment. In addition,
information about the cost of the enhancements will be collected for
later analyses.
Victoria Sharp, M.D.
Director, Center for Comprehensive Care
St. Luke’s – Roosevelt Institute of Health Sciences
1000 Tenth Avenue – 14A36
New York, NY 10019
Phone: 212-523-6050
Fax: 212-523-6023
E-mail:
vsharp@slrch.org
Project Title: Early Intervention and Prevention Program for
HIV-Positive Individuals
Project Period: 09/30/00-09/29/05
Description: St. Luke’s - Roosevelt Institute for Health Sciences
St. Luke’s Roosevelt Institute of Health Sciences is developing,
implementing, and evaluating a model that integrates
culturally-competent, intimate partner violence (IPV) and sexual
violence (SV) screening, and early intervention and services into
its comprehensive HIV care center.
Patients will be screened for current and lifetime IPV/SV at initial
and annual medical care visits and as needed. Those who screen
positive will be referred to a local, community-based, IPV/SV
victims’ services center that uses an empowerment model to deliver
culturally-competent IPV/SV services in the first phase. The second
phase will integrate identical services into the HIV care center.
Goals are to improve the identification of IPV/SV in the
HIV-infected population at the HIV care center; to improve access to
culturally-competent IPV/SV services tailored for the HIV-infected
population; and to reduce the occurrence of intergenerational
violence in the HIV-infected population.
Results of this project will expand the knowledge and understanding
of IPV/SV in the HIV positive population; inform health care
practitioners about how to respond to IPV/SV in a busy, chronic
disease or HIV care setting; and how to access culturally-competent
IPV/SV services tailored to the HIV positive population. This
project will demonstrate, within the HIV care center context, which
model of IPV/SV service delivery—integrated or stand alone—is the
most effective and for whom.
Ronald L. Simons, PhD
University of Georgia Research Foundation, Inc.
Center for Family Research
1095 College Station Road
Athens, GA 30602-7411
Phone: 706-425-2992
Fax: 706-425-2985
E-mail:
rsimmons@uga.edu
Project Title: Sociocultural and Community Risk and Protective
Factors: Child Maltreatment and Youth Violence
Project Period: 08/02/04–08/01/07
Description: The project proposes to broaden data collection to
include an extensive and intensive investigation of how various
community and cultural factors influence risk for youth violence.
Most research on contextual effects has been limited to residential
neighborhoods. Although this may be appropriate for young children,
it does not capture the rich set of contexts that influences
adolescents. This study will assess residential neighborhoods, the
area surrounding the target adolescent's favorite hangout, best
friend's residence, and school. To assess these contexts, it will
use a multiple method approach (geocoding/GIS mapping, observer
ratings, adolescent/caretaker reports). The plan is to test a
variety of models for (1) the important pathways whereby the four
community contexts promote the risk of violence (e.g.,
discrimination, hostile view of relationships, code of the street)
and (2) the factors that moderate or disrupt these pathways (e.g.,
collective socialization, parenting practices, racial
socialization).
Albert Farrell, Ph.D. Virginia Commonwealth University P.O. Box 842018 Richmond, VA 23284-2018 Phone: 804-828-8796 Fax: 804-827-1511 E-mail : afarrell@mail1.vcu.edu
|
David Rabiner, Ph.D. Research Scientist Duke University 2024 West Main Street P.O. Box 90539 Durham, NC 27708-0539 Phone: 919-668-6917 Fax: 919-668-6923 E-mail: rabiner@PPS.Duke.edu |
Andy Horne, Ph.D. Professor, Counseling and HDS University of Georgia Research Foundation College of Education – Aderhold Athens, GA 30602-7411 Phone: 706-542-4107 Fax: 706-542-4130 E-mail: ahorne@coe.uga.edu |
Patrick H. Tolan, Ph.D. Director of Research University of Illinois 840 South Wood Street (MC747) Chicago, IL 60612 Phone: 312-413-1893 Fax: 312-413-1703 E-mail: tolan@uic.edu |
Project Title: Multi-Site Youth Violence Prevention Evaluation Study
Project Period: 09/30/99-09/29/05
Description: CDC is testing a violence prevention project in 37
middle schools in four states. Each project will teach conflict
resolution and problem solving skills to students, train teachers
about violence prevention, and engage family members in program
activities. This project is the largest to date to assess the
effectiveness of school-based violence prevention among middle
school students. It is affiliated with Virginia Commonwealth
University, University of Illinois – Chicago, University of Georgia,
and Duke University.
The primary objective of this study is to assess the effectiveness
of several promising middle -school and family-based interventions
designed to promote prosocial behavior and thereby discourage
aggressive and violent behavior. This multisite, multi-component
intervention was designed to address a major scientific question
regarding reducing school violence: Are greater reductions in school
violence found when a general violence prevention program is
implemented with all students in a given grade or when an
intervention is targeted at those youth who are at greatest risk for
involvement in violence (i.e., those already participating in high
rates of aggressive behavior) or are both types of intervention
needed? The evaluation will determine the effectiveness of these
interventions both alone and in combination with one another. The
universal intervention will be implemented with all students and
teachers in a particular grade, while the targeted intervention
focuses on youth at greater risk for aggressive and violent behavior
and their families. The intervention has two components, one a
social-cognitive curriculum for students, and the other an
educational program for teachers. Social-cognitive skills have been
viewed as important ones in preventing bullying, violence, and
aggression. The conceptual framework underlying this approach is
that students who know, value, and utilize prosocial and peaceful
means of conflict resolution are less likely to be involved in
aggressive and violent behavior. The student curriculum incorporates
22 sessions to be taught in classrooms, typically in 50-minute
sessions over the course of the school year. Topics include social
cognitive problem-solving, perspective-taking, listening,
friendship, managing conflict, problem solving in the family and
community, goal-setting, and citizenship. The experiential component
is integrated and includes trust-building activities,
non-competitive games, small group work, role-playing, journal
writing, and guided discussions using story lines from local and
national news that help students to avoid violence and promote a
peaceful society. The programming for teachers is designed to reduce
tolerance of aggression and bullying in the classroom and to improve
teacher management of such behavior. The curriculum promotes teacher
awareness of bullying aggression, intervention strategies for
bullying, assistance to victims, and teacher coping skills. Teachers
in the program participate in 12 hours of training over the course
of a two-day workshop or during several after school workshop
sessions. Teacher support groups are also an integral part of the
program. Both the student and teacher components are based on the
work of earlier promising prevention approaches.
Michele Lynn Ybarra, PhD
Internet Solutions for Kids, Inc.
74 Ashford Rd.
Irvine, CA 92619
Phone: 949-278-0889
Fax: 949-250-0690
E-mail:
Michele@isolutions4kids.org
Project Title: Mental Health Effects of Internet-Mediated Violence
Project Period: 9/30/04-9/29/07
Description: Much research on television violence has been
conducted; much less attention, however, has focused on newer
media—specifically, the Internet. It is likely that Internet
exposures have a greater effect on aggressive and violent behavior
of young people than other media exposure because of the heightened
interactivity, realistic graphics, and other visual stimulation.
Because the Internet is an emerging technology to which youth have
significant access, this study has important implications for public
health policy and practice.
It is proposed that 1,400 households be surveyed nationwide,
including one caregiver and one child, age 10 to 15, who uses the
Internet. The caregiver and child will be contacted by telephone and
interviewed through the Internet, with two follow-up interviews.
Data will be collected three times over a two-year period.
Participants will be identified via random digit dialing (RDD) and
then directed to an Internet site to respond to the survey. This
method combines the strengths of telephone and Web-based surveys to
produce results that maximize representativeness while minimizing
response bias. The relationship between exposure to violent new
media and aggressive behavior will be monitored for two years after
the baseline interview.
The investigators hypothesize that children age 10 to 15 who use
violent media, including websites and video/computer games, will
manifest more violent and aggressive behaviors over time than
children of the same ages who do not use violent media. In addition,
it is hypothesized that individual factors (i.e., sex and
trait-aggression) and contextual factors (i.e., witnessing violence)
will be important components in understanding the association
between violent media and violent behavior.
Marc Zimmerman, PhD
University of Michigan
Department of Health Behavior and Health Education
1420 Washington Heights
Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1274
Phone: 734-647-0224
Fax: 734-763-7379
E-mail:
marcz@umich.edu
Project Title: Youth Empowerment Solutions for Peaceful Communities
Project Period: 09/01/04–09/30/08
Description: Youth Empowerment Solutions for Peaceful Communities
(YES) is an interdisciplinary community change project developed by
The Flint Youth Violence Prevention Center’s (YVPC)
academic-community partnership. Empowerment theory, positive youth
development, and ecological theory guided the project development,
evaluation, and plans for sustaining the work after the funding
period ends.
The goals of the project are to provide youth with opportunities for
meaningful involvement in preventing youth violence and for creating
community change; to enhance neighborhood organizations' ability to
engage youth in their activities; and to change the social and
physical environment so that violence, especially among youth, can
be reduced or prevented.
The project involves youth in the process of changing their
community’s physical and social environments and includes three key
components:
-
Youth empowerment activities—includes workshops for program planning, budgeting, implementation, and evaluation; opportunities to engage peers in community change efforts; development of ethnic identity and pride; and work with adults to achieve these goals.
-
Neighborhood organization development—helps neighborhoods create positive youth development settings and develop workshops to enhance staff skills for working with youth, and
-
Community development projects—encourage youth and organizations who work together. These projects include community gardening and beautification, land use and parks development, and community celebration events. Youth and neighborhood organizations that wish to participate will develop project proposals that focus on community-level change.
The project includes a quasi-experimental pre- and post-test
comparison group design and analysis of multiple outcomes across
levels of analysis. Using an existing community survey of two
neighborhoods, the project will assess change in community norms,
fear, social cohesion and social capital. The survey also will
assess changes in youths' violent attitudes, norms, and behavior;
ethnic identity and pride; and mental health. The research will
compare the intervention and control neighborhoods on several
community-level measures— including police incident data, hospital
injury reports (E-codes) and school suspension data. A process
evaluation will be conducted to ensure the fidelity of the
intervention and to adapt the project when issues arise. Several
participating organizations have agreed to help sustain and
disseminate the program if it is found to be effective.
Mark Cameron Edberg
The George Washington University
Dept. of Prevention & Health Services
2175 K Street, NW, Suite 700
Washington, DC 20037
Email: medberg@gwu.edu
Project Title: Primary Prevention Addressing Community Factors for Latino Youth Violence
Project Period: 09/01/05-08/31/09
Description: In Langley Park, Maryland, a Washington, DC suburb, violence among Latino youth has substantially increased over the past decade, impacted by social and demographic factors, including the influx of refugees/immigrants from Central America. Community characteristics related to youth violence include a pattern of sequential family immigration that has consequences for family cohesion and contributes to a reliance on peer socialization; a lack of language and culturally-appropriate services for immigrant youth who face barriers to successful school performance; low
awareness/perception of community support; the presence of at least three major Latino gangs; and the integration of violence into prevalent youth norms related to status and reputation.
Researchers will determine if SAFER Latinos (Seguridad, Apoyo, Familia, Educacion, Y Recursos), a primary prevention program tailored to specific community-level mediating factors for Latino youth violence targeting Langley Park, MD can positively impact mediating factors and reduce the incidence of violence by and among Latino youth and gang involvement (outcome) if positive results occur. Investigators will implement SAFER Latinos in the Langley Park, MD Community; collect process data regarding implementation; evaluate the data using a quasi-experimental design with baseline (prior to
intervention) and two follow-up data collections in both the intervention and a control community (Culmore, Virginia); and will measure change in a selected set of aggregate community variables that represent mediating factors and outcomes for youth violence in Langley Park. Data will be collected via a survey and focus groups. Relationships between baseline mediators and community violence will be assessed through bivariate and multivariate analyses. Comparability of intervention/control communities will be assessed by comparing baseline data supplemented with school and community-level
indicators of violence. Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) will be used to measure change in the selected mediating variables for youth violence,. Regression analysis will help researchers determine whether the identified community measures are mediators of both individual (e.g., self- report of involvement in violence and gangs) and community (e.g., juvenile arrests for Latino youth) level outcomes. The proposed effort will provide data on whether a community-level intervention will work for the type of violence prevalent in Langley Park and similar communities and also a documented
intervention model with evaluation instruments and protocols.
John M. MacDonald
RAND Corporation
Infrastructure, Safety, and Environment
1776 Main Street, PO Box 2138
Santa Monica, CA 90407-2138
Email: John_MacDonald@rand.org
Project Title: The Impact of Business Improvement Districts on Youth Violence
Project Period: 09/01/05-08/31/09
Description: Research indicates that youth violence is associated with the social and economic characteristics of communities. A broad literature review has identified these patterns of community social disorganization and their relationship to violent behaviors, including those that occur among youth. Less research has identified specific actionable community-level interventions that can effectively mediate the influence of social and economic factors on youth violence. The proposed study seeks to build on an ongoing research portfolio at RAND on the community context of health and will
evaluate an intervention specifically aimed at modifying community-level processes linked to youth violence.
The project will evaluate the impact of established business improvement districts (BIDs) in Los Angeles on modifying community-level factors associated with youth violence. Researchers will test whether BIDS have causal effects in reducing youth violence in the community; whether BIDs effects on youth violence are mediated by improvements in community social cohesion; whether BIDs effects on youth violence are mediated by improvements in the physical and social characteristics communities (built environment); and test whether BIDs effects on youth violence are mediated by improvements in
community-level employment opportunities. Researchers plan to select the 31 urban census tracts in Los Angeles that contain BIDs and then use propensity score weighting to match these areas to a sample of 31 census tracts without BIDs (total N= 62). Through interviews with 3,100 households in these communities, interviews with BID officials, a two-wave longitudinal research design, and multi-level modeling, researchers will assess the extent to which community BIDs improve the social and economic factors in given communities, and in turn reduce the prevalence of youth violence. BIDs by
design are grassroots and community-level, and are theoretically tied to the social processes outlined in community-based theories of neighborhood disorder and youth violence. The proposed multi-year (longitudinal) study will be the first effort to assess the impact of this community-based economic development model on youth violence.
Jacqueline Cohen
Carnegie Mellon University
The Heinz School
5000 Forbes Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15213
Email: jc63@andrew.cmu.edu
Project Title: Impact of Housing Relocation Initiatives on Community-Level Violence
Project Period: 09/01/05-08/31/09
Description: Prior research finds that those in disadvantaged communities are subject to greater risks of violence, both as perpetrators and victims, and that individual risk factors seem to be aggravated to produce higher levels of violence than expected from individual attributes alone. The ill effects of such communities are especially pronounced in neighborhoods where disadvantage is multifaceted and widely distributed among residents—features that characterize large public housing communities that provide subsidized housing for low-income households. Large-scale initiatives during the
1990s relocated households from older, high-density public housing communities to those in the private housing market to help ameliorate the effects of concentrated disadvantage.
This project will examine the impact of major housing relocation efforts in Pittsburgh, PA on community levels of youth violence. The analyses will document similarities and differences between origin and destination neighborhoods. Trend and seasonality components of tract-level, time-series violence measures will be modeled using traditional decomposition and smoothing techniques and more recent semi-parametric, group-based trajectory models. These patterns will be the basis for developing counterfactual estimates of expected violence levels absent the housing relocation intervention.
Multivariate regression-based models suited to quasi-experimental designs will be used to detect discontinuities in trends associated with the timing of major housing relocations. Research outcomes will provide empirical evidence on whether the private housing market provides low-income households with access to less disadvantaged and more diverse communities, and what effects relocating low-income households into private market housing communities has on violence levels in the destination communities. Results will help the assessment of the efficacy of housing relocation within current
housing markets for violence prevention.
Meiko Yoshihama
University of Michigan
School of Social Work
1080 S University Avenue
Ann Arbor, MI 48109
Email: miekoy@umich.edu
Project Title: Intimate partner violence prevention through the use of theater in the Asian community of Southeast Michigan
Project Period: 09/01/05-08/31/09
Description: The goal of the proposed project is to develop, implement, and evaluate a socio-culturally relevant primary prevention program to reduce first-time physical intimate partner violence (IPV) in an Indian community in Metro Detroit, Michigan. Researchers will create a Community Action Team (CAT) of Gujarati residents and strengthen their capacity to prevent IPV; work with the CAT to develop and implement an IPV prevention communication campaign based on behavior change theory and social marketing approaches; and will evaluate the effectiveness of the campaign and CAT program using
a quasi-experimental and longitudinal design. The campaign will use print/electronic media and local activities (e.g., theater and community forums) and will draw from exchange and feminist theories to promote nonviolent alternatives and more egalitarian relationships to challenge norms that condone IPV, such as family privacy.
The campaign’s impact on the community at large will be evaluated using surveys at pre-and post-intervention with random samples of Gujarati residents, augmented by key informant interviews, review of project activity records, and by participant observations. Written surveys will assess changes in knowledge, attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors (KABB) about IPV, including reduction in first-time IPV perpetration/victimization, decreased tolerance for IPV, increase in knowledge about and practice of alternatives to abusive tactics and/or violence, and enhanced couple communication. In addition,
a longitudinal cohort design will be used to assess changes in CAT members’ KABB in similar domains over time. Few IPV prevention projects or evaluations exist in Asian or other immigrant communities. This project will help fill this gap by providing valuable data on how to design a socio-culturally effective program that reduces both attitudes condoning IPV and perpetration of IPV among a growing, but seriously underserved, immigrant community. Since IPV is prevalent and associated with serious and long-lasting health consequences, such information will help reduce the (public) health
burden of IPV in diverse communities.
Lynette Feder
Portland State University
Criminal Justice Policy Research Institute
PO Box 751 (ORSP)
Portland, OR 97207-0751
Email: lfeder@pdx.edu
Project Title: An Enhanced Nurse Home Visitation Program to Prevent IPV
Project Period: 9/01/05-8/31/09
Description: Prior research has shown that the Nurse Family Partnership (NFP) intervention is not as effective in homes that experience intimate partner violence (IPV). While NFP reduces IPV in one setting, it does not in others.
The proposed study will test the efficacy of an enhanced NFP intervention, the ECI or Enhanced Choice Intervention among women referred to an existing NFP program in Portland, Oregon. The ECI is based on a choice or empowerment model whereby women can choose among interventions related to her goal for her current intimate relationship. If IPV or emotional abuse or controlling behaviors are assessed, the intervention is based on two interventions shown to be effective in assessing for and reducing repeat IPV (the Sullivan Advocacy Intervention and the McFarlane and Parker brochure driven
intervention). For women who want to enhance marital quality, the Markman and Stanley PREP model that has been shown to enhance relationship quality will be offered. The PREP model also has some preliminary evidence of preventing IPV. Community resource linkage (beyond referral) strategies as with the NFP model will be used to obtain community resources for women with IPV risk factors in their own or their partner’s history (e.g., exposure to parental IPV, child abuse, substance abuse). Women (250) referred to the Multnomah County Health Department will be randomized to the experimental (NFP
plus ECI) or control condition (NFP) and visited according to the regular NFP schedule during pregnancy and until the infant is 24 months old. The intervention will concentrate on the prenatal and immediate (first 6 months) postpartum period with regular IPV, emotional abuse and controlling behavior assessments throughout the NFP period. Baseline and outcome measurement (CTS2, WEB, TPMI, depression – Edinborough, and parenting stress, will occur at 3 months before delivery and 3 months, 9 months, and 18 months postpartum with multivariate MANOVA, SEM and growth curve analyses. Positive
project outcomes will result in successful interventions that reduce the incidence of IPV.
J. Ricardo Guzman, MSW, MPH
Communtiy Health and Social Services Center
5635 West Fort Street
Detroit, MI 48209
Email: rguzman@chasscenter.org
Project Title: Raices Nuevas: Intimate Partner Violence Prevention for Latino Men
Project Period: 9/01/05-8/31/09
Description: Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a public health priority. Traditional responses to IPV have centered on screening, treatment, and rehabilitation. While important, there has not been equal focus on IPV prevention, especially among men. This study will bridge the gap by testing the efficacy of a culturally-tailored and theory-driven primary IPV prevention intervention with Spanish-speaking Latino men.
Investigators will examine whether IPV prevention is associated with increased intentions to abstain from IPV and decreased self-reported use of violence against intimate partners at 3 and 6 months as compared with the control group; whether the effects of the intervention are moderated by individual, microsystem, and macrosystem variables; and will identify theory-based variables that mediate effects of the IPV prevention intervention on self-reported behavior of IPV against intimate partners. In a randomized controlled trial, Spanish-speaking Latino men will be recruited from community
church settings and randomly assigned to: (a) an IPV prevention intervention, or (b) a wait-list control condition. Those assigned to the intervention will receive, in a small group setting, an eight-session, primary IPV prevention based on the Duluth model and tailored for Spanish-speaking, Latino men. The results of this study will increase the knowledge base of (intimate) partner violence through empirical testing of the efficacy of a culturally-tailored primary IPV prevention intervention among at-risk and under-served Latino men.
Chiquita Rollins, PhD
Multnomah County, Department of County H
Domestic Violence Coordinators Office
421 SW Sixth Avenue, Suite 700
Portland, OR 97204-1618
Email: chiquita.m.rollins@co.multnomah.or.us
Project Title: Effectiveness of Housing Intervention for Battered Women
Project Period: 9/01/05-8/31/09
Description: Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a significant and prevalent problem in Multnomah County and has a substantial impact on the survivor’s quality of life, physical and mental health, and housing stability. IPV also affects health care, law enforcement and other criminal justice system services, and costs of services, which places a burden on the community.
This study will evaluate the effectiveness, including cost effectiveness, of an existing innovative housing intervention of Volunteers of America (VOA) compared to usual services. It will use a quasi-experimental design with an experimental group recruited from VOA and a comparison group from local domestic violence emergency shelters. Methods will include in-depth interviews with survivors at regular intervals (baseline, 6, 12 and 18-month follow-up); review of case files from VOA and emergency shelters; and analysis of the costs of additional services sought and provided, including law
enforcement, child welfare, health care, housing, and financial assistance. The study population is underserved IPV survivors who have sought emergency assistance. This study evaluation can inform housing options and policies and program design to prevent re-victimization and to mitigate the negative impact of IPV.
Carta, Judith J.
University of Kansas Center for Research, Inc.
Youngberg Hall, 2385 Irving Hill Road
Lawrence, Kansas 66045-7563
Email: carta@ku.edu
Project Title: Using Technology to Augment the Effectiveness of Parenting Programs in the Prevention of Child Maltreatment
Project Period: 9/1/2006 – 8/31/2010
Over 2 million cases of child maltreatment are reported each year in the United States, and of these, child neglect remains the largest single category. A disproportionate number of cases of neglect occur with mothers who often have their own personal histories of abuse and delinquency. This behavioral pattern is frequently passed on from mother to child resulting in a vicious cycle in the transfer of delinquency and inappropriate parenting across generations. A number of home visitation programs have addressed this problem by providing parents with specific skills about how to interact with
their children in more positive ways (Gershater-Molker, et al., 2003; Olds et al., 1997). These programs often struggle to demonstrate long-term effectiveness because of difficulties in maintaining high-risk parents' participation and high levels of fidelity in program implementation. This proposed two-site project aims to test the effects of cellular phone technology enhancements on an existing parenting program (Planned Activities Training from Project Safecare). The proposed project employs a 3-group design with random assignment of parents to one of three groups (1) Planned Activities
Training (PAT); (2) Cell Phone Enhanced PAT, or (3) a Control Group. A unique strength of the proposed study is that it will recruit one cohort of participants from an ongoing longitudinal descriptive study of child neglect in which parenting and environmental risk and protective factors have been tracked since children's birth (n = 180). A second cohort of high-risk parents (n=180) will be recruited from Head Start programs in the same communities as the original cohort. Families in both cohorts will be enrolled when children are 4 years of age and will be assessed prior to intervention,
immediately following intervention, and 6 months and 12 months later to examine intervention effects on child maltreatment, parenting, and children's behavior. In addition, in each of the intervention groups, data will be collected on program fidelity and intervention dosage, retention, parent engagement and follow-through with procedures in the intervention; social validity; as well as cost-benefit analysis. We expect that knowledge generated through this study will aid in the improvement of parenting interventions focused on reducing child maltreatment and increasing cost-effectiveness.
Funderburk, Beverly W.
University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center
P.O. Box 26901
Oklahoma City, OK 73190
Email: Beverly-funderburk@ouhsc.edu
Project Title: PCIT Implementation Project
Project Period: 9/1/2006 - 8/31/2010
Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT) is an empirically well-supported behavioral parent training program for reducing aggressive behavior in young children, and for reducing future rates of child physical abuse. Prior randomized trial research conducted by the applicant Center has found that an adapted version of PCIT we developed specifically for violent parents in the child welfare system reduced future child physical abuse recurrence rates from 49% to 19%. Our prior and ongoing studies have found the benefits of PCIT to be durable over time, to generalize across settings and across
children in the same family, and we have developed culturally-specific adaptations of PCIT as well as adaptations for older abused children and their abusive parents. A number of blue-ribbon panels have recommended PCIT for scaled-up implementation in child abuse prevention and intervention services systems, but uptake of PCIT has been limited. One reason for this is that traditional PCIT training modes are a poor fit with field settings. PCIT has historically been taught in University-based training programs (graduate programs, internships, etc.) and includes several months of co-therapy
mentoring where trainers work directly with trainees in live sessions. Replicating this mentored implementation approach is not feasible in most scaled-up field settings. Over the past six months, our Center has pilot and feasibility tested a system using internet-based telemedicine technology to deliver live, mentored PCIT training. We have piloted Remote Real Time (RRT) training at sites in Utah, Seattle, Alaska, Oregon and within Oklahoma. Feasibility appears excellent, and the approach has been well received. Moreover, RRT implementation revealed misapplications of the model that had
gone unaddressed in phone consultation. The proposed research project will make use of planned, funded PCIT start-up implementations at 23 agency sites in Oklahoma and Washington. Using a multilevel interrupted time series randomized design; the proposed study will compare the RRT implementation approach with standard phone consultation (PC). Outcomes will include practitioner fidelity and competency and rates of future child welfare abuse reports. A mediational model is proposed wherein differences in downstream client outcomes are mediated by improved practitioner fidelity and competency.
Cost effectiveness and practitioner response to the implementation approach will be examined.
Ondersma, Steven J.
Sponsored Program Administration
540 East Canfield
11 28 Scott Hall
Detroit, Ml 48201
Email: s.ondersma@wayne.edu
Project Title: A Computer-Based Intervention to Augment Home Visitation Services
Project Period: 9/1/2006 – 8/31/2006
Early home visitation programs are among the most widely adopted and studied child maltreatment prevention efforts. Reviews of the efficacy of early home visitation are available, most recently in the form of the CDC's Task Force on Community Preventive Services, which found strong evidence to support early home visitation for the prevention of child maltreatment. However, that evidence is by no means consistent, and significant concerns have been raised with respect to the ability of such programs to: (a) retain participants; (b) implement program models with fidelity; (c) effectively
address known risk factors formal treatment; or (d) consistently incorporate available evidence-based approaches with fidelity. Interactive software—when used as a supplemental intervention delivery platform—has the potential to address many of these challenges. For example, it can facilitate identification of risks, can implement a range of evidence-based approaches, and can improve retention through the use of motivational approaches. It can also do these things in a perfectly replicable and highly cost-effective manner. The present study will modify motivational intervention software that
has already been developed by the PI specifically for use with high-risk post-partum mothers with histories of drug use. The current motivational software will be expanded to address other maltreatment risks and program adherence/engagement as well as substance abuse; additional modules will provide Cognitive Retraining and elements of the ecobehavioral SafeCare approach. The present study will randomly assign a total of 350 mother-infant dyads from three Healthy Families America (HFA) sites to either traditional or software-supplemented services. An additional non-equivalent no-treatment
comparison group (N = 175) will consist of parents who were eligible for and accepted HFA services, but who were unable to receive services due to insufficient program resources. All parents will be followed-up at 6, 12, and 18 months and evaluated for maltreatment and maltreatment risks as measured by self-report, home visitor report, blinded independent observers, and statewide CPS data. If validated, the proposed intervention can provide augmentation of home visiting services with unprecedented ease of dissemination, at negligible additional cost, and with limitless potential for further
development.