Presenting Author: Rachel Myers, PhD, Violence Prevention Initiative, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia

ABSTRACT

Background: Research that addresses the needs of youth and families affected by violence requires collaboration and multi-faceted interventions. Employing community-based participatory research (CBPR) methods ensures that research questions and interventions reflect the needs and circumstances of communities most affected by violence.

Objectives: To elicit and refine ideas for a community-derived youth violence prevention research agenda to inform future research activities.

Methods: Focus groups hosted with both adult and youth members of the greater Philadelphia community to discuss what they believe works to prevent youth violence and what remains unknown. Participants discussed their prior experiences with academic research and what the necessary and important characteristics were for successful community-academic partnerships. Focus groups were conducted until saturation of ideas was achieved. Research topics and questions were reviewed by the project team to identify common themes.

Results: The following common themes were identified: effects of having access to community resources; importance of community role models and family support for youth; impact of prior trauma; resiliency and coping; and availability of safe physical spaces for recreation and social activities. Participants considered it imperative that research results be shared with participating communities and stressed the importance of transparency in community-academic partnerships.

Implications: Sustainable community-academic research partnerships offer an opportunity to leverage community strengths and resources to improve public health. The themes identified can contribute to the development of community-academic research projects that apply the experiences and knowledge of those with authentic knowledge of what needs to be learned regarding youth violence prevention.

Authors: Rachel Myers, PhD; Shani Gardner; Stephanie Renee; Tiffani Johnson, MD, MSc; Tamir Harper; Khary Moody; Roslyn Walker, MHS; Frances Walker;Ayana Bradshaw, MPH; Katherine Yun, MD, MHS; Alice Hausman, PhD; and Joel Fein, MD, MPH.