Opportunities and Challenges in Community-based Violence Prevention

Begun Center for Violence Prevention, Research and Education

February 12, 2014

Begun Center Focus

Applied community-based work that seeks to bridge the gap between science and practice.

Working with partners to demonstrate the impact of research through:

• significant behavioral outcomes• improved systems• effective policy

We do these things through……

Begun Center Core Activities

1. Evaluating program outcomes2. Promoting evidence-based best practices3. Changing policy based on research4. Consultation and technical assistance5. Quality data management & analysis6. Mentoring of young scholars7. Training practitioners and researchers8. Dissemination of findings

Begun Center areas of Research• Justice system involved youth and adults

• Diversion to treatment, reentry, drug courts• Children exposed to violence/ Defending Childhood Initiative

• Mental health and substance use • Treatment outcomes• Systems of Care

• School-based violence prevention• Safe schools/Healthy Students• School-based mental health services, safety, bullying

• Law enforcement initiatives• STANCE/ PSN/ Police Assisted Referral• Fugitive Safe Surrender

• Community based initiatives• MyCom youth development• Stokes youth violence prevention consortium

Challenges of Effective Evaluation of Interventions

• Fragmentation of the Field (research vs. providing services)

• Urgency of Service Delivery Precludes Planning and Experimental Control

• Vague Definition of Models of Intervention

• Measures Often Come From Administrative Records rather than Direct Assessments or Observation

• Limited Resources

Before you get started• Be at the table from the beginning• Who developed the model? • Why recreate the wheel?• Don’t do everything all at once• Think about sustainability up front• Know your audience• Informed consent• Translate data into everyday practice

WHAT ARE YOUR GOALS?

•WHAT DO YOU NEED TO CHANGE?

•WHAT DO YOU WANT TO CHANGE?

•WHY?

What is a problem for us locally?

DOING THE EVALUATION

1. CLEAR PROGRAM GOALS, OBJECTIVES

2. DETERMINE HOW IT WORKS

3. SCOPE OF THE EVALUATION• Resources matter• Multi--trait, multi-method

4. DECIDE ON RESEARCH DESIGN

5. IMPLEMENT THE EVALUATION

6. ANALYZE THE DATA• Who is the audience? • Go back to your goals and objectives

7. DISSEMINATE THE FINDINGS

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Challenges to Implementation• Science and practice have differing orientations and training.• Funding priorities differ by source, length• Resource constraints (back to research vs. service delivery)• System level barriers (sharing information, target populations)• Lack of community readiness

• Who is the one seeking out the funding?• Who is the one responsible for writing/submitting the

proposal?

Morrissey, 1997; Macdonald 1999; Blueprints, 2001

System Challenges

• Accuracy of administrative records vs. direct assessments or observation

• Not implementing program as intended• Not used to collaborating with researchers,

service providers, planners• Initiatives are more complicated, multi-

layered, multi-system for federal funding• Identifying best practices vs. local needs• Sustainability when grant money is gone• Resources (Again)

Every day challenges• Competing goals and interests

• Research vs. Reality

• Gaining access= TRUST

• Communication and scheduling

• Information sharing (HIPAA)

• Staff with skill sets to be successful

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Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPPA)

“ Security and privacy standards can promote higher quality care by assuring customers that their personal health information will be protected from inappropriate uses and disclosures”

Increased attention to requirements for active consent and full disclosure regarding access and sharing

More Ongoing Challenges

• Adequate Control• Sample Attrition• Null or negative Findings• Agency staff and capacity • Community capacity, willingness• Contracts• Increased culture of being audited• Effectiveness viewed as cost-

benefit vs. improved behavior outcomes

Playing politics

• Control of resources• Control of data and information• Who gets the credit, who takes the blame?• What if the data aren’t positive?• Who are you and why do we have to do

this anyway?• Whose fault will it be when it’s over?• It’s always about the money

Opportunities• Changing practice based on evidence

• MST, ICT, high fidelity wraparound

• Changing the evidence (or the questions we ask) based on practice

• Increased accountability and evaluation• Changing policy

• (juvenile justice, gun violence, EBPs)

• Get funding for what works • (BHJJ, drug courts)

• Long-term system change