Evaluation of SAFER Latinos' Program to Prevent Youth Violence

This is an evaluation of a primary prevention program to prevent youth violence by improving family cohesion, networking among families, school bonding, and access to services for Latinos in Langley Park, MD.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Violence
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: SAFER (Seguridad, Apoyo, Familia, Educacion, y Recursos)

Detailed Description

To prevent youth involvement in violence, outreach workers will work with families and youth to improve school bonding, family cohesion and awareness and utilization of existing services; and a youth drop-in center will provide youth with an adult supervised place to "hang out", do homework, or participate in sports and job training.

Following implementation of the intervention, we will collect detailed process data (regarding implementation), and evaluate impact/outcome using a quasi-experimental design with baseline (prior to intervention) and two followup data collections in both the intervention and a control community (Culmore, Virginia), measuring 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.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 1400
• Phase: Phase 2; Phase 3

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • District of Columbia
    • Washington, District of Columbia, United States
      • George Washington University

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 12 years to 24 years (Child, Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• youth 12-24 and their caregiver

Exclusion Criteria:

• residence outside of Langley Park or Culmore

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Prevention
• Allocation: Non-Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: SAFER; The intervention community will receive 4 services: community lay workers will do family outreach and assist families in networking with other families and accessing community services, facilitating parent-youth and family-school communication and homework help for children, and help with translation of school or government/official notices;; youth leaders will provide a supportive presence, help youth navigate the system at school so that they can get help if needed, disseminate information about job training and possibilities, and provide education about avoiding violence;; school support services will offer academic support, acculturation orientation, language, conflict resolution skills training, advocacy and referrals;; Youth drop-in center: will provide youth with an adult supervised place to "hang out", do homework, or participate in sports and job training.	Behavioral: SAFER (Seguridad, Apoyo, Familia, Educacion, y Recursos); community lay workers will do family outreach and assist families in networking with other families and accessing community services, facilitating parent-youth and family-school communication and homework help for children, and help with translation of school or government/official notices;; youth leaders will provide a supportive presence, help youth navigate the system at school so that they can get help if needed, disseminate information about job training and possibilities, provide education about avoiding violence;; school support services will offer academic support, acculturation orientation, language, conflict resolution skills training, advocacy and referrals;; Youth drop-in center will provide youth with an adult supervised place to "hang out", do homework, or participate in sports and job training.
No Intervention: 2; Business as usual.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Time Frame
Youth violence	within the next 2 years after intervention started

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Time Frame
family cohesion	within the next 2 years after start of intervention
school bonding	within the next 2 years after start of intervention
exposure to antisocial, substance abusing, or violent peers	within the next 2 years after start of intervention

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Joanne Klevens
• Collaborators: George Washington University; Latin American Youth Center; Latino Federation of Greater Washington
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Mark Edberg, PhD, George Washington University

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start: September 1, 2006
• Primary Completion (Actual): December 1, 2010
• Study Completion (Actual): December 1, 2010

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: September 6, 2007
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: September 6, 2007
• First Posted (Estimate): September 10, 2007

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Estimate): February 10, 2012
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: February 8, 2012
• Last Verified: February 1, 2012

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: violence
• Other Study ID Numbers: CDC-NCIPC-4924