Creating Peace: Community-based Youth Violence Prevention to Address Racism and Discrimination

This cluster-randomized community-partnered study will examine the effectiveness of a trauma-sensitive, gender transformative youth violence prevention program called Creating Peace that integrates racism and discrimination prevention with youth ages 14-19.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Violence, Domestic; Coping Skills; Adolescent Behavior; Violence, Sexual; Violence, Non-accidental; Group, Peer; Emotional Abuse; Communication, Personal
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Creating Peace; Behavioral: Job Readiness

Detailed Description

This community-partnered cluster-randomized controlled trial will examine the effectiveness of a trauma-sensitive, gender-transformative youth violence prevention program that integrates racism and discrimination prevention.

Set in 24 neighborhoods in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania with concentrated social and economic disadvantage, this study addresses gender and racial injustice through a series of group discussions, bringing together adolescents ages 14-19 with law enforcement officers in a process of social restoration.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 581
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • Pennsylvania
    • Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States, 15213
      • University of Pittsburgh

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 10 years to 15 years (Child, Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Participants must be ages 14-19 (inclusive)
• Participants must speak English

Exclusion Criteria:

• Not ages 14-19 (inclusive)
• Do not speak English

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

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

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Creating Peace; Creating Peace uses a group discussion format with activities that explore race, gender, sexual identity, and social class. Creating Peace is a 12 session curriculum designed to support youth ages 14-19 in healing from experiences of trauma by restoring social connections, strengthening positive coping strategies that exclude all forms of violence, challenging gender norms that foster violence perpetration, and practicing positive bystander intervention skills to intervene safely with peers' disrespectful and harmful behaviors. Through 12 sessions (3 hours/session) over a 4 to 12 week period, Creating Peace offers gender transformative content combined with youth leadership development. Near program conclusion, youth will offer guidance to law enforcement on interacting with youth in a process of social restoration.	Behavioral: Creating Peace; Creating Peace is a 12 session curriculum designed to support youth ages 14-19 in healing from experiences of trauma by restoring social connections, strengthening positive coping strategies that exclude all forms of violence, challenging gender norms that foster violence perpetration, and practicing positive bystander intervention skills to intervene safely with peers' disrespectful and harmful behaviors. Through 12 sessions (3 hours/session) over a 4 to 12 week period, Creating Peace offers gender transformative content combined with youth leadership development. Near program conclusion, youth will offer guidance to law enforcement on interacting with youth in a process of social restoration.
Active Comparator: Job Readiness Training; Job Readiness Training uses a group discussion format to learn specific skills to prepare for employment including developing goals, seeking jobs, preparing for interviews, and so forth. Participants receive a 12 session job readiness training with linkages to businesses and employment opportunities. Discussions include a wide range of topics related to career exploration and job readiness.	Behavioral: Job Readiness; Job Readiness Training uses a group discussion format to learn specific skills to prepare for employment including developing goals, seeking jobs, preparing for interviews, and so forth.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Change in recent use of any violence at 3 months	Summary score of any recent use of violence (physical, sexual, and emotional abuse; sexual violence; physical violence and threatening with a weapon; cyber dating abuse, cyber peer abuse, and sexting) calculated as one point for each behavior then summed (lower score indicates better outcome)	At baseline and three months after program conclusion
Change in recent use of any violence at 9 months	Summary score of any recent use of violence (physical, sexual, and emotional abuse; sexual violence; physical violence and threatening with a weapon; cyber dating abuse, cyber peer abuse, and sexting) calculated as one point for each behavior then summed (lower score indicates better outcome)	At baseline and nine months after program.

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Change in past 30 day weapon carrying at 3 months	Self-reported number of days they carried a weapon in past 30 days	At baseline and three months after program conclusion
Change in past 30 day weapon carrying at 9 months	Self-reported number of days they carried a weapon in past 30 days	At baseline and nine months after program conclusion
Change in positive bystander behaviors at 3 months	Past 3 month positive bystander behavior when witnessing disrespectful and harmful behavior among peers comparing baseline and follow up summary scores. Participants report if they have witnessed peers' abusive behaviors in the past 3 months and if witnessed, how they responded (whether they intervened to interrupt the behavior, provided support to person being harmed).	At baseline and three months after program conclusion
Change in positive bystander behaviors at 9 months	Past 3 month positive bystander behavior when witnessing disrespectful and harmful behavior among peers comparing baseline and follow up summary scores. Participants report if they have witnessed peers' abusive behaviors in the past 3 months and if witnessed, how they responded (whether they intervened to interrupt the behavior, provided support to person being harmed).	At baseline and nine months after program conclusion

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: University of Pittsburgh
• Collaborators: National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD); National Institutes of Health (NIH)
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Elizabeth Miller, MD, PhD, University of Pittsburgh

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): December 4, 2020
• Primary Completion (Actual): January 25, 2026
• Study Completion (Actual): January 25, 2026

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: July 13, 2020
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: July 13, 2020
• First Posted (Actual): July 16, 2020

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): March 16, 2026
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: March 12, 2026
• Last Verified: March 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Behavior; Sexual Behavior; Communication; Adolescent Behavior; Coitus
• Other Study ID Numbers: STUDY18110082; 5R01MD013797-02 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: NO
• IPD Plan Description: The research team will not make individual participant data (IPD) available to other researchers.

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No
• product manufactured in and exported from the U.S.: No