PREVENTION OF YOUTH VIOLENCE - RATIONALE AND CHARACTERISTICS OF 15 EVALUATION PROJECTS

Interpersonal violence is a major cause of injury disability, and deat h, especially among youth. Evaluations of 15 youth violence-prevention projects are under way. Public health is concerned about health probl ems that need to be addressed via collective action. Public health inv olvement in addressing interpersonal violence among youths brings an e mphasis on primary prevention, a systematic and scientific process, an d integrative leadership. Few quantitative evaluations of violence-pre vention projects have been done. The interventions are scientifically based and use a spectrum of strategies. Individually oriented strategi es are more common than those directed toward peers, families, schools , or communities. Each project has a rigorous evaluation design. Twelv e are randomized. Sample sizes range from 180 to 10,000. Participants range in age from 5 to 18 years, although most are in the middle-schoo l years (11-14 years). At baseline, intervention and comparison groups are similar. Baseline data demonstrate high frequency of violent beha vior, weapon carrying, and exposure to violence among the youthful par ticipants. Field intervention and evaluation research is difficult and expensive. Difficulties encompass organizational, programatic, and sc ientific issues; these difficulties reduce scientific interest and fin ancial support for projects such as these. Public health has an import ant role to play in reducing violence. These projects will make import ant contributions to that task. Medical Subject Headings (MeSH): viole nce, intervention studies, program evaluation, primary prevention, ado lescent behavior, risk factors, youth, prevention, education (early in tervention).