NURSES LOGS AS AN EVALUATION TOOL FOR SCHOOL-BASED VIOLENCE PREVENTION PROGRAMS

Programs for preventing violence among youth should be evaluated to de termine if they are effective. Nurses' logs appear to be a useful tool for evaluating school-based violence prevention programs. The logs pr ovide a record of students' visits to the school nurse that can be use d to determine if a violence prevention program is associated with a r eduction infighting-and other injury-related nurse visits. This method has many strengths: it is simple and inexpensive, it does not interru pt the school routine, it permits school-level rather than student-lev el data collection, it provides a ready ''baseline,'' and it allows co ntinuos data collection. However, potential limitations do exist. For example, the method may provide insufficient information and may be af fected by factors unrelated to the intervention. School officials can increase the usefulness of the logs by encouraging standardization and providing training in their use.