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A Comprehensive Prevention Approach to Reducing Assault Offenses and Assault Injuries among Youth

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Abstract

Since 2011, the CDC-funded Michigan Youth Violence Prevention Center (MI-YVPC), working with community partners, has implemented a comprehensive prevention approach to reducing youth violence in Flint, MI, based on public health principles. MI-YVPC employed an intervention strategy that capitalizes on existing community resources and application of evidence-based programs using a social-ecological approach to change. We evaluated the combined effect of six programs in reducing assaults and injury among 10–24 year olds in the intervention area relative to a matched comparison community. We used generalized linear mixed models to examine change in the intervention area counts of reported assault offenses and assault injury presentation relative to the comparison area over a period 6 years prior- and 30 months post-intervention. Results indicated that youth victimization and assault injuries fell in the intervention area subsequent to the initiation of the interventions and that these reductions were sustained over time. Our evaluation demonstrated that a comprehensive multi-level approach can be effective for reducing youth violence and injury.

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Acknowledgments

This research is supported by the Michigan Youth Violence Prevention Center Cooperative Agreement Number 5U01CE001957-02 (PI, Zimmerman) from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Health Behavior and Health Education, University of Michigan School of Public Health, 1415 Washington Heights, SPHI, Rm 3703, Ann Arbor, MI, 48109–2029, USA

    Justin E. Heinze

  2. University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA

    Thomas M. Reischl, Mengqiao Bai, Jessica S. Roche, Susan Morrel-Samuels, Rebecca M. Cunningham & Marc A. Zimmerman

Authors
  1. Justin E. Heinze
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  2. Thomas M. Reischl
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  3. Mengqiao Bai
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  4. Jessica S. Roche
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  5. Susan Morrel-Samuels
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  6. Rebecca M. Cunningham
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  7. Marc A. Zimmerman
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Correspondence to Justin E. Heinze.

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Drs. Zimmerman, Reischl, and Ms. Morrel-Samuels participated in the development of the Youth Empowerment Solutions, Fathers and Sons, and Mentoring programs. Dr. Cunningham was the lead developer of Project Sync and Ms. Roche participated in its development. Dr. Heinze and Ms. Bai had no part in the development, implementation or assessment of the individual programs.

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Heinze, J.E., Reischl, T.M., Bai, M. et al. A Comprehensive Prevention Approach to Reducing Assault Offenses and Assault Injuries among Youth. Prev Sci 17, 167–176 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11121-015-0616-1

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