Community Violence Intervention - Community Needs Assessment & Outcomes Evaluations

• In Event: Community Violence Intervention

Abstract

Hospital-based violence intervention programs (HVIPs) support victims of violence by connecting these individuals to community-based resources, such as counseling services, legal assistance, and housing support. Despite the potential HVIPs have shown in minimizing the impact of violent victimization, there is a gap in knowledge regarding how the effectiveness of these programs should be assessed. Researchers have questioned the relevance of the outcomes that past evaluative HVIP studies have examined. Additionally, many of these studies have focused on collecting input from HVIP staff members. In this study, we will adopt a community-based participatory research (CBPR) approach to conduct focus groups with community members of Monmouth County, New Jersey. We will assess their needs regarding violence-related services and examine the outcomes they deem important for HVIP clients to achieve. The findings of this study will generate recommendations to enhance the impact of HVIP services. The results will also demonstrate the importance of incorporating community feedback when developing a tool to measure the effectiveness of HVIP interventions.

Authors

• Naomi Nguyen, Montclair State University

• Katheryne Pugliese, John Jay College of Criminal Justice

• Jiayin Luo, Montclair State University

• Robert Green, Rutgers University

• Sheetal Ranjan, Montclair State University