Citation

Massetti GM, Vivolo AM. Prog. Community Health Partnersh. 2010; 4(3): 243-251.

Affiliation

Center for Disease Control and Prevention, USA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2010, Johns Hopkins University Press)

DOI

10.1353/cpr.2010.0001

PMID

20729615

Abstract

PROBLEM: Violence is a leading cause of death and disability for U.S. youth. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)'s Division of Violence Prevention (DVP) is committed to developing communities' capacity to engage in evidence-based youth violence (YV) prevention. PURPOSE: We discuss the characteristics of communities that exert influence on the development and epidemiology of YV, and discuss opportunities for how community-research partnerships can enhance efforts to prevent violence in communities. KEY POINTS: The needs for YV prevention are unique; the nature and phenomenology of violence are community specific. Communities also vary widely in infrastructure and systems to support coordinated, evidence-based YV prevention strategies. These conditions highlight the need for community-research partnerships to enhance community capacity, employ local resources, and engage community members in the research process. CONCLUSION: DVP is committed to working towards creating communities in which youth are safe from violence. Approaches to YV prevention that emphasize community-research partnerships to build capacity and implement evidence-based prevention strategies can provide a supportive context for achieving that goal.

Language: en