TY - JOUR
PY - 2023//
TI - Community violence intervention in African American communities: resilience and coping among outreach workers
JO - Journal of social service research
A1 - Rhoden-Neita, Michelle-Ann
A1 - Strickland, Joseph
A1 - Riffer, Andie
A1 - Moreno, Dennise
SP - 530
EP - 545
VL - 49
IS - 5
N2 - African American communities are at risk of negative psychological and physical health problems associated with structural and community violence. Street outreach, a community-based social service violence intervention, can build resilience and coping to buffer against these negative effects. Using qualitative case study, the authors explored the effects of street outreach on the resilience and coping of ten outreach workers in two Southside communities in Chicago.
FINDINGS from the thematic analysis indicated individual level factors (such as internal state, perceptions, experiences, and future goals) and system level factors (such as family, work, community, culture, and the broader society) related to the workers' experiences of community violence, street outreach utilization, and resilience. The authors presented these factors using Bronfenbrenner's ecological systems framework. Additionally, the workers' scores on the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale-10 corroborated the individual level factors but lacked the system factors. The authors concluded that outreach programs could help to build the resilience and coping capacity of workers by implementing workplace policies and procedures that promote mental health, trauma healing, and career advancement. Future studies should include quantitative outcome data to analyze the effects of street outreach programming on workers' resilience.
Language: en
LA - en SN - 0148-8376 UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01488376.2023.2237542 ID - ref1 ER -