TPFF in Hilo, Hawaii, will develop, implement, and evaluate a culturally competent intervention using Native Hawaiian values, beliefs, and practices to address intimate partner and sexual violence among Native Hawaiian perpetrators and victims/survivors.  The Ke Ala Lokahi (Pathway to Harmony) program represents a collaboration between TPFF, a domestic violence service agency; The Queen Liliu’okalani Children’s Center, a cultural and community development organization working with Native Hawaiian families; and the University of Hawaii School of Social Work, which will provide consultation on family violence theory and intervention and assist in evaluation.

Two programmatic areas will be addressed.   First, culturally competent perpetrator programs will aim to enable Native Hawaiian perpetrators to be more accountable, responsible, and pono (right, honorable) as they understand how their abusive beliefs, attitudes, and actions are antithetical to traditional Native Hawaiian values and traditions.  Second, culturally competent victim support, prevention, and intervention programs, it will encourage Native Hawaiian battered women will malama (care for, nurture) themselves by learning about the strength of women and the reverence of women in traditional Native Hawaiian culture.

The overall goals of the Ke Ala Lokahi program are: 

1. to design, implement, and evaluate a culturally competent intervention with Native Hawaiian perpetrators and victims/survivors of intimate partner and sexual violence in Hawaii; 

2. to decrease the incidence, severity, and types of violence perpetrated by Native Hawaiian men against their intimate partners and family members; and 

3. to enhance self-care and agency among Native Hawaiian women who are experiencing intimate partner violence.  

Short-term objectives and activities focus on developing a collaborative, culturally appropriate process to design and implement the intervention with active involvement of diverse community constituents.   Long-term objectives and activities include training staff and partners about intimate partner violence, Native Hawaiian culture, and the intervention model; implementing the program; and evaluating the process and outcomes associated with the intervention.

Contact: Karen Chow
Email: maltese224@yahoo.com

St. Luke’s - Roosevelt Institute for Health Sciences

The purpose of this program is to develop, implement, and evaluate a model of care that integrates the delivery of culturally competent Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) and Sexual Violence (SV) screening, early intervention and services into the St. Luke’s Roosevelt Hospital Center’s comprehensive HIV-care center, the Center for Comprehensive Care (CCC),  A multi-disciplinary team, combining the HIV care, intimate partner and sexual violence and advocacy/services, theater-based training and education techniques, and health services evaluation disciplines, will oversee the project.

The program goals are to 

1. improve the identification of IPV/SV in the population of HIV-infected individuals in care at CCC,

2. improve access to culturally competent IPV/SV services that are tailored to the HIV infected population, and 

3. reduce the occurrence of inter-generational violence in the HIV infected population.

The program major programmatic goal, integrating culturally competent IPV/SV services into the CCC will be achieved in two phases. First, all patients will be screened for current and lifetime IPV/SV at initial and annual medical care visits, as well as on an as needed basis. In the first phases, patients who screen positive will be referred to a local, community-based, IPV/SV victims’ services center that uses an empowerment model to deliver culturally competent IPV/SV services.  In the second phase, identical services will be integrated into the CCC.

The results of this project will expand knowledge and understanding of IPV/SV in the HIV-positive population.  The results will provide information to health care practitioners on the feasibility of responding to IPV/SV in a busy, chronic disease and/or HIV-care setting and how to improve access to culturally competent IPV/SV services tailored to the HIV-positive population.  This project will demonstrate, with in the context of the CCC, which model of IPV-SV service delivery, the integrated or stand-alone, is most effective and for whom.

Contact: Victoria Sharp
Email: vsharp@slrch.org

 
RAND Corporation

The RAND Corporation will evaluate an innovative prevention and early intervention program for 9^th graders that focuses on legal rights and responsibilities.  This program-Ending Violence- was created and is implemented by Break The Cycle (BTC), a non-profit organization in West Los Angeles whose mission is to end domestic violence among 12-22 years olds.  It differs from other prevention efforts: It is taught by attorneys who offer students attorney-client privilege, it focuses on legal aspects of domestics violence, and efforts are made to give students the opportunity to seek advice and legal counsel without risking mandated reports, as is the case when they speak with counselors, teachers, or police.

This study will involve include 10 schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District that are composed of at least 60% Latino youth.   It will evaluate both process and outcome evaluation.  The process evaluation describes the structural elements of the program, measures fidelity to the intervention, and tracks participants’ use of services over time.  The outcome evaluation will employ a randomized experimental design: schools are randomly assigned to a wait-list control group or to the Ending Violence prevention curriculum. 

The proposed study will evaluate BTC’s impact on student attitudes, knowledge, victimization and perpetration, and help seeking.  This project’s programmatic interest is culturally competent school or community-based early intervention/ prevention programs designed to promote healthy relationships and prevent dating violence (SV and IPV) among school-age youth.  Its educational program includes both preventive and early intervention elements for a general school population, and its legal advocacy program includes intervention elements for those who seek out services.

Results will help inform BTC about the impact of its curriculum, so that it may improve the program if necessary.  More importantly, results will guide other prevention efforts and lay the groundwork for disseminating this important and innovative program to other parts of the nation.  

Contact: Lisa Jaycox
Email: jaycox@rand.org 
Website: www.rand.org 

 
National Asian Women’s Health Organization (NAWHO)--
Breaking the Silence: Culturally Competent Approaches to Violence Prevention for Asian American Women-

NAWHO will develop and implement an evidenced-based, model for preventing SV and IPV among college-aged Asian American women.  Breaking the Silence has the following five-year program goals:  

1. empower college-age Asian American women to engage in healthy relationships free of SV and IPV, 

2. develop leaders among effective college-aged Asian American women who can advocate for and conduct culturally competent SV and IPV prevention services, 

3. strengthen SV and IPV prevention, intervention, and support systems as culturally competent and accessible for college age Asian American women and their families, both on-campus and in the larger community, 

4. build a more supportive and responsive environment in the broader Asian American community for preventing SV and IPV, and 

5. advance evidence-based knowledge and understanding of SV and IPV among college-age Asian American women.

These goals will be accomplished through five program components:  a violence prevention leadership institute; Asian American women’s discussion groups; a community education campaign; research and evaluation protocol; and a council of working partners.

An evidence-based, multi-level program evaluation will take place concurrently with the planning and implementation of the Breaking the Silence prevention program.  The evaluation will collect and analyze data on stated outcome and process objectives for each of the proposed components, including a needs assessment of SV and IPV among college-age Asian American women.  The evaluation uses several qualitative and quantitative data collection methods, including interviews, observation, and a combination of non-experimental, quasi-experimental, and experimental studies.  All methods will be analyzed for a final meta-analysis and lessons learned from the Breaking the Silence model will be shared. 

Contact: Jyoti M. Rao
Email: jyoti@nawho.org 
Website: www.nawho.org    

 
Latino Community Development Agency, Inc. (LCDA)

This project will develop, implement, and evaluate a culturally competent demonstration project for the early intervention and prevention of sexual violence (SV) and intimate partner violence (IPV) for the Latino community in Oklahoma City, OK.   The design, implementation, and evaluation of the project will be guided by formative evaluation.

LCDA Inc. is collecting information about 

1. the characteristics of existing IPV services and their use by Latinos in Oklahoma City; 

2. beliefs, attitudes, values, and practices related to the occurrence and prevention of intimate partner violence and help-seeking behavior among Latinos in Oklahoma City, and 

3. needs and barriers to services for Latino victims and perpetrators of IPV. 

This information will be used by a steering committee of representatives from various local Latino agencies, grassroots organizations, and leaders to identify needed services and develop culturally appropriate services for the prevention and control of IPV/SV among the Latino population. Bilingual program staff will adapt existing materials, messages, and procedures for implementation. Focus groups representative of the intended recipient population will review materials and messages to ensure they are readable, meaningful, and culturally appropriate.  Collaborators from the University of Oklahoma will develop procedures and measures to evaluate process and quality of implementation as well as client outcomes.

Contact: Ruth Barajas-Mazaheri
Email: progdir@latinoagency.org
Website: www.ou.edu/socialwork/lcda/ and www.latinoagencyokc.org/

 
Domestic Violence Care in Rural Health Clinics
University of Texas School of Public Health 

The UTHSC in collaboration with the University of South Carolina and the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, are conducting a clinical intervention trial that will serve women in a low income, rural region of South Carolina.  This demonstration project is conducted by a collaborative of university researchers, clinical providers, and an established intimate partner violence service provider. The objective is to design and implement culturally competent, clinic-based IPV screening and services for women seeking health care from primary care clinics.  Long-term goals are to 

1. evaluate primary and secondary prevention interventions designed to improve the health, well-being, and safety of women experiencing IPV and to ameliorate the negative effects of IPV exposure on their children, 

2. evaluate the cost effectiveness of the interventions relative to the usual care group, and 

3. test the conceptual model for the pathways whereby IPV affects health outcomes using structural equation modeling.

This project is unique because it includes both primary and secondary prevention interventions.  The health-focused intervention is novel to the field.   UTSPH proposes a large follow-up study of victims of IPV, and their children, with sufficient length to see longer-term impact of the interventions on violence and health.  The project target population presents unique challenges as the area is rural and low-income. However, the UTSPH has a strong working collaborative of researchers, intimate partner violence service providers, and a willing group of clinicians serving in this population.

Contact: Ann Coker
Email: acoker@sph.uth.tmc.edu

 
Boston Public Health Commission

The Boston Public Health Commission (BPHC), in collaboration with the Child Witness to Violence Project at Boston Medical Center, will develop, implement, and evaluate a demonstration project entitled the Men of Color Fatherhood Education and Violence Prevention Project (MOCFEVPP).  The project will operate out of two existing BPHC programs, melding the domestic violence program’s expertise in primary intimate partner violence prevention with the Father Friendly Initiative’s expertise in providing a variety of culturally competent services that empower low-income men of color.

The MOCFEVPP will create culturally competent strategies related to parenting to prevent intimate partner violence (IPV) and sexual violence (SV) in African American and Latino families.  The primary target population will be African American and Latino fathers who are referred to the Father Friendly Initiative from the community and BPHC and who have a history of IPV or SV or   have certain risk factors for violence.

The primary goal of the project is to develop, implement, and evaluate two linguistically and culturally appropriate IPV and SV psycho-educational prevention curricula to improve knowledge, behaviors, attitudes, and skills that will enable African American and Latino fathers to remain non-violent toward their partners.

Please note: The MOCFEVPP will not replace batterer intervention treatment for men who have been court-mandated to receive such services or for whom such services are deemed appropriate. 

Contact: Carmen Del Rosario
Email: carmen_delrosario@bphc.org

 
The Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing

The Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing, is working with the Historic East Baltimore Community Action Coalition (HEBCAC), NuWorld Art Ensemble Violence Prevention Theatre Project, George Washington University School of Public Health, and the House of Ruth to provide culturally competent dating violence prevention in Baltimore, Maryland.  The overall purpose of this project is to further develop and evaluate a community- and school- based program to promote healthy relationships and prevent violence (physical, emotional, and sexual dating violence) among predominately African American middle school adolescents in an urban setting.  The evaluation component of the project will increase the understanding of the extent of dating violence among middle school-age adolescents and evaluate the intervention for effectiveness.

This demonstration project further develops and evaluates an existing Historic East Baltimore (HEBCAC) anti-violence Summer Theatre Project involving students from five middle schools in Baltimore in a year-round, after-school anti-violence program, that involves mentoring and the  arts.  This initiative includes four major components:  

1. A variety of arts-based student activities related to changing the culture of the school with regard to violence prevention.  The activities include summer and after-school theater projects, during and/or after-school visual arts projects, and a web page design project.  All students will either directly participate in these activities or at least see them.  

2. Dating violence prevention curricular components for all 7^th graders 

3. Violence prevention and early intervention student support groups, and 

4. Teacher and staff training on dating violence prevention.   High school students who are part of the summer theater performance will be mentors in the after school middle school theatre project.

The evaluation will be based on a system change theory approach with baseline, intermediate, and long-term outcomes (quantitative and qualitative data) contrasting three intervention schools with two comparison schools.  The project uses both group (student and teacher surveys) and school-wide (climate of the school) measures pre and post intervention. The comparison schools will start implementing the intervention during the third and fourth years of the project with evaluation of their progress and analysis of differences among the index schools occurring at year three.  In addition, the youth who participate directly in the theater, visual arts, or support group project components will be compared with youth in their own school and in comparison schools on a survey about attitudes and experiences and related to violence. 

Contact: Jacquelyn C. Campbell, PhD, RN, FAAN
Email: jcampbel@son.jhmi.edu 
Website: www.son.jhmi.edu/research/violenceprevention/ 

 
University of Arizona

The University of Arizona Promoting Healthy Relationships project aims to address the problems of IPV and SV and encourage healthy relationships by targeting minority youth and parents in Arizona communities. 

This project incorporates a dating violence prevention curriculum within the context of a comprehensive youth development program. Therefore, in addition to the dating violence prevention curriculum, youth development programs, such as mentoring, tutoring, after school or weekend recreational activities, are also a part of this project. It is hypothesized that implementation the prevention curriculum within the context of a positive youth development program will have the greatest impact on the prevention and reduction of adolescent dating violence. To make the program culturally relevant for participants, unique structure and delivery modes are being used in each community. All programs are based on existing prevention science literature and also incorporate the local cultural traditions.

In addition to developing programs and strategies aimed to address specific cultural needs associated with sexual violence and intimate partner violence among Native American Indian, Hispanic, and mixed ethnic youth, research will be conducted to help communicate successful prevention interventions and program models to other communities that could benefit from similar programming.

The University of Arizona Cooperative Extension will work in partnership with schools, other community-based organizations, and/or health departments to deliver the program.  Faculty from the University of Arizona School of Family and Consume Sciences will coordinate the project’s implementation and collect evaluation data.  Participating sites and their targeted populations include: San Carlos Apache Reservation and White Mountain Apache Reservation, and Sunnyside Neighborhood of Flagstaff. 

Contact: Donna J. Peterson, Ph.D.
Email: pdonna@ag.arizona.edu
Website: http://ag.arizona.edu/fcs/azyfc