Community Needs Assessment & Program Outcomes Evaluation
Study Title:
From perceived barriers to real solutions: A community-based focus group study on hospital-based violence intervention program (HVIP) outcomes
Study Goals:
To identify the perceived barriers preventing residents of Monmouth and Ocean Counties, NJ, from accessing HVIP services
To generate a set of prioritized HVIP outcomes based on feedback from community members of Monmouth and Ocean Counties, NJ
Key Contributions:
Wrote the study protocol and secured IRB approval
Designed the interview and focus group questions
Transcribed and analyzed the data
Presented preliminary findings at a research conference
Methods:
Semi-structured interviews and focus groups
Verbatim transcription using Sonix
Inductive thematic analysis using NVivo
Participants:
7 residents of Monmouth and Ocean Counties, NJ
Findings:
During interview and focus group discussions, four perceived barriers to accessing violence intervention services emerged:
Resource inaccessibility
Unawareness about resources
Lack of community engagement
Ineffective security measures
Furthermore, participants indicated that they prioritized four HVIP outcomes:
Social outcomes
Economic outcomes
Health outcomes
Safety/security outcomes
Implications:
To ensure that residents of Monmouth and Ocean Counties can use violence intervention services, HVIPs should (i) increase community members’ access to and awareness of local resources, (ii) enhance community engagement by routinely hosting local events, and (iii) improve security measures by training law enforcement and security officers to handle violence effectively.
Additionally, when evaluating whether HVIP services are successful, these programs should focus on addressing social, economic, health, and safety/security outcomes.
Future Research:
Conduct interviews and focus groups with clients of HVIPs.
Adopt a mixed-methods approach to generate a comprehensive list of program outcomes that will guide the evaluation and refinement of HVIPs.