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Completed

NCT Number: NCT02706145

Using Media to Shift Social Norms of Violence Among Youth

The project will utilize a quasi-experimental design to examine the effectiveness of a community-level, three-year social norming campaign aimed at changing norms of violence among youth 10-24, with West Louisville (WL) as the intervention community and East Nashville, Tennessee as the control community. The project will address the following research questions (RQs):

RQ1: To what extent is a social norming campaign effective in changing the descriptive and injunctive norms of violence among youth in WL?

RQ2: To what extent are the descriptive and injunctive norms of violence among youth in WL related to violent behavior (by type)?

RQ3: To what extent is a social norming campaign effective in reducing population rates of youth violence in WL?

RQ4: Which forms of media are most effective in reaching youth of different ages with campaign messages?

RQ5: How is community readiness related to implementation of a community-level social norming campaign?

RQ6: How is community capacity related to implementation of a community-level social norming campaign?

RQ7: How does community capacity to address youth violence change over time with the implementation of a community-level social norming campaign?

RQ8: To what extent is a social norming campaign cost-effective in reducing incidents of serious violence among youth?

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Key information

Conditions

Violence

Age range

10 year–24 year

Sex eligibility

All sexes

Study type

Interventional

Phase

Not applicable

Primary location

University of Louisville School of Public Health & Information Sciences, Louisville, Kentucky, United States

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About this study

The Center of Excellence in Youth Violence Prevention at the University of Louisville (UofL) School of Public Health & Information Sciences capitalizes on a specific window of opportunity-where there is currently alignment of a public consciousness of the issue of youth violence, the availability of expertise to implement a feasible intervention, and substantial political will across community sectors to address the issue. This provides an ideal context for the creation of the UofL Center for Youth Violence Prevention, allowing us to partner with residents and organizations in West Louisville (WL) to develop, implement, and evaluate a community-level intervention to reduce youth violence. To this end, we plan to achieve five specific aims:

AIM 1: Strengthen the infrastructure to support youth violence prevention research and practice at the University of Louisville.

AIM 2: Develop, implement and evaluate a community-level social norming campaign to change the norms of violence among youth in West Louisville using mass and social media.

AIM 3: Document the development and implementation of the social norming campaign to improve replication and scalability in other settings or communities.

AIM 4: Evaluate the relationship between community readiness, community capacity, and the implementation of the community-level social norming campaign.

AIM 5: Facilitate knowledge translation and dissemination initiatives to relevant audiences (i.e., community, local organizations and leaders, youth violence prevention researchers and practitioners, academic peers, and policy-makers) that produce actionable community- and policy-level approaches.

Who can participate

Healthy volunteers accepted: Yes

Only the study team can determine whether someone qualifies for participation.

Inclusion criteria

  • youth between 10 and 24 years of age who reside in one of the nine neighborhoods of West Louisville or in the comparison site of East Nashville

Exclusion criteria

  • individuals outside the age range (i.e., younger than 10 or older than 24) or who do not live in the intervention or comparison communities

Treatment and study plan

Social norming campaign

Other

community-level, three-year social norming campaign, using traditional and emerging media, aimed at changing norms of violence among youth 10-24

Primary outcomes

  1. Proportion of youth who report descriptive norms that promote violence as measured by our school survey

    Time frame: up to 60 months

    Survey will assess population level changes in descriptive norms among youth in the intervention group related to violence compared to control group

  2. Proportion of youth who report injunctive norms that promote violence as measured by our school survey

    Time frame: up to 60 months

    Survey will assess population level changes in injunctive norms among youth in the intervention group related to violence compared to youth in the control group

  3. Proportion of youth who engaged in violent behavior in the past 12 months as measured by our school survey

    Time frame: up to 60 months

    Youth engagement in violent behavior (by type of violence)

  4. Community rates of violence involving youth 10-24 aggregated by police department, emergency department, and school district records

    Time frame: up to 60 months

    Community-level rates of youth violence (by type of violence)

Sponsors and collaborators

Lead sponsor

University of Louisville

Other

Collaborators

  • Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
  • Vanderbilt University

Registry information

Official study title

Changing the Narrative: Using Media to Shift Social Norms of Violence Among Youth in West Louisville

Important dates

Study start
2016
Primary completion
2021
Study completion
2021
First posted
Mar 11, 2016
Registry last updated
Nov 14, 2022

OpenTrials presents study information sourced from ClinicalTrials.gov. The official registry record should be consulted for the latest information.

View the official ClinicalTrials.gov record (opens in a new tab)

This listing is for discovery and informational purposes only. It is not medical advice, does not guarantee that a study is recruiting, and does not determine eligibility. Contact the study team and a qualified healthcare professional when considering participation.

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