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Community Participation in the Development and Validation of a School Violence Observation Instrument
- Progress in Community Health Partnerships: Research, Education, and Action
- Johns Hopkins University Press
- Volume 10, Issue 2, Summer 2016
- pp. 251-258
- 10.1353/cpr.2016.0020
- Article
- Additional Information
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Background: School violence is a worldwide public health issue with negative effects on education. Official statistics and reports do not include daily occurrences of violent behavior that may precede severe incidents.
Objectives: This project aimed to engage school community members in the development, validation, and implementation of an observation instrument to identify characteristics of school violence in two Puerto Rican schools.
Methods: The role of school community members in all phases of the research is described.
Results: The input of community partners contributed to enrich the process by providing insight into the problem studied and a more informed framework for interpreting results.
Conclusions: Taking into account distinctive features of each particular school made results meaningful to the school community and fostered a sense of empowerment of community members as they recognized their knowledge is essential to the solution of their problems.