Relationship volence prevention for runaway and homeless youth: Developing and evaluating a tailored intervention

Data documents that intimate partner abuse is a significant problem among homeless youth. This presentation will describe a collaborative effort to address and prevent intimate partner abuse among runaway and homeless youth through the development and implementation of a specifically tailored curriculum that was implemented over multiple agency sites, including drop in centers, emergency shelters, and transitional living programs. Existing adolescent curricula on dating violence prevention were inappropriate for homeless youth largely because they were not sensitive to the needs of GLBT youth, a group that composes approximately 30% of street youth; they portrayed young men solely as perpetrators; and the interventions were designed for stable populations of students at school and would not match the needs of highly mobile street youth. Due to the fact that no evidence-based intervention existed that was appropriate, the homeless youth service providers conducted a needs assessment, reviewed the literature to identify evidence-based components, and developed a curriculum specifically tailored to the needs of youth living on the street. The program used activities and discussions that helped youth identify and respond appropriately to violence within their own relationships and the relationships of their peers. Referrals to counseling and other services designed for this target group were also made available. The service provider network developed an implementation plan designed to promote sustainability of the curriculum beyond the scope of the original funding. In the first 8 months of implementation, 345 unduplicated youth participated in at least one session.