Gun violence and minority men: A community-based approach to inform prevention

Background: Despite the fact that review teams are increasingly being used as a method for determining means for preventing deaths, they remain relatively narrow in focus based on inclusion criteria and group member participation. Researchers and practitioners are recognizing the importance of including community members to better understand complex health topics.

Methods: At an academic research center, we invited government and non-profit agencies, community-based groups, and researchers to partner on a Pittsburgh homicide review team. The process included one planning meeting, eight reviews, and one meeting dedicated to refine the final report over one year. Our discussions were informed by linking extant public data with information provided by partner organizations. Additionally, an outreach team, which included community members, collected contextual information from neighborhood residents on each homicide to inform discussions.

Results: Among the 42 homicides from 2012, men accounted for 93% of victims, of which 83% were African American. The process fostered an opportunity to collectively discuss potential contributing factors, intervention implications, and recommendations across agencies and with community representatives of neighborhoods most impacted by violence. It contributed to the collection of information we would not have otherwise accessed. For example, instead of attributing a number of homicides to gang violence, partners collectively defined an additional category, “peer conflict,” which requires different prevention efforts.

Conclusion: Academic-community partnerships for homicide review groups resulted in nuanced information about violence and potential prevention strategies. Therefore, they have potential to inform violence prevention efforts that are both relevant to communities and more effective at preventing homicides.