Results from the safer latinos project: A PILOT intervention addressing a social ecology of YOUTH violence in an immigrant Latino community

Background: The SAFER Latinos project was developed with community partners to address four key domains (family cohesion, school-related barriers, community cohesion, efficacy and alienation, and gang presence and violence norms) hypothesized as contributing to a social ecology of youth violence in a marginalized Latino immigrant community (Langley Park, MD).

Methods: Intervention components were designed to address each domain. Evaluation methods were quasi-experimental, using baseline and followup community surveys and focus groups in intervention and comparison communities. Extensive process data were collected. Analyses included factor analysis, correlations, baseline-followup comparisons, mediational analysis, and qualitative coding.

Results: Correlations for youth and young adults in Langley Park between hypothesized mediating variables and violent outcomes were statistically significant, supporting the model, with some qualifications. Mediational analysis supported a social ecology connected to violence. Focus groups portrayed differential risk profiles for recent immigrants vs. more acculturated and U.S.-born youth. Some intervention effects were demonstrated, including a reduction in violence-supportive attitudes, and drops in some violent crime in the intervention community – though community crime data were problematic and only suggestive.

Discussion: The SAFER Latinos pilot project tested implementation and effectiveness of an intervention addressing multiple components of a social ecology, instead of a single component. Data indicate that the model has promise, although a number of factors need further development. Given the demographic significance of this population, testing and development of community-based models is important for ongoing reduction of health disparities. Lessons learned are now being applied to a new intervention.