Thomas M. Reischl’s research while affiliated with University of Michigan and other places

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Publications (75)


Figure 1. Trust-centered design framework. IT: information technology; STI: sexually transmitted infection.
Figure 2. O'Brien and Toms' model of engagement [31]. Reprinted with permission.
Figure 3. Uptake and engagement model for African American young adults. The dotted lines denote marginal significance. HOPE: HIV Outreach, Prevention, and Education.
HOPE eIntervention: Uptake and Engagement in an Online Sexual Health Intervention among African-American Young Adults (Preprint)
  • Article
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July 2020

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64 Reads

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9 Citations

Journal of Medical Internet Research

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Andrea Barbarin

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Bettina Campbell

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Background Regarding health technologies, African American young adults have low rates of uptake, ongoing usage, and engagement, which may widen sexual health inequalities. Objective We aimed to examine rates of uptake and ongoing usage, and factors influencing uptake, ongoing usage, and engagement for a consumer health informatics (CHI) intervention for HIV/sexually transmitted infection (STI) prevention among African American young adults, using the diffusion of innovation theory, trust-centered design framework, and O’Brien and Toms’ model of engagement. Methods This community-based participatory mixed methods study included surveys at four time points (n=315; 280 African American participants) among young adults aged 18 to 24 years involved in a blended offline/online HIV/STI prevention intervention (HIV Outreach, Prevention, and Education [HOPE] eIntervention), which was described as a “HOPE party.” Qualitative interviews were conducted with a subset of participants (n=19) after initial surveys and website server logs indicated low uptake and ongoing usage. A generalized linear mixed-effects model identified predictors of eIntervention uptake, server logs were summarized to describe use over time, and interview transcripts were coded and thematically analyzed to identify factors affecting uptake and engagement. Results Participants’ initial self-reported eIntervention uptake was low, but increased significantly over time, although uptake never reached expectations. The most frequent activity was visiting the website. Demographic factors and HOPE party social network characteristics were not significantly correlated with uptake, although participant education and party network gender homophily approached significance. According to interviews, one factor driving uptake was the desire to share HIV/STI prevention information with others. Survey and interview results showed that technology access, perceived time, and institutional and technological trust were necessary conditions for uptake. Interviews revealed that factors undermining uptake were insufficient promotion and awareness building, and the platform of the intervention, with social media being less appealing due to previous negative experiences concerning discussion of sexuality on social media. During the interaction with the eIntervention, interview data showed that factors driving initial engagement were audience-targeted website esthetics and appealing visuals. Ongoing usage was impeded by insufficiently frequent updates. Similarly, lack of novelty drove disengagement, although a social media contest for sharing intervention content resulted in some re-engagement. Conclusions To encourage uptake, CHI interventions for African American young adults can better leverage users’ desires to share information about HIV/STI prevention with others. Ensuring implementation through trusted organizations is also important, though vigorous promotion is needed. Visual appeal and targeted content foster engagement at first, but ongoing usage may require continual content changes. A thorough analysis of CHI intervention use can inform the development of future interventions to promote uptake and engagement. To guide future analyses, we present an expanded uptake and engagement model for CHI interventions targeting African American young adults based on our empirical results.

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HOPE eIntervention: Uptake and engagement in an online sexual health intervention among African-American young adults (Preprint)

July 2020

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23 Reads

BACKGROUND African American young adults have low rates of uptake and engagement with health technologies, which may further widen sexual health inequalities. OBJECTIVE We examined factors influencing uptake and engagement for a consumer health informatics (CHI) intervention for HIV/STI prevention among African American young adults using the diffusion of innovation theory, the trust-centered design framework and O’Brien and Toms’ model of engagement. METHODS This community-based participatory research, mixed-methods study included surveys at four time points (N=315; 280 African-American) of young adults aged 18 to 24 involved in an HIV/STI prevention intervention described as “parties”. Qualitative interviews were conducted with a subset of participants (N=19) after initial surveys, website server logs, and social media accounts indicated low uptake and engagement. A generalized linear mixed-effects model identified predictors of eIntervention uptake, server logs were summarized to describe use over time, and interview transcripts were coded and thematically analyzed to identify factors affecting uptake and engagement. RESULTS Self-reported eIntervention uptake was low, but increased significantly over time, Demographic factors and HIV/STI-related behaviors were not significantly correlated with uptake. The most frequent activity was visiting the website, followed by visiting the Facebook page. Factors driving uptake were the desire to share HIV/STI prevention information with others, trust in the intervention, and gender homophily. Factors undermining uptake were personal and group distrust online. Factors driving initial engagement were audience-targeted website aesthetics and appealing visuals; long-term engagement was impeded by insufficiently frequent updates. CONCLUSIONS To encourage uptake, CHI interventions for African-American young adults can leverage users’ desire to share information about HIV/STI prevention with others. Ensuring implementation through trusted organizations is also important, though there is a need for vigorous promotion. Visual appeal and targeted content foster engagement at first, but ongoing engagement may require continual content changes. A thorough analysis of CHI intervention use can inform the development of future interventions in order to promote uptake and engagement. To guide future analyses, we present an expanded uptake and engagement model for CHI interventions targeting African American young adults based on the empirical results presented here.


Community‐Engaged Neighborhood Revitalization and Empowerment: Busy Streets Theory in Action

July 2019

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253 Reads

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36 Citations

American Journal of Community Psychology

Busy streets theory supported in qualitative study of neighborhoods in a rust belt city. Community engaged neighborhood improvement enhances psychological empowerment. Resident control of neighborhood revitalization results in most empowered outcomes of busy streets. Busy streets theory predicts that engaging residents in physical revitalization of neighborhoods will facilitate community empowerment through the development of sense of community, social cohesion, collective efficacy, social capital, and behavioral action. Establishing safe environments fosters positive street activity, which reinforces neighborhood social relationships. A community‐engaged approach to crime prevention through environmental design (CE‐CPTED) is one promising approach to creating busy streets because it engages residents in collaborative interactions to promote safer environments. Yet, few researchers have studied how CE‐CPTED may be associated with busy streets. We interviewed 18 residents and stakeholders implementing CE‐CPTED in Flint, Michigan. We studied three neighborhoods with different levels of resident control over CE‐CPTED. Participants described how CE‐CPTED implementation affected their neighborhood. Participants from all three neighborhoods reported that CE‐CPTED was associated with positive street activity, sense of community, and collective efficacy. Participants from neighborhoods with higher resident control of CE‐CPTED reported more social capital and behavioral action than those from neighborhoods with less resident control. Our findings support busy streets theory: Community engagement in neighborhood improvement enhanced community empowerment. CE‐CPTED that combines physical revitalization with resident engagement and control creates a potent synergy for promoting safe and healthy neighborhoods.


Busy Streets Theory: The Effects of Community-engaged Greening on Violence

September 2018

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345 Reads

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108 Citations

American Journal of Community Psychology

Lack of maintenance on vacant neighborhood lots is associated with higher levels of depression, anxiety, and stress for nearby residents. Overgrown grasses and dense brush provide hiding spots for criminals and space to conduct illicit activities. This study builds upon previous research by investigating greening programs that engage community members to conduct routine maintenance on vacant lots within their neighborhoods. The Clean & Green program is a community-based solution that facilitates resident-driven routine maintenance of vacant lots in a midsized, Midwestern city. We use mixed effects regression to compare assault and violent crime counts on streets where vacant lot(s) are maintained by community members (N = 216) versus streets where vacant lots were left alone (N = 446) over a 5-year timeframe (2009-2013). Street segments with vacant lots maintained through the Clean & Green program had nearly 40% fewer assaults and violent crimes than street segments with vacant, abandoned lots, which held across 4 years with a large sample and efforts to test counterfactual explanations. Community-engaged greening programs may not only provide a solution to vacant lot maintenance, but also work as a crime prevention or reduction strategy. Engaging the community to maintain vacant lots in their neighborhood reduces costs and may increase the sustainability of the program.


161 Greening vacant properties: an innovative approach to youth violence prevention

September 2017

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35 Reads

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1 Citation

Injury Prevention

Statement of Purpose The purpose of this symposium is to provide an in-depth view of the innovative research being conducting by the MI Youth Violence Prevention Centre (MI-YVPC) examining the effects of improving vacant properties on youth crime and injury. Description of Topic Although youth violence has been in relatively steady decline for the last few decades, in some urban centres violence prevention remains an urgent priority. Communities that historically depended on their industrial bases now experience high rates of depopulation, unemployment and distress. Throughout many of these cities, abandoned, blighted properties are a constant visual reminder of these problems. Lack of jobs and quality education options for youth have resulted in elevated rates of violence. Moreover, violent crime incidents often occur near neglected or blighted properties, which appear to be opportune places for illegal activities. The MI-YVPC has undertaken innovative research to study the effects of improving vacant and neglected properties on violent crime, intentional injuries, neighbourhood perceptions, and adjacent property conditions in Flint, MI and Youngstown, OH. This approach includes partnering with stakeholders from multiple sectors (academic, community and municipal), and applying rigorous study design with varied methodologies using spatial, systematic observation, survey and administrative data.Previous research suggests that greening blighted community spaces can have significant effects on public health outcomes because it makes structural changes to places and is readily scalable to cover large populations. These novel approaches to violence prevention are relatively straightforward, inexpensive, and sustainable. Interest in health and safety programs that directly change the places where people live, work, and play has grown over the past decade. Structural interventions, including place-based programs like greening, have the potential to become truly transformational for the health and safety of large populations because they can influence more people for longer periods of time than those that focus on individual behaviour change. MI-YVPC is building on this emerging body of research. Our application of Busy Streets and Empowerment Theories provide the conceptual foundation for testing a participatory greening strategy. We incorporated three conditions in our mixed random experimental design: 1) community and youth-engaged greening; 2) professionally implemented greening; and 3) no maintenance. This design tests the notion that community empowerment is a vital component for creating effective neighbourhood changes to prevent youth violence. Format The symposium includes four components: 1) overview of MI-YVPC research design and methods; 2) description of the greening interventions being conducted in Flint, MI and Youngstown, OH; 3) in-depth discussion of the spatial methods for the study and their application; 4) results from the first season of data collection on property conditions, resident perceptions and behaviours, and social observations. Dr. Deborah Houry, NCIPC Director, will comment on the presentations and facilitate discussion. The presenters bring varied perspectives and expertise to the symposium. They include community development practitioners and researchers from diverse disciplines, (e.g., urban planning, psychology, epidemiology). The presentations will be interactive and incorporate images and graphics to enliven the content of the talks. We will encourage active discussion and engagement.


Figure 1. Model of YES activities, psychological empowerment and prosocial outcomes. A1-A5: the 5 YES activities. I1-I3: Intrapersonal component, IN1-IN3: Interactional component, B1-B3: Behavioral component. Correlated errors between leadership efficacy and behavior and civic efficacy and resource mobilization indicators on PE latent factor. Not shown: controlled for sex, age, race/ethnicity and T1 outcomes on T2 outcomes and T1 outcomes on PE. Model fit indices. X 2 =278.39**, df: 202, CFI=0.93, RMSEA (90% CI)=0.034(0.023, 0.043), n=331. *p<.05, **p<.001
Figure 2. Model of YES activities, psychological empowerment and antisocial outcomes. A1-A5: the 5 YES activities. I1-I3: Intrapersonal component, IN1-IN3: Interactional component, B1-B3: Behavioral component. Correlated errors between leadership efficacy and behavior and civic efficacy and resource mobilization indicators on PE latent factor. Not shown: controlled for sex, age, race/ethnicity and T1 outcomes on T2 outcomes. Model fit indices. X 2 =225.80**,
Youth Empowerment Solutions: Evaluation of an After-School Program to Engage Middle School Students in Community Change

June 2017

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1,927 Reads

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98 Citations

Health Education & Behavior

We report on an effectiveness evaluation of the Youth Empowerment Solutions (YES) program. YES applies empowerment theory to an after-school program for middle school students. YES is an active learning curriculum designed to help youth gain confidence in themselves, think critically about their community, and work with adults to create positive community change. We employed a modified randomized control group design to test the hypothesis that the curriculum would enhance youth empowerment, increase positive developmental outcomes, and decrease problem behaviors. Our sample included 367 youth from 13 urban and suburban middle schools. Controlling for demographic characteristics and pretest outcome measures, we found that youth who received more components of the curriculum reported more psychological empowerment and prosocial outcomes and less antisocial outcomes than youth who received fewer of the intervention components. The results support both empowerment theory and program effectiveness.


Psychological Empowerment Among Urban Youth: Measurement Model and Associations with Youth Outcomes

October 2016

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204 Reads

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61 Citations

American Journal of Community Psychology

Empowerment-based strategies have become widely used method to address health inequities and promote social change. Few researchers, however, have tested theoretical models of empowerment, including multidimensional, higher-order models. We test empirically a multidimensional, higher-order model of psychological empowerment (PE), guided by Zimmerman's conceptual framework including three components of PE: intrapersonal, interactional, and behavioral. We also investigate if PE is associated with positive and negative outcomes among youth. The sample included 367 middle school youth aged 11-16 (M = 12.71; SD = 0.91); 60% female, 32% (n = 117) white youth, 46% (n = 170) African-American youth, and 22% (n = 80) identifying as mixed race, Asian-American, Latino, Native American, or other ethnic/racial group; schools reported 61-75% free/reduced lunch students. Our results indicated that each of the latent factors for the three PE components demonstrate a good fit with the data. Our results also indicated that these components loaded on to a higher-order PE factor (X(2 ) = 32.68; df: 22; p = .07; RMSEA: 0.04; 95% CI: .00, .06; CFI: 0.99). We found that the second-order PE factor was negatively associated with aggressive behavior and positively associated with prosocial engagement. Our results suggest that empowerment-focused programs would benefit from incorporating components addressing how youth think about themselves in relation to their social contexts (intrapersonal), understanding social and material resources needed to achieve specific goals (interactional), and actions taken to influence outcomes (behavioral). Our results also suggest that integrating the three components and promoting PE may help increase likelihood of positive behaviors (e.g., prosocial involvement); we did not find an association between PE and aggressive behavior. Implications and future directions for empowerment research are discussed.


PERCEPTIONS OF PROCEDURAL JUSTICE MEDIATE THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN LOCAL VIOLENT CRIME DENSITY AND CRIME REPORTING INTENTIONS: Crime Reporting Intentions

August 2016

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75 Reads

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14 Citations

Journal of Community Psychology

Community attitudes toward the police are of increasing concern to scholars and practitioners. Although it is widely accepted that perceptions of procedural justice are influential in shaping citizens’ attitudes toward police, prior studies have not considered its relationship to crime density. To address this gap, we examined the relationship between crime density, perceptions of procedural justice, and intentions to report crimes to police using data from a demographically representative survey in an urban center widely known for exhibiting extremely high violent crime rates. We created a path model predicting perceptions of procedural justice, the likelihood of contacting police to report a crime, and the likelihood of socially interacting with police other than in relation to crime. The results indicate that independent of race and educational background, community members’ trust in police mediates the relationship between local crime density and their intentions report crimes to and otherwise interact with the police.


Designs for Evaluating the Community-Level Impact of Comprehensive Prevention Programs: Examples from the CDC Centers of Excellence in Youth Violence Prevention

April 2016

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101 Reads

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27 Citations

The Journal of Primary Prevention

This article discusses the opportunities and challenges of developing research designs to evaluate the impact of community-level prevention efforts. To illustrate examples of evaluation designs, we describe six projects funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to evaluate multifaceted approaches to reduce youth violence in high-risk communities. Each of these projects was designed to evaluate the community-level impact of multiple intervention strategies to address individual and contextual factors that place youth at risk for violent behavior. Communities differed across projects in their setting, size, and how their boundaries were defined. Each project is using multiple approaches to compare outcomes in one or more intervention communities to those in comparison communities. Five of the projects are using comparative interrupted time-series designs to compare outcomes in an intervention community to matched comparison communities. A sixth project is using a multiple baseline design in which the order and timing of intervention activities is randomized across three communities. All six projects are also using regression point displacement designs to compare outcomes within intervention communities to those within broader sets of similar communities. Projects are using a variety of approaches to assess outcomes including archival records, surveys, and direct observations. We discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the designs of these projects and illustrate the challenges of designing high-quality evaluations of comprehensive prevention approaches implemented at the community level.


Assessing Physical Disorder In Urban Neighborhoods: Reliability And Validity Of The Parcel Maintenance Observation Tool

January 2016

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64 Reads

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7 Citations

Journal of Community Psychology

Research on neighborhood factors that influence health and crime often use neighborhood measures of geographic areas such as census tracts, wards, and postal sectors. These administratively defined areas, however, may mask the heterogeneity of neighborhood influences. In response to calls for more specific measures, we tested the reliability and validity of the Parcel Maintenance Observation Tool (PMOT)-a new measure of physical disorder on property parcels. The results included baseline assessments of 6134 parcels in 2 urban neighborhoods, inter-correlations, inter-rater reliability, and tests of concurrent validity. Most of the measures had high or adequate inter-rater reliability. The PMOT measures differentiated between (a) parcels with occupied and unoccupied buildings and (b) vacant lots included in a property maintenance program and no-program vacant lots. The discussion focuses on potential uses of the PMOT for understanding the effects of neighborhood physical disorder and for evaluating health promotion and crime prevention programs.


Citations (52)


... 1.1 | Physical impairment of chronically ill parents and children's functioning Different types of chronic illness may be accompanied by distinct psychosocial demands on the family and varied effects on an individual's functional independence due to their unique characteristics (e.g., acute or gradual; progressive, stable, or episodic; fatal or nonfatal; predictable or uncertain; degree of direct and sustained impairment) (Rolland, 1999). Some research has suggested that the severity of parental chronic illness, rather than the type of illness (Hirsch et al., 1985;Sieh et al., 2012), is associated with an increased risk of adverse outcomes in the family and in children and adolescents (e.g., Anderson, 2005;Landi et al., 2021;Pedersen & Revenson, 2012). Irrespective of the category of diagnosis, more severe parental physical impairment due to an illness places greater financial, social, and emotional demands on the family (Chen & Fish, 2013). ...

Reference:

Roles of physical functioning and comorbid mental illness of chronically ill parents and their spouses' health status in adolescent functioning
Psychosocial Adjustment of Adolescent Children of a Depressed, Arthritic, or Normal Parent

Journal of Abnormal Psychology

... Las investigaciones se llevaron a cabo utilizando una metodología mixta (Williamson et al., 2021), principalmente el ensayo controlado aleatorizado (Bauermeister et al., 2019;Brody et al., 2022;Choi et al., 2023;Cordova et al., 2020;Katz et al., 2018;Kawichai et al., 2022;Luo et al., 2023;Macharia et al., 2022;McCrimmon et al., 2023;Nuwamanya et al., 2020;Sharma et al., 2021;Tan et al., 2022;Tang et al., 2022;Tran et al., 2023;Yun et al., 2021;Zhang et al., 2020). ...

HOPE eIntervention: Uptake and Engagement in an Online Sexual Health Intervention among African-American Young Adults (Preprint)

Journal of Medical Internet Research

... At the community and institutional socioecological levels, traditional and nontraditional stakeholders can engage collectively as a form of participation. As one example, in neighborhoods with higher levels of community engagement, there were also higher levels of behavioral action to change neighborhood conditions and improve neighborhood safety (Rupp et al., 2020). Participating as part of a community engagement effort (the process) and feeling safer (the outcome) are both associated with improved mental health (Hirota et al., 2022;Kingsbury et al., 2020;Pearson et al., 2021). ...

Community‐Engaged Neighborhood Revitalization and Empowerment: Busy Streets Theory in Action
  • Citing Article
  • July 2019

American Journal of Community Psychology

... The effectiveness of CE programs in reducing crime has recently started to be evaluated. The findings are largely diverse, differing by location and type of crime (Fabusuyi, 2018;Heinze et al., 2018;Iyer et al., 2020;Nubani et al., 2023;Ramey & Shrider, 2014;Stokes, 2020;Telep & Hibdon, 2018;Weisburd et al., 2021). These programs are becoming increasingly popular in various regions, including Latin America. ...

Busy Streets Theory: The Effects of Community-engaged Greening on Violence
  • Citing Article
  • September 2018

American Journal of Community Psychology

... for psychological empowerment (Eisman et al., 2016). Zimmerman et al. (2018) developed a psychological empowerment program for a sample of 367 middle school students to promote positive societal change as a means of promoting positive development and integrate youth empowerment solutions through content that focuses on building skills and confidence (the personal component) and activities to help youth think more clearly. Critically, develop communication with their community (interactive component), and design and implement a community change project (behavioral component). ...

Youth Empowerment Solutions: Evaluation of an After-School Program to Engage Middle School Students in Community Change

Health Education & Behavior

... In addition, the findings imply that a psychologically empowered teacher is characterized by greater autonomy, responsibility, belief in their competences and application of them in their ability to teach the students effectively. Other studies have also used the MPE, such as Banda and Morales (2015), Meng and Sun (2019) and Eisman et al. (2016). In the context of HEIs, the construct of faculty psychological empowerment used three components of assertiveness, control and self-esteem, which positively influence teacher autonomy, and finally this autonomy positively influences sustainable quality education. ...

Psychological Empowerment Among Urban Youth: Measurement Model and Associations with Youth Outcomes
  • Citing Article
  • October 2016

American Journal of Community Psychology

... 5 Fishman 1979;Bennett-Wiegand 1994;Sunshine-Tyler 2003;Goudriaan et al. 2004;Goudriaan et al. 2006;Davis-Hendricks 2007;Tyler-Fagan 2008;Tankebe 2009;Slocum et al. 2010;Tyler et al. 2010. 6 Kääriäinen-Sirén 2011; Murphy-Cherney 2011;Kochel et al. 2011;Semukhina 2014;Murphy-Barkworth 2014;Sargeant et al. 2014;Tsushima-Hamai 2015;Kruger et al. 2016;Tankebe et al. 2016;Van Damme -Pauwels 2016;Karakus 2017;Khondaker et al. 2017;Murphy et al. 2017;Slocum 2018;Wiedlitzka et al. 2018;Boateng 2018;Murphy-Mazerolle 2018;Griffiths 2018;Elntib et al. 2018;Özaşçılar et al. 2019;Sun et al. 2018;Kwak et al. 2019;Rengifo et al. 2019;Tankebe 2019;Murphy et al. 2019;Murphy et al. 2020;Pósch et al. 2021;Li et al. 2020;Lee-Cho 2021;Lee and Cho 2020;Jackson et al. 2021. During the research, I used quantitative methods to investigate the following variables: year of publication, location of research, most published authors, publishing journals, and field of study. ...

PERCEPTIONS OF PROCEDURAL JUSTICE MEDIATE THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN LOCAL VIOLENT CRIME DENSITY AND CRIME REPORTING INTENTIONS: Crime Reporting Intentions
  • Citing Article
  • August 2016

Journal of Community Psychology

... The community-level focus of the intervention necessitates that the community be the unit of analysis, which calls for careful consideration of how to define and select communities. Defining community-level units involves consideration of the size, characteristics of the residents, defined boundaries (e.g., natural boundaries, community identity), and scope and focus of intervention activities (Farrell et al., 2016). Communities need to be large enough to adequately capture the root causes and health outcomes targeted by the intervention, but not so large that they exceed the resources needed to provide adequate dosage. ...

Designs for Evaluating the Community-Level Impact of Comprehensive Prevention Programs: Examples from the CDC Centers of Excellence in Youth Violence Prevention

The Journal of Primary Prevention

... Community-organized interventions to address vacancy and deterioration can provide the resources necessary for neighborhoods to address abandoned properties, not only to beautify their neighborhoods but to improve the health, well-being, and safety of residents (Jennings & Gaither, 2015). One form of intervention that cities are undertaking to remediate vacancies in urban environments is through community greening and associated maintenance activities (Heinze et al., 2018;Krusky et al., 2015;Reischl et al., 2016). Greening projects promote controlled growth and maintenance of natural areas, such as parks, gardens, and residential lawns. ...

Assessing Physical Disorder In Urban Neighborhoods: Reliability And Validity Of The Parcel Maintenance Observation Tool
  • Citing Article
  • January 2016

Journal of Community Psychology