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Utilizing Program Evaluation as a Strategy to Promote Community Change: Evaluation of a Comprehensive, Community-Based, Family Violence Initiative

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American Journal of Community Psychology

Abstract

This paper describes the authors’ work in a community that received Federal funding for an integrated system of care to reduce the impact and incidence of exposure to violence for children less than six years of age. The paper includes a review of the conceptual framework that guided the work of the authors and provides a brief overview of the issue of family violence, the impact of this violence on young children, and the Federal response to this issue. In addition, a description of the Initiative and the community in which it was based is provided along with some aspects of the evaluation plan. Finally, the authors discuss how their work with this Initiative depicts an approach to facilitating change within communities.

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Acknowledgements

This project was supported by Grant #2004-52331-CT-MC awarded by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice. Points of view or opinions in this document are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice. The authors would like to thank Jack Tebes, Kathy Sikkema, Christian Connell, Tami Sullivan, and the special edition editors and reviewers for their helpful comments on earlier drafts of this paper.

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Correspondence to Joy S. Kaufman.

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Kaufman, J.S., Crusto, C.A., Quan, M. et al. Utilizing Program Evaluation as a Strategy to Promote Community Change: Evaluation of a Comprehensive, Community-Based, Family Violence Initiative. Am J Community Psychol 38, 191–200 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10464-006-9086-8

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