Team Members
- Vanya Jones, PhD, MPH
- Michelle Becote-Jackson, MS
- Leticia Ryan, MD, MPH
Research Project Description
Youth violence, a major cause of morbidity and mortality that disproportionately affects African-Americans, is a pressing issue in need of targeted action given its negative impact on population health, well-being and equity. This research project proposes to adapt, implement, and evaluate Take Charge!, a one-on-one mentoring violence prevention program, for a group mentoring model through a partnership between the Y in Maryland and Johns Hopkins University. The specific aims of the project are to: (1) through focus groups, key informant interviews, and an online survey, determine what is needed to achieve readiness for staff of the Y in Central Maryland to work with at-risk youth who have been involved in violence-related events resulting in injury; (2) adapt the Take Charge! curriculum to be appropriate for the group mentoring model and to (3) conduct a pilot randomized trial in which assault-injured 10-15 year old youth recruited from the emergency department are randomly assigned to standard care or Take Charge!group mentoring. Post intervention and at 6 months follow up, the research will assess youth violence-related, mental health, and education outcomes using validated measures and mentor outcomes of knowledge, attitudes, and practices.
Team Members
Vanya Jones, PhD, MPH
Vanya Jones is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Health, Behavior and Society at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. She researches injury prevention intervention to reduce the burden of injuries in vulnerable populations.
Michelle Becote-Jackson, MS
Michelle Becote-Jackson is the Senior Vice President for Youth Development and Social Responsibility at the YMCA in Central Maryland. She has expertise in program development and implementation that address individual behavior of at-risk youth.
Leticia Ryan, MD, MPH
Leticia Ryan is a Pediatric Emergency Medicine Physician and an Associate Professor in the Department of Pediatrics at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. As a child health researcher, she focuses on injury prevention and child health disparities.
