The Essential, Contextual, and Nice-to-Have—Navigating Complexities in Translating and Evaluating Interventions from One Setting to Another

Abstract Information: More than half of violent crime in the United States is not reported to law enforcement, according to the U.S. Department of Justice [1]. That means cities and communities lack a complete understanding of where violence occurs, which limits the ability to develop successful solutions. The Cardiff Violence Prevention Model, developed in Wales, provides a way for communities to gain a clearer picture about where violence is occurring by combining and mapping both hospital and police data on violence. Inspired by the success in Wales, other Cardiff Model (CM) inspired violence prevention programs have been successfully implemented across the U.K. and other parts of the world; but we have yet to fully establish CM here in the U.S. A handful of cities in the U.S. have begun to translate this model into their local contexts. Our evaluation sought to understand how these sites are implementing, or seeking to implement, the CM, the challenges they face, and any successes to date in their translation, planning and implementation efforts. We also assessed the communications needs of the Network members and leaders to help identify topics and material types that would help key partners with Cardiff Model planning and implementation. 

Relevance Statement: U.S. implementations of the CM have a limited research and evaluation base. Primary evidence for success lies with the original U.K. development of the Cardiff Violence Prevention Model, which has been translated to contexts throughout the world [1], [2]. Several sites in the U.S. have begun implementing the CM, and a few process evaluations have taken place, but no cross-site or impact evaluations have taken place. This work begins to fill this gap, by assessing translation activities and implementation across several U.S. CM sites. A multiple case study design enables expanded understanding of implementation at each site, as well as comparison opportunities across sites implementing CM. Comparison across U.S. sites, as well as with the original U.K. intervention are each unique contributions to the field. More than half of violent crime in the United States is not reported to law enforcement, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. That means cities and communities lack a complete understanding of where violence occurs, which limits the ability to develop successful solutions. The Cardiff Violence Prevention Model, developed in Wales, provides a way for communities to gain a clearer picture about where violence is occurring by combining and mapping both hospital and police data on violence. Inspired by the success in Wales, other Cardiff Model (CM) inspired violence prevention programs have been successfully implemented across the U.K. and other parts of the world; but we have yet to fully establish CM here in the U.S. A handful of cities in the U.S. have begun to translate this model into their local contexts. Our evaluation seeks to understand how these sites are implementing, or seeking to implement, the CM, the challenges they face, and any successes to date in their translation, planning and implementation efforts. [1] Droste, N., Miller, P., & Baker, T. (2014). emergency department data sharing to reduce alcohol‐related violence: a systematic review of the feasibility and effectiveness of community‐level interventions. Emergency Medicine Australasia, 26(4), 326-335. [2] Jabar, A., Fong, F., Chavira, M., Cerqueira, M. T., Barth, D., Matzopoulos, R., & Engel, M. E. (2019). Is the introduction of violence and injury observatories associated with a reduction in violence-related injury in adult populations? A systematic review and meta-analysis. BMJ open, 9(7), e027977.