Conference - 2024

Below you will find information on the three short courses being offered at the 2024 Conference. 

Using Systems Tools to Support Collaborative Research Agenda Setting and On-the-Ground Planning and Implementation

Presenters: Rebecca Naumann [email protected] – CDC, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, Atlanta, USA; Kristen Hassmiller Lich [email protected] – University of North Carolina at Chapel HIll, Chapel Hill, USA; Elyse Keefe [email protected] – University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, USA

Description/abstract:

With an increasing recognition that many persistent injury and violence problems are driven by intertwined and deep-rooted social determinants of health and underlying shared risk and protective factors, injury prevention researchers and practitioners face challenges in studying and intervening on this complexity. Challenges exist in both 1) setting research agendas and developing research questions mindful of this complexity and relatedly 2) translating research to practice effectively and in a way that recognizes complex structures and mechanisms at play. 

Given this year’s annual meeting theme focused on community-engaged research, we invite you to join us to learn about some tangible and easy-to-use tools from systems thinking and systems science that can help with:

 – Generating hypotheses on underlying mechanisms driving injury trends– to help articulate research questions and research agendas in a collaborative, complex-aware manner (using a tool called a causal loop diagram)

 – Illuminating specific, deep-rooted factors within structured domains (and potential connections between these domains) that contribute to injury events—to support both research question development and potential intervention planning across partners (using a tool called an AcciMap)

 – Highlighting key facets of a system or environment that should be examined and addressed when translating research into practice—to support effective intervention planning, implementation, and evaluation work across partners (using a tool called the 5 Rs)

This short course is intended to provide time to step back and invest in strategic thinking across the research to practice continuum and to provide you with tools (including handouts) that you can take home to support both research development processes and research to practice translation work. Examples will be provided across different injury topics (e.g., ACEs, suicide prevention, transportation safety). Course content will cover three different systems tools and provide plenty of time for engaging and fun hands-on practice.

Engaging community in school-based anonymous reporting systems

Presenter: Alexandria French [email protected] – Sandy Hook Promise, Newtown, USA

Description/abstract:

School methods for surveillance are sharply increasing in an effort to reduce the burden of violence for students. Anonymous report systems (ARS) are one form of surveillance which are used in over 50% of K-12 schools which are gaining more attention over the past few years. These systems leverage a see-something-say-something model, whereby students submit information anonymously on potentially threatening or concerning behaviors. The data generated from these tips is robust, and can include student names, descriptions, as well as details on behaviors that schools would generally not be aware of – yet, how this information is used, managed and stored is not well understood. 

In this short course, the presenters will be discussing a commonly used, nationally available ARS that is currently operating in 23 states: Say Something Anonymous Reporting System, provided by the Sandy Hook Promise Foundation. The course will be drawing from several fields including data science, ethics, educational policy, and public health to discuss 1.) types of information that are created by these systems; 2.) need for higher level forms of computation and machine learning which can increase the risk of data-based unintentional harms;  3.) ethical considerations of balancing unintentional harms from surveillance-type data (including ownership, management, privacy, and fairness) with the unique benefits of ARS and how they differ from other forms of Ai-assisted surveillance (e.g., video surveillance), 4.) and how we might test for different implications and outcomes of these systems by social identity (e.g., gender, race) and community-level disparities.  

Additionally, the course will feature discussion with participants around community engagement in anonymous reporting. Specifically, the conversation will center around school districts’ and superintendents’ use of ARS data (including data storage and sharing best practices). Further, participants will discuss types of training that would be complementary to the technical training on ARS use (for example, training on restorative justice and trauma-informed care) and the best way to advocate for those trainings as well as ideas for support staffing that could help a district successfully manage their ARS.  Finally, the discussion will turn to including the broader community in the ARS process. Though schools are the primary user of the system, parents are frequently notified as an outcome of tip submissions. The presenters and participants will talk through tangible ways that school districts can leverage the important role communities play in youth violence prevention (including managing impressions and expectations of the system). 

Beyond Numbers: Navigating Data Equity in Suicide Prevention

Presenter: Sommer Albert [email protected] – Suicide Prevention Resource Center, Education Development Center, Waltham, MA, USA

Description/abstract:

The aim of this workshop is to provide space for suicide prevention researchers, practitioners, and leaders to understand the importance of evaluating their current use of equity in their data activities and how to strengthen data use in their suicide prevention efforts. Since 2021, the Suicide Prevention Resource Center (SPRC) has conducted an annual State and Territorial Suicide Prevention Needs Assessment (SNA) to assess the suicide prevention capabilities of the 54 U.S. states, territories, and the District of Columbia. The 2023 SNA findings showed that only 22% of states (11 out of 49) reported that their state ensures that populations that are at high risk and underserved are adequately represented in their suicide-related data. One approach to increase data equity is to strengthen genuine community engagement within data efforts. Strengthening community engagement allows states to receive feedback on feasible strategies for addressing unique data challenges across populations and to develop local partnerships which can increase community representation in data as well as the ultimate use of data by communities.  

This workshop will offer 1) a brief overview of data infrastructure findings from the SNA, 2) an overview of data equity in suicide prevention, 3) tools and questions to consider for evaluating and monitoring data equity, and 4) a group discussion on progress being made to strengthen community engagement and disproportionately underrepresented perspectives into data activities. 5) This workshop will provide an overview of the free and accessible resources that SPRC offers to support state, territories, and communities in their equitable data practices and suicide prevention efforts, including a new interactive self-guided resource, Beyond Numbers: Navigating Data for Suicide Prevention. 6) Attendees will also break into small groups to begin filling out a Beyond Numbers worksheet focused on identifying the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats to expanding community engagement and data use in their suicide prevention efforts.

At the conclusion of the workshop, participants will be able to:

1. Define data equity and other key terms
2. Share and learn from one another’s real-world experiences on increasing data equity in suicide prevention
3. Describe at least three criteria for critically analyzing the strengths and limitations of a given data source
4. Name at least 3 community partners to engage with to locate and analyze suicide-related data
5. Choose at least one learned strategy for evaluating the use and impact of data to apply to their ongoing suicide prevention planning and programming
6. Identify tools they can use to strengthen and regularly monitor the equitable use of data in suicide prevention efforts

The full conference program is now available here. If you are attending the conference, you can preview the sessions, bookmark those you plan to attend, and see who else will be attending the conference at the program site. 

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