Community Participation in the Development and Validation of a School Violence Observation Instrument

Background: School violence is a worldwide public health issue with negative effects on education. Official statistics and reports do not include daily occurrences of violent behavior that may precede severe incidents. Objectives: This project aimed to engage school community members in the development, validation, and implementation of an observation instrument to identify characteristics of school violence in two Puerto Rican schools. Methods: The role of school community members in all phases of the research is described. Results: The input of community partners contributed to enrich the process by providing insight into the problem studied and a more informed framework for interpreting results. Conclusions: Taking into account distinctive features of each particular school made results meaningful to the school community and fostered a sense of empowerment of community members as they recognized their knowledge is essential to the solution of their problems.