Social workers are uniquely situated to lead community-based efforts to reduce gun violence, which has been identified as a prevalent and pressing public health concern. The current literature, however, has not addressed the frameworks guiding community-based interventions for gun violence.
The most recent issue of the journal Health & Social Work, co-published by NASW Press and Oxford University Press, is themed around the issue of gun violence. In the one article, the author discusses a systematic literature review which examined frameworks used to support community-based interventions for gun violence and to evaluate their outcomes. The author’s search found 13 articles—unique to gun violence interventions—organized by the frameworks shaping perceptions of gun violence and community-based research. The review assessed frameworks based on their relationship to intervention stage and study outcomes. Findings from the review suggested that these community-based gun violence interventions are shaped by systems, public health, and community mobilization frameworks.
Furthermore, the article discusses frameworks found to be associated with successful community-based interventions and explains how the findings are relevant to future social work practice and research.
Study author:
Monte-Angel Richardson, MSW, is a doctoral student, School of Social Work, University of Toronto, Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work, 246 Bloor Street W, Toronto, ON M5S, Canada; e-mail: montean@umich.edu.
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