Advancing Science to Prevent Firearm Violence in Communities: A Process for Harmonizing Studies to Develop Research Infrastructure

Rebeccah Sokol, School of Social Work, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA. rlsokol@umich.edu.
Maureen Walton, Department of Psychiatry, Medical School, University of Michigan, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA.
Daniel Lee, Institute for Firearm Injury Prevention, Ann Arbor, USA.
Laura Seewald, Institute for Firearm Injury Prevention, Ann Arbor, USA.
Victor Medina Del Toro, Institute for Firearm Injury Prevention, Ann Arbor, USA.
Mahum Farooqui, Institute for Firearm Injury Prevention, Ann Arbor, USA.
Gregory Sallabank, Institute for Firearm Injury Prevention, Ann Arbor, USA.
Marc Zimmerman, Institute for Firearm Injury Prevention, Ann Arbor, USA.
Mark Edberg, Department of Prevention and Community Health, Milken Institute School of Public Health, George Washington University, Washington, D.C, USA.
Yan Wang, Department of Prevention and Community Health, Milken Institute School of Public Health, George Washington University, Washington, D.C, USA.
Tanya Zakrison, Section of Trauma & Acute Care Surgery, University of Chicago, Chicago, USA.
Elizabeth L. Tung, Section of General Internal Medicine, University of Chicago, Chicago, USA.
William B. Hillegass, Department of Data Science, School of Public Health, University of Mississippi Medical Center, Jackson, USA.
Laura Vearrier, Department of Emergency Medicine, School of Medicine, University of Mississippi Medical Center, Jackson, USA.
Lei Zhang, School of Nursing, University of Mississippi Medical Center, Jackson, USA.
Matthew E. Kutcher, Department of Surgery-Trauma/Critical Care, School of Medicine, University of Mississippi Medical Center, Jackson, USA.
Dara Blachman-Demner, Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research (OBSSR), National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, USA.
Patrick M. Carter, Institute for Firearm Injury Prevention, Ann Arbor, USA.

Document Type

Journal Article

Publication Date

9-20-2024

Journal

Prevention science : the official journal of the Society for Prevention Research

DOI

10.1007/s11121-024-01723-5

Abstract

The Community Firearm Violence Prevention Network (CFVP Network), funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), supports a network of research projects that develop and test interventions through collaborations with community partners to prevent firearm violence, injury, and mortality. The CFVP Network presents a unique opportunity to accelerate the science of preventing firearm injuries. The data harmonization workgroup of the CFVP Network led the process of aligning studies across the three unique inaugural network projects, with particular attention to how the CFVP Network could address current gaps in the science. The goal of the data harmonization workgroup was to align study measures, assessment timelines, and data management and archival processes across projects to enable robust cross-project analyses that accelerate the science of preventing firearm injuries. To accomplish this goal, the workgroup established the infrastructure to facilitate cross-project data collection, data sharing and archiving, and analyses. Among the three inaugural network projects, the workgroup's process resulted in harmonizing two assessment timepoints (baseline and one year post-implementation) and 60 constructs (with 31 identical standardized constructs). These harmonized products provide opportunities for novel analyses across the network projects. We expect that the harmonized study infrastructure developed through this process will catalyze future research focused on preventing firearm injury, including and extending beyond CFVP Network projects. The CFVP data harmonization workgroup's process can serve as a model for future networks that seek to build the science in a particular area.

Department

Prevention and Community Health

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