Monitoring the multi-faceted problem of youth violence: the Asian/Pacific Islander Youth Violence Prevention Center's surveillance system.

Youth violence (YV) is a complex public health issue that spans geographic, ethnic, and socioeconomic lines. The Asian/Pacific Islander Youth Violence Prevention Center conducts qualitative and quantitative research on YV in Hawai'i. A critical element in YV prevention involves measuring YV and its risk-protective factors to determine the scope of the problem and to monitor changes across time. Under the Asian/Pacific Islander Youth Violence Prevention Center's (APIYVPC's) surveillance umbrella, a variety of methodologies are utilized. The major forms of active surveillance are a School-Wide Survey for youth, and a Safe Community Household Survey for adults. A variety of secondary data sources are accessed, such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System), the Hawai'i State Department of the Attorney General, the Hawai'i State Department of Education, and the Hawai'i State Department of Health. State data are especially important for the Center, because most of these sources disaggregate ethnicity data for Asian Americans/Pacific Islanders. This paper details the surveillance methodologies utilized by the APIYVPC to monitor YV in one specific community and in Hawai'i, in comparison to the rest of the State and nation. Empirical results demonstrate the utility of each methodology and how they complement one another. Individually, each data source lends valuable information to the field of YV prevention; however, collectively, the APIYVPC's surveillance methods help to paint a more complete picture regarding violence rates and the relationship between YV and its risk-protective factors, particularly for minority communities.