A process evaluation of the development and early implementation of a complex strategy to reduce serious youth violence in Lambeth 

How are the public involved in the evaluation?

Throughout all stages of the evaluation, we will work with a group of local young people (who are experts by experience) and who will act as a panel of advisers supporting the evaluation. The young experts will help the research team consider a number of issues including: 

1. The best ways to interact with the young people taking part in LMS projects (for example, what kind of questions to ask and the best way to ask them). 

2. The best ways to encourage young people to take part, especially young people who have special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). 

3. Making sense of the results. 

4. Thinking about how to share the results and supporting us in that where they want to. 

It’s important to note that some of the young experts will be part of the LMS programme, and so be able to provide valuable insight, real-time, into the evaluation. 

As well as working with a panel of young advisers we will also work with two peer researchers. These will be local young people who will have an enhanced role within the evaluation and will be actively involved in the collection and analysis of data. They will be mentored and supported by the evaluation team and their local knowledge and position as young people will enhance the data we can collect and add insight into our analysis. 

Lay summary of research

What is this evaluation about?

London has the highest rates of youth violence in the UK. Serious Youth Violence (SYV) has consequences for the health of victims and their families, perpetrators, eyewitnesses, as well as the local community. Because of this, it can be seen as a health issue, and addressed using a ‘public health approach’. A public health approach focuses on early intervention to prevent poor health and reduce harm.  

Lambeth Made Safer (LMS) is a ten-year programme that focuses on early intervention and working in long-term partnership with a range of organisations and services like schools, police, NHS, residents & community groups, businesses and faith-based organisations (i.e., a Public Health approach). It also focuses on taking an anti-racist approach to the issue of SYV.  

Lambeth Council defines youth violence as ‘violence by or against a person aged 10-25, involving significant physical injury or involving a weapon, excluding domestic, intimate partner, dating and sexual violence as well as child abuse’. LMS’s vision is to make Lambeth one of the safest places to live for children, teenagers and young adults.  

SYV is complex and therefore LMS is complex. LMS runs large numbers of community projects, involves many partners, and has to take into account how unique Lambeth is. The evaluation will look at how well LMS has gone in its first 3 years. It will investigate: 

• What evidence was considered & what assumptions were made when the Lambeth Made Safer strategy was being developed? 
• How does Lambeth Made Safer interact with other work to reduce violence in Lambeth, and what are the historical views about the causes of serious youth violence in Lambeth? 
• How well is Lambeth Made Safer being delivered? 
• Is the way progress of Lambeth Made Safer is being measured working well, and are new ways of measuring progress needed? 
• How much does LMS cost to deliver actual change?  

What do we already know?

We know that early intervention to support and treat victims and offenders works, for example, work in schools to address trauma.  

We also know that there are some factors that reduce the likelihood of SYV (so called ‘protective factors’). These include young people having social/moral beliefs, coming from a stable family structure, good academic achievement, and not experiencing high levels of poverty. On the other hand, we know that there are some factors that increase the likelihood of SYV (so called ‘risk factors’). These include troublesome behaviour in childhood, to alcohol/drugs misuse in young adulthood, gang membership and experiencing poverty. 

What don’t we know?

Although it’s clear that early intervention works, we know less about how effective the earliest types of intervention are. Examples include: how best to prevent young people becoming involved in organised criminal groups (gangs), alternatives to school exclusion, and use of social media to prevent SYV. 

We also don’t know much about the new approaches taken to reduce SYV, and the full impact COVID-19 lockdowns had on SYV. 

Why is an evaluation necessary?

This evaluation is an important opportunity to understand how best to run LMS. It will outline who is needed (‘structures’), what is needed (‘resources’), and how they should come together (‘processes’) to successfully run LMS. It will identify factors outside of the Council’s control (‘external factors’) which influence how well LMS is doing, including the unique history of Lambeth, and all the other work going on to reduce violence (not just youth violence). 

How will it be carried out?

We’ll use both numerical data from following the progress of the programme (e.g., recorded numbers of participants), and information from speaking to people (e.g., 1-1 interviews about their personal experience of taking part in LMS projects) for this evaluation. Open and honest communication is key to truly understanding peoples’ experiences of the programme, so the evaluation team will be flexible about communicating with participants in a way that they’re most comfortable with. 

Local young researchers (‘peer researchers’) will carry out the 1-1 interviews with support from the evaluation team. 

All data will be made anonymous - it will not be possible to identify anybody from the numerical data or any conversations that take place. 

1. The numerical data together with conversations with people who have experienced LMS projects and professionals in Lambeth involved in LMS, will help us understand if there are opportunities to improve how Lambeth monitor the progress of LMS, and measure how well it’s going. This will also help us understand how much it costs to achieve change in the programme, not just how much Lambeth plan to spend on the programme (‘Cost Consequence Analysis’). 

2. Conversations with young people and their parents/carers to hear their perspectives on LMS projects, will help us assess how well LMS as a programme is progressing. We’ll find out if LMS projects are meeting the community’s needs, and whether they think the projects are helpful or useful.  

3. We’ll also speak to members of the community who have lived or worked in Lambeth for a long time (at least 10 years). This is so we can understand a bit more about the history of Lambeth from the perspective of residents, community workers, and Lambeth Council staff. 

4. Discussions with professionals will help us understand how they went about putting together the LMS strategy, and whether it’s backed up by evidence of what has worked elsewhere, or if it’s based more on assumptions of what they think would work in Lambeth. These conversations will also help us assess how well LMS as a programme is progressing, especially whether it’s going as planned. 

5. Additional discussions with professionals will help us understand how LMS fits with all the other work going on to reduce violence (e.g., violence against women and girls). 

What will we do with the results?

We’ll share the results with Lambeth Council and possibly other nearby councils who might want to run a similar intervention for young people in their boroughs. 

We’ll also share the results with young people and adults who took part in the research. 

Finally, we’ll share the results with the general public - including on social media platforms – so other researchers, health professionals and anyone interested in SYV can learn from our findings.