JUNE 2001 - UCLA School of Public Health

18
cover story
UCLAPUBLIC HEALTH
Douglas
Wiebe
Wiebe, a postdoctoral fellow,
is working with Sorenson on
her study of the relation
between guns and nonfatal
domestic violence, based on
interviews with residents of
battered women’s shelters in
California. Wiebe is also conducting
research on gun storage
methods as a risk factor
for homicide, suicide, and
unintentional fatalities. His
study, funded by the
California Wellness
Foundation and the Public
Health Foundation, suggests
that the way people store
guns affects the risk of
household members becoming
victims in each of the
three categories. Wiebe
became interested in violence
prevention while providing
counseling for children in
a residential care facility. “It
was such a challenge for
families to recover after violence
occurred,” he recalls.
Firearms are responsible
for such a great proportion
of unnatural deaths, he
notes. At the same time,
discussions about limiting
access to firearms are rife
with controversy. “Research
can help address issues that
are often swayed by politically
motivated conjecture,”
Wiebe says.
Alina Bueno,
M.P.H. ’99
While a student at the
School, Bueno learned the
concept of photo voice —
using photography as a
vehicle for disenfranchised
people to convey what their
daily lives are like. During
her second year in the
M.P.H. program, Bueno
devised Shoot with Cameras
— Not Guns. Elementary
schoolchildren learn the
basics of photography, then
photograph the positive and
negative aspects of their
community. Bueno, now a
Program Coordinator at
Harbor-UCLA’s Childhood
Injury Prevention Center,
continues to implement the
program as part of her fulltime
position. The children
exhibit their photographs in
the classroom to foster discussion,
then identify and
implement a community
improvement activity. “The
idea is to help them realize,
even as young as 9 and 10
years old, that they have the
ability to make a difference
in their neighborhoods,”
Bueno explains. Bueno
started the program at a
single elementary school in
Wilmington, Calif.; this year
she is also implementing it
at a second school. In addition,
she is helping to
expand the program to 12
other sites across the country
through the national
Injury-Free Coalition for Kids.
Alina Bueno, M.P.H. ’99,
with elementary school
students in Wilmington,
Calif., where Bueno has
implemented Shoot with
Cameras — Not Guns.
The students exhibit
their photographs showing
both positive and
negative aspects of
their community.
an international collaborative study comparing
both victimization and perceptions of the severity
of abuse among women living in Mexico and
women of Mexican descent living in the L.A.
area. And on the topic of school shootings, an
unresolved question is whether they are a sign of
increasing overall aggression in schools, or merely a product of easier access to
the lethal weapons.
Public health researchers and professionals have had a major impact in shaping
policy, particularly as it pertains to guns. Weiss notes that more health departments
are recognizing the need to include injury and violence prevention as part
of their core activities. But public health has been less effective in attracting
funding for violence prevention research and programs. “We’re constantly looking
for money,” says Weiss. Indeed, agrees Sorenson, scientific evaluations of existing
policies are sorely needed, but limited resources are available to conduct these
studies. The School has fared better than many at attracting funders, particularly
from foundations, as well as from the state Department of Health Services.
In fact, the School has long been a leader in violence prevention teaching
and research. Since 1986, Sorenson has taught a course on family and sexual
violence — a subject that, to this day, is part of only a handful of university
curricula. She also teaches a gun policy course. A course on the epidemiology
of assault, homicide and suicide is taught by Dr. Jess Kraus. Many graduates who
have taken these courses are now making an impact in the community.
In 1991, Sorenson co-founded the Violence Prevention Coalition of Greater
Los Angeles. She and Peek-Asa have both played active roles in the organization,
which Weiss, also a co-founder, serves as Executive Director. The Violence
Prevention Coalition includes public health professionals and academics, law
enforcement, and community-based organizations ranging from domestic violence
prevention programs and shelters to job- and after-school programs. “You
want to create the kind of nurturing environment in a community that enables
children to flourish, and supports their parents,” says Weiss.
Like the contribution of public health in general, the Violence Prevention
Coalition has contributed a sense of optimism to groups dealing with a problem
that once seemed inevitable. “This has made people aware that there’s something
they can do,” Weiss says. “People are beginning to realize that working
together, we can really make a difference in our communities.”