“This Program Is Literally Saving Lives”: A Participatory Qualitative Study of Youth Outcomes in a Community-Based Music Program to Interrupt Violence

Introduction Despite urgent need for evidence-based violence prevention solutions, demonstrating the impact of community-based violence prevention programs, which are primed to be culturally relevant and community-tailored, remains difficult. Thus, our community-academic research team, conducted a participatory evaluation to identify proximal outcomes of Beyond the Bars (BTB), an urban United States-based music enrichment program seeking to empower young people and facilitate community healing from cycles of disinvestment and violence. Methods We explored perceived BTB outcomes on student participants through semi-structured qualitative interviews with 16 adolescent students ( M _age =17.31 years, 69% male), 4 adult instructors (75% male), and 6 adult community partners (50% male). We coded interview transcripts using combined inductive-deductive approach and then iteratively analyzed coded text to identify salient student outcomes and themes within and across interest holder groups. Results Interviewees identified similar programmatic impacts on students, which we consolidated into five themes: (1) access to safe, creative spaces, (2) musical and technical skill development, (3) personal growth, (4) relational and interpersonal growth, and (5) growth mindset and future orientation. They described outcomes as progressive, with students’ gaining musical, social, and creative skills and access to a safe and supportive community being foundational to enhancements in self-efficacy and future orientation and budding efforts to advocate within their communities. Conclusions Our findings demonstrate integration of strengths-based approaches in youth violence prevention programming to support holistic wellbeing beyond risk reduction. Further, our work underscores need to develop evidence for and elevate community-generated solutions to rebuild and heal communities.