Journal
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH AND PUBLIC HEALTH
Volume 18, Issue 10, Pages -Publisher
MDPI
DOI: 10.3390/ijerph18105097
Keywords
youth crime; community; preference; intervention; economic
Funding
- National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) [APP1048069]
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This study explores community preferences for reducing youth crime and improving community safety in a rural area in Australia using BackTrack. Findings from discrete choice experiments indicate a strong community preference for social programs like BackTrack over increased policing, with a willingness to pay equivalent to AUD 2.04 million. This highlights the value of including community preferences when evaluating community-based programs for high-risk young people.
BackTrack is a multi-component, community-based intervention designed to build capacity amongst 14-17-year-old high risk young people. The aim of the current study seeks to explore community value and preferences for reducing youth crime and improving community safety using BackTrack in a rural setting in Armidale, New South Wales, Australia. The study design used discrete choice experiments (DCEs), designed in accordance with the 10-item checklist outlined by the International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research. The DCE was pilot tested on 43 participants to test feasibility and comprehension. A revised version of the survey was subsequently completed by 282 people over a 12-day period between 30 May 2016 and 10 June 2016, representing a survey response rate of 35%. Ninety per cent of respondents were residents of Armidale, the local rural town where BackTrack was implemented. The DCE generated results that consistently demonstrated a preference for social programs to address youth crime and community safety in the Armidale area. Respondents chose BackTrack over Greater Police Presence 75% of the time with an annual benefit of Australian dollars (AUD) 150 per household, equivalent to a community benefit of AUD 2.04 million. This study estimates a strong community preference for BackTrack relative to more policing (a community willing to pay equivalent to AUD 2.04 million) highlighting the clear value of including community preferences when evaluating community-based programs for high-risk young people.
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