Drugs, Crime and Violence
Violence Reduction Project Ethnography (2006-2007)
The Violence Reduction Project Ethnography (the VRPE) is a current CuSAG contract with the Court Services and Offenders Supervision Agency (CSOSA) to carry out an ethnographic study of high crime Washington,DC neighborhoods in order to enhance CSOSA’s understanding of the viability of these neighborhoods and their risks for those reentering them following incarceration. The methods used in this study included: (1) the analysis of statistical data, organizational document, and other secondary data; (2) windshield and walking community observational tours complemented by Key Community and Cultural Expert Interviews; (3) observation of CSOSA programs and activities; (4) Mapping using GIS Technology; and (5) Socio-demographic and Focus Group Interviews of CSOSA staff, parole officers, reentrants, and community stakeholders.
Presentation to the District of Columbia Annual Judicial Conference (June 15, 2007)
CuSAG was invited to present the preliminary findings of the VRPE at the annual conference of judges in DC who are responsible for sentencing offenders. The purpose was to give judges the opportunity to hear opinions regarding the crime, incarceration, and reentry process from a cross section of stakeholders from CSOSA, parole officers, the community, and reentrants themselves. Methods include: (1) organizational document and other secondary data analysis; (2) observation of RSC program activities; (3) semi-structured interviews of Key RSC staff and representatives of follow up care organizational representatives; and (4) Socio-demographic and Focus Group Interviews of RSC clients (reentrants in residence at the RSC).
Reentry Sanction Center Ethnography (2007-2008)
From the VRPE, CuSAG is learning that substance abuse problems may be the major obstacle to reentrant successful transition from prison to community, and a major reason for a return to crime and incarceration. CSOSA has initiated the Research Sanction Center, a 28 day residential drug treatment center (the RSC), followed by contracting with certain vendors in the DC area to provide follow-up outpatient care. CSOSA has contracted CuSAG to carry out the Research Sanction Center Ethnography (the RSCE) of the Center, its staff, its clients, and the follow up care provided by vendors for a better understanding of the process.
*Psychosocial Costs of Drug Trafficking (1990-91)
CuSAG provided consultation to the Research Triangle Institute, National Institutes of Drug Abuse (NIDA) in designing and implementing two neighborhood ethnographies in Washington, D.C. to explore how perception of psychosocial costs of drug trafficking differed in two neighborhoods. This ethnography was part of a large multidisciplinary NIDA study of drug trafficking in the broader D.C. Metropolitan area (including parts of southern Maryland and Northern Virginia). The methods used by CuSAG were in-depth ethnographic interviews, FGIs, and assessment of community needs.
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Reproductive and Sexual Health
Urban African-American Adolescent Female STD Risk Ethnography (1996-2000)
An urban health department contracted CuSAG to carry out a qualitative assessment of the STD knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors among 13 to 20 year old African American female clients. The greatest challenge of the project was in the fact that classical ethnography could not be carried out because of issues of confidentiality and age of the study participants. As a result, CuSAG was faced with a task of designing a project that could yield data similar to that of an ethnographic study, but that was not a classical ethnographic research. To meet this challenge, CuSAG designed and used methods like socio-demographic interviews (SDIs), observations of clinic interactions, focus group interviews (FGIs), observations of FGI interactions, individual ethnographic interviews (IEIs), and individual case studies based on the data collected from all sources, and organized around pseudonyms that had been adopted by the study participants.
A Qualitative Study of HIV Related Issues Among Incarcerated Adults in the State of Maryland (1995)
In contract to the Maryland State Department of Health and Mental Hygiene’s (DHMH) AIDS Administration, CuSAG carried out focus group interviews (FGIs) with male and female inmates in 20 jails and prisons around the state of Maryland. The investigation included exploration of attitudes and behaviors increasing the risk of AIDS. Other issues investigated during the course of research included modes of health communication among incarcerated adults, the hierarchy of prison communication that could inform a HIV/AIDS education program, perceived susceptibility to HIV infection, perceived severity of HIV infection, and perceptions of benefits and barriers to implementing an AIDS intervention program.
A Planning Workshop of Issues Involved in Carrying out HIV Research in Maryland Jails and Prisons (1995)
CuSAG carried out a one-day planning workshop with DMHM’s AIDS Administration, Maryland prisons and jail administrators, ex-residents of Maryland’s jails and prisons, and others in the Baltimore-Washington area interested in these issues.
AIDS and African American Conference (1995)
In October of 1995, CuSAG carried out a three-day conference that focused on AIDS issues as they affected African American men, women, families, and children. The conference was supported by a small grant from the National Institutes of Drug Abuse (NIDA), and a variety of in-kind support from 34 organizations and agencies working on AIDS in the region around Washington, D.C.
The Urban Male HIV Ethnography (1994-1995)
In contract to the Contraceptive Research and Development Project funded by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, CuSAG carried out an exploratory study among inner city males and females, investigating their views of male AIDS related knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors that placed males and their partners at risk for AIDS. Primary methods used in the study included ethnographic interviews of staff members of a CBO providing AIDS services, as well as multiple focus group interviews (FGIs) of male and female residents of their service communities, and a community assessment of potential neighborhood risks.
The Ryan White CARE Ethnographic Design Research Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) (1992)
In contract to HRSA, CuSAG assisted in designing and implementing a small multi-site, multidisciplinary study that would inform the development of a methodology for exploring service utilization patterns among individuals with HIV/AIDS. Such investigation designs would incorporate both the perspective of such persons, and the views of organizations that provide services. CuSAG’s qualitative research focused on seropositive African Americans in Baltimore, while quantitative (survey) research conducted by the University of Maryland’s Medical School and Johns Hopkins University (JHU) researchers focused on service providers. CuSAG had a qualitative research counterpart in Oakland, California, with whom they were exploring ethnographic techniques to see which methods might be more feasible in Baltimore and Oakland, and what factors appear to influence the utilization of services by African Americans with HIV/AIDS. Given the small size of the qualitative research grants, CuSAG concluded that when working with adults in Baltimore, the most useful data would come out of the implementation of focus group interviews (FGIs) with seven groups of seropositive African American adults, as well as one group of children with at least one seropositive parent.
Qualitative Research on Condom Use Among STD Clinic Client Population (1990)
In consultation with Bloomberg School of Public Health (BSPH) of Johns Hopkins University (JHU), CuSAG conducted FGIs among clients coming for services at two BCHD STD clinics, collecting data on knowledge, attitudes, and behavior related to the utilization of condoms. The purpose of this effort was to collect qualitative data that would be used to inform the development of a more structured instrument for administration to a larger, and more representative sample of the same population from which the FGI participants were selected.
Qualitative Research on AIDS Risk Among STD Clinic Client Population (1990)
Also in consultation to BSPH, CuSAG carried out focus group interviews (FGIs) among clients coming for services at two STD clinics in Baltimore. The purpose of the FGIs was to collect qualitative data to inform the development of a more structured instrument for administration to a larger and more representative sample of the same population, from which the FGI participants were recruited. The FGIs focused on HIV/AIDS related knowledge, attitudes, and behavior. The data generated also provided interesting insights into the language used in communicating risk behaviors for HIV transmission, in conjunction with gender attributes and relationships.
Qualitative Research to Complement State-Wide AIDS Risk Surveys (1989-1990)
In contract to the DHMH, CuSAG carried out FGIs with clients coming into facilities that contracted with DHMH to carry out HIV/AIDS services in the two urban and the one rural area of Maryland with the highest incidence of HIV/AIDS at the time (Baltimore, Prince Georges County, and a section of Cambridge County) The focus of this qualitative research was to provide data that would inform the modification of the instrument used by the statewide AIDS survey carried out annually by DMHM.
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Family, Children, and Youth
The Baltimore City Head Start Chemical Dependency Counselor Training Project (1995-1996)
The Baltimore City Head Start Program (BCHSP) contracted CuSAG to develop and deliver a training model for BCHSP faculty and staff, in order to enhance their skills in addressing the needs of Head Start children from families with one or more drug abusing members. CuSAG created a model of 42 credit hours to cover two primary areas: (1) Introduction to Issues of Chemical Dependency (27 credit hours); and (2) Education and Prevention (42 credit hours) The module created by CuSAG was incorporated as part of the educational criteria set forth by the Maryland Addiction Counselor Certification Board for Alcohol and Other Drugs of Abuse Counselors (MACCB/AOD) .
Center for Minority Health Research (CMHR) (1992-1995)
Building on earlier collaborative work with University of Maryland at Baltimore (UMAB), CuSAG joined the unit again in establishing a CMHR, sponsored by the Agency for Health Care Policy and Research (AHCPR) The Center provided and coordinated research on issues related to sexual and reproductive health, and violence among African American youth in Baltimore. More specifically, the objectives of the CMHR were to: (1) identify, develop, and evaluate interventions designed to improve the health outcomes of urban African American children and youth; (2) advance the methodologies for assessment with data gathering, implementation, and evaluation of health programs targeting urban children and youth; (3) inform and influence local, state and national health policy and the implementation of health programs targeting urban children and youth; and (4) support minority health professionals and researchers working on issues related to health services targeting urban children and youth, and thus contribute to increase in the numbers of such health professionals and researchers..
Baltimore Immunization Project (1992-93)
CuSAG joined quantitative researchers from the UMAB in a subcontract with Bloomberg School of Public Health (BSPH) in carrying out a multi-method study, sponsored by the CDC, involving investigation of factors contributing to low rates of immunization among inner city children in Baltimore. CuSAG carried out focus group interviews (FGIs), freelists, and pile sorts in an exploration of the cultural domains that might shed light on this phenomenon. Resulting data was also to be used to inform the development of a culturally appropriate/relevant intervention to improve immunization behavior. FGIs and triadic comparisons were among the main methods used.
Consultation to the NASBE National Campaign to Educate the Public and Generate Popular Support for Comprehensive School Health Education Programs (1991-92)
CuSAG was contracted by the National Association of State Boards of Education (NASBE) to provide technical support, including project design, evaluation research, and the preparation of culturally appropriate education for its project. The research methods used included in-depth ethnographic interviews with youth in the Washington D.C. Metropolitan Area.
An Ethnography of Context and Decision-Making by Youth, Regarding Risk Behavior (1990-1992)
CuSAG joined UMAB as co-investigators and subcontractors in a National Institutes of Child Health and Development (NICHD) two-year ethnographic study. The research focused on children between 10 and14 years of age who were clients of the UMPD, their parents or primary caretakers, and the neighborhoods in which they resided. The purpose of this two-year study was to use data collected through ethnographic methods to develop a "culturally appropriate/relevant" instrument, which could be administered later to a larger and more representative sample of this same age cohort, in order to explore the cohort's potential risks for HIV and other STDs, drug use/trafficking and violence. A variety of data collecting techniques were utilized including focus group interviews (FGIs) with both parents and youth, "pile sorting" and triadic comparisons, participant observation in the pediatric clinic's catchment neighborhoods and at youth recreation clubs, followed by open-ended interviews with adults and children in the clinic and youth recreation clubs. A majority of the youth and adults with whom CuSAG teams have worked were African American. However, in the focus groups approximately 16% of the participants were white.
Youth Risk Intervention Ethnography (1990-95)
In subcontract to the University of Maryland Medical School’s Pediatric Division (MSPD), CuSAG collaborated on an ethnographic research project funded by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) The purpose of the research was to gather data to inform the development of culturally and population relevant HIV prevention interventions that would address youth issues of AIDS, STDs, drug use, drug trafficking, and violence. Data gathering techniques included focus group interviews (FGIs), pile sorts, triadic comparisons, psychometric scales (some of which were modified to make them more culturally and community relevant), participant observation, and ethnographic interviews. These methods were first employed in the development of a longitudinal survey instrument used to collect data on knowledge, attitudes, and risk behaviors of youth between the ages of 9 and 15, as well as their perceptions of peer behaviors, and the composition of their peer networks. This instrument has had particular appeal to the youth in the study, because it was administered via "talking" computer. Over 400 youth, in six housing developments took the survey. The resulting intervention, called "Focus On Kids", consisted of peer group discussions. CuSAG also assisted in the formation of a community adult advisory board and a youth advisory board to allow for community input into all phases of the project. CuSAG’s consultation continued throughout the intervention by the way of ethnographic research in the neighborhoods, as well as longitudinal interviews with a small number of youth (4-6 girls/4-6 boys) in order to enable and facilitate process evaluation of the intervention, and to provide qualitative data to reinforce and expand upon the community survey data.
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Community and Cultural Assessment Research and Training
CuSAG’s Ethnographically Informed Community and Culture Assessment Research Systems (EICCARS) provide technical assistance on the needs and resources of geographical communities, as well as other social systems such as ethnic groups, organizations and institutions, special populations (i.e., HIV positive individuals), household, family, and kinship systems, and non-kinship networks. (See materials on the EICCARS for more details on the brief methods discussed here.)
The Use of Ethnographic Research in Health Program Planning, Community Assessment, and Evaluation (October 2002)
CuSAG was asked to design and deliver a workshop on the use of ethnographic research in health program planning, community assessment, and evaluation for the faculty and students of Drexel University’s School of Public Health. Aside from the university students and faculty, various health professionals from organizations and other educational institutions in the city of Philadelphia also attended the half-day workshop.
The Ethnographic Overview of Independence National Park (1997-2002)
CuSAG was contracted by The U.S. National Park Service (NPS) to carry out an ethnographic overview and assessment (EOA) of Independence National Historical Park. CuSAG teams were asked to complete the following tasks and research activities:(1) situate the Park within its urban environment; (2) identify the ethnographic resources and the contemporary groups that have traditional associations with these resources; and (3) provide an extensive discussion that placed the information gathered from completing Tasks 1 and 2 within the context of the Park's planning documents and pending management decisions. The methods used by CuSAG in fulfilling these tasks were: (1) analysis of relevant statistical data of neighborhoods surrounding the Park, as well as the Park’s own documents and archives; (2) neighborhood windshield and walking tours; (4) organizing neighborhood data into community profiles; (5) creating data informed maps using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) technology to situate items in and around the Park; (6) informal ethnographic interviews with residents and “key experts” with knowledge of neighborhoods, such as police officers and public service agency personnel; (7) observation of Park resources and their use by visitors; (8) informal ethnographic interviews with visitors and other persons encountered during observations of Park resources; (9) "shadow tours" with informal interviews of Park rangers and other interpreters of Park resources, including other Park personnel; (10) self-administered questionnaire mailed to representatives of contemporary groups having traditional association with INDE and/or its resources, as well as other organizations, which did not have traditional associations with the Park, but shared similar goals (i.e. national or ethnic historical and cultural preservation); and (11) assessing printed and electronic information about these organizations.
Project Design Training Workshop (March 2001)
CuSAG was asked by the United Negro College Fund’s HOPE AIDS Prevention Program to organize and deliver a workshop on Community Based Intervention Project Design to faculty representatives from 34 Historically Black Colleges and Universities.
The Community Assessment Complement of the Urban African American Adolescent Female STD Risk Ethnography (1997-98)
CuSAG was contracted separately by an urban health department to complement the Urban African American Adolescent Female STD Risk Ethnography (the AFSRE) described at the top of this page. This work was done to place the data provided by the study participants in the environmental contexts of their residential neighborhoods. As required by the contract, the health department agreed to provide CuSAG with relevant statistical data for analysis, while CuSAG agreed to collect additional data on community characteristics and resources through windshield and walking tours of the neighborhoods, as well as informal, key informant, and ethnographic interviews. Health department outreach workers were trained by CuSAG to assist in this work. While CuSAG carried out its data collection activities, the health department failed to provide imperative statistical data. As such, it was difficult to provide a complete version of this report, although the analysis of the primary data collected by CuSAG for this community assessment were integrated in the final report of the AFSRE.
The Baltimore-Washington Urban Ethnography Project (March 1997)
CuSAG hosted a one-day national workshop to introduce the methods of the Ethnographically Informed Community and Cultural Assessment Research Systems (EICCARS) to professionals involved in community health and social programs.
The Ethnographic Component of the Liberty Health Systems Community Health Assessment (1995-1996)
In this project CuSAG provided consultation on designing and completing the data collection for a portion of a community health assessment planned by Liberty Health Systems, Inc. (LHS), a local hospital and its catchment (service) area in West Baltimore, Maryland. Data were collected in 14 different community profiles reflecting: (1) the demographic makeup of the 15 neighborhoods; (2) their socio-economic conditions, such as: (a) the educational and employment status of the residents; (b) the environmental conditions of these neighborhoods, including the level of crime; (c) the status of residents for key health indicators, health priorities, and access to health; and (3) resident perception of the quality of services provided by LHI, including their input regarding service program development. The data collection methods planned included: (1) the analysis of relevant statistical data; (2) “windshield” and “walking” observational tours of hospital facilities and neighborhoods; and (3) informal, focus group, and in-depth ethnographic interviews of neighborhood residents and LHS providers. Data were collected using all of these methods except provider focus group interviews (FGIs) One reason for the lack of provider FGIs was the abortion of the project as a result of the merger of Liberty Health Systems with another hospital in Baltimore. Unfortunately, as a part of this action, the data that were collected were never fully analyzed, and no final report was written.
An Ethnographic Assessment of the HUD Urban Redevelopment Project (1995)
CuSAG contracted with ABT Associates as part of a multi-city U.S. Housing and Urban Development (HUD) project to assess sentiments of residents of urban public housing complexes that were about to be demolished by HUD. CuSAG was responsible for focusing on Lafayette Terrace in Baltimore, Maryland. The primary methods used during the course of research, included assessment of secondary public housing data, “windshield” and “walking” tours of Baltimore public housing units, and focus group interviews (FGIs) with LT residents.
Psychosocial Costs of Drug Trafficking (1990-91)
CuSAG provided consultation to the Research Triangle Institute, National Institutes of Drug Abuse (NIDA) in designing and implementing two neighborhood ethnographies in Washington, D.C. to explore how perception of psychosocial costs of drug trafficking differed in two neighborhoods. Although both neighborhoods have experienced high drug trafficking/crime, one of the neighborhoods experienced reduction in drug trafficking, while the other neighborhood showed an increase in this type of activities. The ethnography was part of a large multidisciplinary NIDA study of drug trafficking in the broader D.C. Metropolitan area (including parts of southern Maryland and Northern Virginia.) The methods used by CuSAG were in-depth ethnographic interviews, FGIs, and assessment of community needs.
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Ethnographic Evaluation Research and Training
The project summaries described below offer only brief descriptions of the methods utilized. For more information on CuSAG’s evaluation methods, the reader should click on CuSAG’s Ethnographic Assessment and Evaluation System (EAES)
An Ethnographic Assessment of the Washington, D.C. Community Health Initiative (1997-1998)
In 1997, The Annie E. Casey Foundation funded a collaborative between the formal health care system, and a number of community based organizations in Washington D.C., in order to “engage community residents in public health care delivery systems so that those systems would become more receptive to the needs of residents.” CuSAG was asked to do a one-year formative assessment of the processes during the initiation of this project. Research methods included: (1) observation of monthly partnership meetings; (2) document assessments of notes and other written materials of the process collected by the lead organization; (3) observation of community organizing and training activities at the neighborhood level; (4) observations, informal interviews, and assessments of relevant statistical data at the neighborhood level; and (5) ethnographic interviews of partnership representatives and those attending training sessions.
Ethnographic Evaluation of the AIDS Perinatal Prevention and Life Enrichment Project (APPLE) (1991-1992)
CuSAG was contracted by the Baltimore City Health Department (BCHD) to carry out the ethnographic component of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (the CDC) A qualitative evaluation was carried out to complement the more quantitative evaluation (outcome and process) that was conducted by Johns Hopkins University. The methods used included focus group interviews (FGIs) of residents of the target community, ethnographic interviews of project staff, and observations of staff activities (particularly community outreach workers), as well as neighborhood risk assessment research.
The Use of Qualitative Methods in Program Evaluation (1990, 1991)
CuSAG was asked by the office of Minority Health to provide a workshop on using qualitative/ethnographic methods at two of its annual grantee conferences. Participants included representatives from projects all around the United States.
Diversity in the Workplace Workshop (1990)
CuSAG conducted a one-day diversity-in-the-workplace workshop for staff of the Maryland State DHMH AIDS Administration (AA) The morning was spent carrying out focus group discussions with groups of staff members organized by high and low employment status in the agency. The division in the employment status was reflected in the fact that the lower-level outreach workers were primarily black, as opposed to the higher-level staff and faculty members who were predominantly white. This activity was carried out as an exploratory needs assessment regarding perceived hierarchical and communication problems that had racial overtones. Some black employees felt problems with regards to their sense of “split loyalties”—loyalty that they felt to the black communities targeted by the agency, and loyalty to the agency whose policies or actions they felt were not always in the best interests of those communities. The afternoon was spent using this information (anonymously), and further exploring these issues, as well as suggested solutions to some of these issues in a larger group. The final part of the day was spent with the Director of the AA at that time, who as a white South African, found the workshop to be of value in helping her to process some of her own problems, which she encountered while working in a political administration where she sometimes felt some distrust because of the racial apartheid existing in South Africa at that time.
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International Health and Development Research and Training
Rapid Cultural Learning Institute (May 2001)
CuSAG was ask to provide a workshop on rapid cultural learning to an audience of U.S. Marines responsible for guarding U.S. embassies in countries around the world.
Integrating Traditional and Western Medical Systems (July 1996)
For the National Council of International Health (NCIH), CuSAG conducted focus discussion groups with African and American traditional healers as part of a larger two-day workshop on "Traditional Healing and AIDS." CuSAG’s discussion explored the positive aspects and the difficulties that traditional healers experienced working with western trained health professionals, as well as issues related to their methods, training, identity, and power relationships vis-à-vis western-trained health professionals.
Finnish Lectures on CuSAG’s Research Activities (1993)
CuSAG’s director, Tony Whitehead, was invited to Finland for a month to give lectures around the country on CuSAG’s urban and food and culture research.
The Cultural Ecology of Food (1990-92)
CuSAG secured cooperative agreement with the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) to support a Ghanaian nutrition scholar in conducting "African Continuities in African-American Foodways on the Sea Island of South Carolina and Georgia". The CuSAG team expanded this work with more intensive ethnography in South Carolina using participant observation, FGIs, and ethnographic interviews with elderly residents. University links were also created between UMCP and the University of Ghana at Legon for future research possibilities in West Africa. Furthermore, talks were carried out with the Avery Center for African American History and Culture at the College of Charleston and with the Penn Center of Frogmore, South Carolina regarding the possibility of future collaboration in the Sea Islands.
International Conference on Food and Culture (1990)
The Wenner Gren Foundation funded CuSAG to host an international conference on food and culture. Participants included scholars from Africa, Europe, the Caribbean, and North America.
Evaluation for Success (1990)
An alliance of American foundations providing support to various health and social organizations in South Africa invited CuSAG Director Tony Whitehead to provide them with ideas on how they might design an evaluation model for these programs, highlighting successes, rather than being dominated with failures like most evaluation approaches at that time seemed to be. Later that year CuSAG was invited to submit a proposal by the W. K. Kellogg Foundation to evaluate its leadership training program oriented towards training South Africans for health and social infrastructural leadership positions in the inevitable post-apartheid period. Even though CuSAG was one of the two finalists competing for the contract, as a completely new organization, CuSAG was not considered to have the sufficient track record to assure the completion of the work. However, this experience provided some of the impetus for CuSAG’s later work in evaluation, and the evolution of its Ethnographic Assessment and Evaluation System (EAES).
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