A student-centred intervention guided by participatory action research to address youth violence in a vocational training institution in Sri Lanka

Violence in educational institutions is a major public health and educational concern that negatively affects the physical, psychological, and social well-being of students and their educational attainment. However, student-centred efforts to curb violence are minimal. This study aimed to empower students in a Sri Lankan vocational training institution to take action to address youth violence through a student-centred intervention guided by health promotion and participatory action research (PAR) principles. The PAR approach was employed, which involved participants in all research steps. The study population consisted of students enrolled in two-year-long courses in the college. A census sampling approach was adopted, whereby all eligible students enrolled in the two-year courses were invited to participate. A sample of 74 students (48 female, 26 male) aged 20–27 years participated. A twelve-month-long student-centred intervention was implemented collaboratively with students, and eight student-centred actions were co-designed and implemented to address selected determinants of youth violence within the institution. Data were collected through six focus group discussions with students and seven interviews with staff members using the topic guides initially developed by the research team and later refined using students’ perspectives, before and after the intervention until saturation, and analysed using thematic analysis. Five themes emerged: (1) the meaning of violence, (2) awareness of the harm, (3) peer influences for violent behaviour, (4) glamour attached to violence, and (5) behavioural changes. Participants demonstrated increased awareness of the broader meaning of violence and its harm. They also reported reduced acceptance of violence as a means of enforcing social justice, solving problems, or expressing masculinity. Participants further described reduced peer encouragement of violence, a weaker perceived association between friendship and violence, and less identification of violence as a “heroic” behaviour. They also reported reductions in physical, verbal, and emotional violence following the intervention. The findings suggest that the student-centred intervention implemented in the present study was associated with positive changes in participants’ perceptions of violence and their self-reported violent behaviours. This collaborative approach to co-designing and implementing a student-centred intervention grounded in health promotion and PAR principles is recommended to address violence in similar educational institutions in Sri Lanka and the region.