Received: 3 August 2017 Accepted: 5 February 2018 DOI: 10.1002/jcop.21971 ARTICLE Development of a barbershop based violence intervention for young Black emerging adult men Jillian Lucas Baker 1 Howard C. Stevenson 2 Lloyd Matthew Talley 2 Loretta Sweet Jemmott 2 John B. Jemmott 2 1 La Salle University 2 University of Pennsylvania Correspondence Email: Jillian.Baker@jefferson.edu This study was supported by the National Insti- tute of Child Health and Human Development (R01HD061061) awarded to Dr. Loretta Sweet Jemmott and the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Diversity Research Supplement Award (5R01HD061061- 03; PI: Jemmott) to Dr. Jillian Lucas Baker. Dr. Jillian Lucas Baker is now at The College of Population Health, Thomas Jefferson University. Dr. Loretta Sweet Jemmott is now at College of Nursing & Health Professions, Drexel University. We thank all of the barbershop owners and barbers that supported this project. Abstract A crucial gap in the education literature are the health interven- tions situated for the unique experiences of Black emerging adult men (BEAM), one of the most vulnerable populations in the United States The article describes the systematic development of a theory- based, culturally tailored, barbershop-based violence intervention for BEAM, aged 18–24 years. The process included developing a community advisory board, selecting a theoretical framework, incor- porating community-based participatory research principles, and conducting formative research with BEAM and barbershop owners. The result was Shape Up: Barbers Building Better Brothers, a 2-day retaliation violence risk reduction intervention focused on increas- ing retaliation restraint self-efficacy beliefs and skills and reducing the number of violent incidents. Intervention sessions were facili- tated by barbers who used iPads to deliver the content. As a high-risk population, this intervention has great public health significance for the health of BEAM. 1 BACKGROUND Over the past half-century, violence (homicide, serious violent offenses, nonfatal violent victimization) in the United States has declined markedly (Cooper & Smith, 2011). Despite this decline, urban, low-income Black communities con- tinue to have exceedingly high rates of violence, weapon use, and incarceration. Extant scholarship on violence in urban areas suggests there are a number of ecological factors that contribute to these dynamics: poverty (Parker & Pruitt, 2000), racial inequity (Peterson & Krivo, 2010), and lack of opportunity (Rosenfeld, Edberg, Fang, & Florence, 2013) to name some. Because of these structural inequities, these communities face undue and unjust quantities of stressors without complementary supports, concurrently. Acknowledging that these factors are substantial, there is indeed an unresolved issue of violence occurring within these communities. Those most directly impacted by this violence are younger Black emerging adult men (aged 18–24 years). In the United States, younger emerging adults (aged 18–24 years), regardless of race, had the highest homicide victimization between 1980 and 2008 (Cooper & Smith, 2011). More specifically, Black American men, as one of the most vulnerable and disadvantaged populations in the United States, are overly represented in both homicides J. Community Psychol. 2018;1–13. wileyonlineliberary.com/journal/jcop c  2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. 1