I received an email today from Duncan Vernon of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA). On the 30th of July at 8.00pm BST (GMT+1), Duncan will be guest hosting a twitter discussion about an “Editor’s choice” article recently published in Injury Prevention.

Public health professionals from a variety of backgrounds regularly participate in the Public Health Twitter Journal Club. Members vote to select papers to discuss, and the upcoming meeting will be discussing “Greening vacant lots to reduce violent crime: a randomised controlled trial” by Garvin, Cannuscio, and Branas (see http://injuryprevention.bmj.com/content/19/3/198.abstract?sid=20a2882e-85de-4161-abe8-9c4dfb721fee).

Topics for discussion include:

1. Were the aims of this study clear?
2. Was the methodology appropriate?
3. Did the analysis use appropriate methods?
4. Do you believe the results? The study reports non-significant reductions in crime and improvement in perceptions of disorder, but also a significant improvement in residents perceptions of safety, what could explain these findings?
5. What implications do the findings have for public health practice & policy?

If you would like to learn more and the Club, or to join the latest discussion, visit  http://phtwitjc.wordpress.com/2013/07/25/confirmed-injury-prevention-paper-for-phtwitjc-27/ If you cannot join the discussion, or you would like to read earlier discussions, a link to the transcript is subsequently posted on the Journal Club website. Nominations for future discussion papers are also welcome.