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Interpersonal gun violence remains a major public health issue in the United States and beyond. This article explores the research on interpersonal gun violence published in peer-reviewed social work journals since the mid-1990s. Findings from this review indicate that the existing scholarship offers some important insights into this topic, particularly related to risk factors for and the effects of exposure to gun violence. These findings, however, also point to some shortcomings in the literature, including problems with the measurement and analytic treatment of exposure to gun violence and a lack of research with direct victims and perpetrators of gun violence. Implications for future research are discussed.

The relationship between victimization and offending is complex.Purpose: This paper simultaneously examines the trajectory of individual, family and neighborhood factors related to victimiz...

African American marriages and relationships have strived to model the white patriarchal nuclear family model, but the experiences of slavery and contemporary structural racism have prevented the attainment of this model. Posttraumatic slave syndrome offers a framework that allows social workers to place African American experiences within a trauma-informed perspective and think about their implication for trauma-specific interventions. This article provides a brief overview of the traumatic experiences of African Americans as they relate to African American relationships, integrates the historical experiences of African Americans into a trauma-informed perspective to help social workers recognize the manifestations of trauma in African American relationships, and discusses implications for trauma-specific interventions to strengthen African American relationships.

This article addresses the concern that death by legal intervention is a health outcome disproportionately experienced by boys and men of color, and predicated on the quality of the locations in which encounters with law enforcement occur. Using a more comprehensive cross-verified sample of police homicides from online databases and a nationally representative sample of law enforcement agencies, this study examines whether neighborhood social disorganization, minority threat, and defense of inequality theories help explain the odds that males of color will have a fatal interaction with police (FIP). There are several noteworthy results. First, in support of the defense of inequality thesis, we found that income inequality within the area in which a FIP occurred is related to increased relative odds of fatal injury for males of color and Hispanic males. Second, consistent with the minority threat thesis, we found low levels of racial segregation dramatically reduced the odds of a FIP for Black males while higher levels of segregation increased the odds for Hispanic males. Third, Hispanic males were over 2.6 times as likely as others to be killed by officers from agencies with relatively higher percentages of Hispanic officers. We conclude the study with a discussion of its implications for research and policy.

Introduction Hospital-based violence intervention programmes (HBVIPs) are a promising strategy to reduce trauma recidivism and promote safety among victims of violent injury. While previous studies have demonstrated cost-effectiveness and positive impact on the lives of victims, there are a number of key limitations in the study designs of this evidence base. This study seeks to address the methodological shortcomings of previous research, determine the efficacy of HBVIPs using a randomised control study design, and provide a better understanding of successful service allocation within an HBVIP. Methods and analysis The current study is 1 of 12 demonstration projects being implemented around the country with the purpose of bolstering the ability to provide effective, culturally appropriate and trauma-informed services for boys and men harmed by violence. We propose a randomised control trial in which male victims of violence receive one of two interventions: treatment as usual versus enhanced services. The purpose is to determine which intervention leads to reductions in trauma recidivism over the period of 1 year from contact with the programme. Differences will also be monitored on measures of mental health, quality of life and attitudes towards violence. Analyses employed will include Kaplan-Meier analysis and Cox proportional hazards regression with death and recidivism being the outcomes of interest. Ethics and dissemination Study procedures have been approved by the Institutional Review Boards of the University at Buffalo and four hospitals. Results will be submitted for publication in peer-reviewed journals.

Statement of Purpose Trauma recidivists are patients who present to an emergency room or trauma center on more than one occasion for different incidents of traumatic injury. One intervention that has shown promise in dealing with this issue has been the development of Hospital Based Violence Intervention Programs (HBVIP). The purpose of this presentation is to describe the implementation of a demonstration project to determine the impact of HBVIP services on victims of violent injury and to report baseline characteristics of the study sample. Methods/Approach This demonstration project is a funded study, employing a randomized control trial research design to determine the effectiveness of an enhanced Hospital Based Violence Intervention model versus a treatment as usual model. The enhanced intervention provides case management whereas the treatment as usual intervention provides only a referral card. Results A number of preliminary baseline data points will be presented and discussed, including but not limited to mechanism of injury, trauma type, whether surgery was needed, percentage of patients who present as trauma recidivists, levels of life satisfaction and other selected variables. Conclusions The lack of evaluations on the effectiveness of HBVIPs has left significant gaps in our understanding on whether these programs in fact have an impact on rates of violent victimization. This on-going longitudinal study seeks to fill that gap by comparing a case-management led intervention to a referral only model. Significance and Contributions to Injury and Violence Prevention Science Trauma recidivism and re-current violent injury are public health issues that have significant implications for the lives of victims, their families, and the overall community. The evaluation of HBVIPs are an important step in developing the evidence base for interventions that seek to mitigate rates of violent injury and recidivism.

Statement of Purpose Trauma recidivists are patients who present to an emergency room or trauma center on more than one occasion for different incidents of traumatic injury. Although a major public health issue, there has not yet been a systemic review of the literature that synthesizes our understanding of correlates of trauma recidivism. The purpose of this presentation is to report on the findings of a systematic review of the trauma recidivism literature. This oral presentation focuses on the methodological findings and recommendations that resulted from the review. Methods/Approach 13 data bases were searched from inception to 2017 for studies that explicitly compared hospital-based trauma recidivists to non-recidivists. The search was conducted using PRISMA guidelines for systematic reviews. Results Screening resulted in the selection of 29 studies that met the inclusion criteria. Conclusions The literature review generated findings that could inform the quality of research among victims of violent injury. Methodological considerations to consider include, a) identifying a common ‘recidivism window’ that allows detection of patients who are at risk for recidivism, b) disaggregate patients by epochs informed by the human development literature, and c) improving on mixed method methodologies. Significance and Contributions to Injury and Violence Prevention Science Social science concepts and methodology coupled with medical/victim research can help provide a deeper understanding of the meanings and processes that shape both health research and the behaviors of patients that lead to subsequent re-injury. Insights from this research and the collaborations that stem from it can guide the design of health care delivery practices and interventions that acknowledge and adapt to social, cultural, and economic barriers; harness social mechanisms to increase their effectiveness; or even attempt to manipulate social and cultural determinants of health directly.

Statement of Purpose Research into race/ethnicity-based injury disparities requires accurate race/ethnicity data. We compared the race/ethnicity documented in electronic medical records (EMRs) against self-report identity to measure the magnitude of EMR misidentification and potential contributing factors. Approach Descriptive statistics and misclassification matrices were used to assess sensitivity of EMR to true (self-reported) race/ethnicity within two study cohorts (one including all trauma mechanisms [n=95] and one of firearm assaults [n=217]) at a Level-1 trauma center. Both cohorts oversampled people of color. As processes for data collection vary based on how patients arrive, logistic regression models explored associations between arrival type (transfer, EMS, or walk-in) and accurate EMR identification within a subgroup of individuals reporting a single race/ethnicity. Results Of 276 individuals who self-reported as a single race that mapped to an existing EMR race, only 65.6% had their race correctly identified in the EMR. More than 90% of Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islanders were misidentified. Patients brought in by EMS and walk-in patients were more likely to be correctly identified than patients transferred from another facility, but this was not statistically significant (OR 1.61, 95%CI 0.59–3.29 and OR 1.39, 95%CI 0.76–3.39, respectively). Although the majority of patients were correctly identified as either non-Hispanic (194/199) or Hispanic or Latino (53/71), the EMR sensitivity for identifying Hispanic/Latino ethnicity was only 74.6%. Multiracial identity was not included in standard EMR racial categories, systematically miscategorizing 18.9% (n=18) of the first and 15.2% (n=33) of the second cohort. More than 30% of multiracial individuals self-reported an American Indian/Alaska Native identity that was not captured by EMR. Conclusions Large proportions of injured patients are misidentified by race/ethnicity in EMR. Misidentification is most common among indigenous people of color. Significance Misrepresentation of race/ethnicity in EMR suggests injury disparities among Hispanic and indigenous groups may actually have been be underestimated.

Statement of Purpose Trauma recidivists are patients who present to an emergency room or trauma center on more than one occasion for different incidents of traumatic injury. The purpose of this presentation is to report on the findings of a systematic review of the trauma recidivism literature with the purpose of identifying correlates for future research aimed at preventing trauma recidivism. This presentation will discuss the factors traditionally explored in trauma recidivism research, which of those factors are deemed critical based on previous research and provide recommendations for future research with this vulnerable population. Methods/Approach 13 data bases were searched from inception to 2017 for studies that explicitly compared hospital-based trauma recidivists to non-recidivists. The search was conducted using PRISMA guidelines for systematic reviews. Results Screening resulted in the selection of 29 studies that met the inclusion criteria. Conclusions The literature review identified variables across 6 categories that were included in trauma recidivism literature: 1) Demographic, 2) injury related variables, 3) health related variables, 4) substance use, 5) crime/weapons and 6) vehicular causes. Variables within each category are discussed followed by recommendations of variables to include in future research. Significance and contributions to injury and violence prevention science Although previous trauma recidivism research has identified risk factors for recidivism, it has largely remained within the field of medicine as a medical issue. Merging social science and medical constructs and processes, improving research on social and cultural influences on health, and integrating basic social science theories, concepts, and methods into applied health research is imperative to moving the field of injury prevention forward. Integration of social science research with the biological and behavioral sciences is an essential component of this task. reported leaving their child alone on a bed without a railing. Nearly 33% of parents (46% of which have a high school diploma or less) reported not using safety guards on all windows. Parents reported not using stair gates 48% of the time, with 55% of those parents having completed less than a Bachelor’s Degree. Also, 67% of parents (all on Medicaid) reported their child wore a helmet ‘sometimes’ or ‘never’ while riding a bicycle. Even though 79% of parents ‘strongly agreed’ to having the knowledge to protect their child from being injured by a fall, 63% of parents reported ‘sometimes’ or ‘rarely’ watching their child when on playground equipment.

There is a body of research over the last three decades that has focused on the etiology of violence among victims of violent injury. This body of literature indicates that Black men are disproportionately represented among victims of violent injury seen in emergency departments and trauma centers across the country. Despite the disproportionate number of low-income young Black men treated for violent injury in urban trauma units and the growing body of literature accompanying it, little is known about the unique methodological challenges violent injury researchers face when conducting research on this vulnerable population in a clinical setting. This article describes the unique and often nuanced methodological difficulties a research team encountered while conducting a longitudinal qualitative study on risk factors for repeat violent injury among low-income young Black male victims of violent injury treated at a Level II trauma center in the Eastern United States. Four methodological challenges are identified: (a) the identification and screening of participants, (b) recruitment and interviewing, (c) understanding hospital culture, policies, and procedures, and (d) retention and attrition of sample. Recommendations to overcome these challenges are offered.

Re-entry poses a challenge to the U.S. as whole in regard to how communities will begin to receive, support and absorb the survivors of the prison industrial complex returning to their communities. Traditional discussions around the mental health implications of prison/jail often debate the impact of the prison/jail experience on individual mental health outcomes and on the need for services to be available to prisoners both during and after incarceration. However, the discourse has very rarely discussed the macro impact of so many prisoners returning to their communities. The current chapter will explore the theory of coercive mobility and the dual purpose this concept plays in keeping communities safe while simultaneously making them more disorganized. It also presents a theoretical model that describes the intersectional effect of multiple stressors on the mental of Black males attempting to reintegrate into society after spending time in prison. Lastly, the current chapter discusses the implications of Black males reintegrating into society with mental health issues for the socialization experience of young Black males in their communities.

In the US, Black people or People of African Descent (PAD) have experienced significant oppression and hardship as a result of racist US government policies, similar to the state-sanctioned violence experienced by European Jews and Native Americans. These state-sanctioned acts led to the manifestation of historical trauma that is passed down to each successive generation. While domestic efforts at addressing the civil right issues facing PAD abound, less is known about the efforts to bring the plight of PAD in the US to the international community for redress under the umbrella of human rights. This chapter addresses the intersection of trauma and human rights for PAD in the US by shedding light on attempts to hold the US accountable for the treatment of PAD.

This paper examines an alternative solution for collecting reliable police shooting data. One alternative is the collection of police shooting data from hospital trauma units, specifically hospital-based violence intervention programs. These programs are situated in Level I trauma units in many major cities in USA. While the intent of these programs is to reduce the risk factors associated with trauma recidivism among victims of violent injury, they also collect reliable data on the number of individuals treated for gunshot wounds. While most trauma units do a great job collecting data on mode of injury, many do not collect data on the circumstances surrounding the injury, particularly police-involved shootings. Research protocol on firearm-related injury conducted in emergency departments typically does not allow researchers to interview victims of violent injury who are under arrest. Most victims of nonfatal police-involved shootings are under arrest at the time they are treated by the ED for their injury. Research protocol on victims of violent injury often excludes individuals under arrest; they fall under the exclusion criteria when recruiting potential participants for research on violence. Researchers working in hospital emergency departments are prohibited from recruited individuals under arrests. The trauma staff, particularly ED physicians and nurses, are in a strategic position to collect this kind of data. Thus, this paper examines how trauma units can serve as an alternative in the reliable collection of police shooting data.

Although much of the literature on desistance has focused on late adolescence and early adulthood, little is known about how delinquent early adolescent African-American males develop strategies to desist from youth crime and violence during mid-early adolescence. Furthermore, there are few qualitative studies which examine the strategies delinquent black male youth use to negotiate neighborhood violence and the code of the street. This paper explores why some delinquent black male youth choose to maintain distal relationships or acquaintanceships with neighborhood peers as a safety strategy rather than forge relationships characterized by mutual obligation, trust and reciprocity. Youth define this strategy as ‘rolling dolo’. Drawing on three years of longitudinal ethnographic participant observations and interviews with 15 early adolescent African-American males (ages 12–16) living in a high-risk, low-income inner-city neighborhood in central Harlem, this paper qualitatively explores the meaning, practices and implications of the safety strategy of ‘rolling dolo’.

A small body of literature has identified cross-age peer mentoring (CAPM) as an effective mentoring model that is reciprocal in nature, affecting the outcomes of both mentees and mentors. To date, however, much of the attention and research focused on CAPM models have been conducted within school settings and few have described programs with an emphasis on disconnected young adults. This current study reports on the findings of a process evaluation that used qualitative methods to examine the impact of a cross-age group peer mentoring program on educationally disengaged young adults serving as mentors. For mentors, benefits of engaging in the CAPM program included (a) giving back, (b) preventing idleness, and (c) creating a sense of community. The results suggest that CAPM has the potential to serve as an intervention model for programs working with disengaged young adults. The article concludes with a discussion on implications for social work practice.

Research indicates that inner-city neighborhood effects are correlated with school dropout, substance abuse, crime, violence, homicide, HIV risk related behaviors, and incarceration for adolescent African American males. Parents of adolescent African American males face many challenges as they try to keep their children safe in high-risk neighborhoods. Parents often use multiple parenting approaches to improve the life chances and opportunities for this vulnerable population of youth. This chapter elaborates on the concept of exile. Exile is a parenting strategy used by parents to relocate young African American males living in high-risk communities to safer spaces. Drawing on qualitative data collected from a longitudinal ethnographic research study on the social context of adolescent violence among African American males, this chapter examines exile as a parenting approach used to keep children safe. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Language: en

An impressive array of literature acknowledges the role of family members, friends, neighbors, and community institutions as rich resources of social capital which poor African American parents utilize in the collective socialization of their children. How parents access, mobilize, and deploy family and community-based social capital in resource-deprived communities for the social benefit of their children has been well documented. Yet, little is known about the challenges poor parents face raising troubled youth, particularly African American boys, when they are unable to generate social capital within their social network of family members, friends, neighbors, and community institutions to assist with raising their children. How do low-income African American parents raise troubled youth in disadvantaged communities when there are few resources of social support to draw upon? What strategies do parents use when they have exhausted and depleted their social capital? Drawing on three years of ethnographic field observations and multiple in-depth interviews with parents of pre-delinquent African American boys, this article examines how African American parents living in an impoverished African American community in New York City rely on the juvenile justice system, particularly juvenile confinement, as a parenting strategy. The findings suggest the need for alternatives to juvenile confinement and additional social support resources that can assist parents with parenting troubled youth.

Background A number of studies reveal a strong linkage between SC use and avoiding positiveurine creens. Despite this work and given the high rates of criminal justice supervision among Black men in the U.S., little is known about SC usage among Black men under criminal justice supervision. Methods In-depth qualitative interviews were conducted with 11 Black men under criminal justicesupervision treated by an urban ED for violent injury. Results Themes that emerged from the analysis include 1) prevalence of use, 2)health literacy, 3) availability and costs, 4) negative side effects, and 5) criminal justice supervision. Conclusions Criminal justice supervision policies are a contributing factor to SC use among Black men under criminal justice supervision.

BACKGROUND: Black men are disproportionately overrepresented among victims of repeat violent injury. However, little is known about the risk factors that influence violent trauma recidivism among black men. We hypothesize that the following risk factors would be significant among black male victims of repeat violent injury: disrespect; being under the influence; being in a fight and using a weapon in the past year; and previous incarceration when comparing trauma recidivists versus nonrecidivists. METHODS: Using secondary data analysis, we identified a sample of 191 (n = 191) urban low-income black men treated by a level I trauma unit in Baltimore for violent injury (e.g., gunshot wound, stabbing, or assault) who participated in a hospital-based violence intervention program from 1998 to 2011. Participants in the program completed a risk factor for violent injury questionnaire to assess: exposure to chronic violence, criminal justice involvement, substance abuse, and disrespect (code of the street). RESULTS: We found that 58% of the sample is characterized as trauma recidivists (defined as hospitalization two or more times for violent injury). Black male patients of violent injury who engage in the following: substance abuse; had previously been in a fight or used a weapon in the past year; perceived disrespect as a precursor to violence; and experienced a previous incarceration were more likely to have multiple hospitalizations for violent injury. CONCLUSIONS: Trauma recidivism among urban black male victims of violent injury is a major public health issue. Hospital-based violence intervention programs should be engaged in reducing trauma recidivism among this population.Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. Language: en

Research indicates that inner-city neighborhood effects are correlated with school dropout, substance abuse, crime, violence, homicide, HIV risk related behaviors, and incarceration for adolescent African American males. Parents of adolescent African American males face many challenges as they try to keep their children safe in high-risk neighborhoods. Parents often use multiple parenting approaches to improve the life chances and opportunities for this vulnerable population of youth. This chapter elaborates on the concept of exile. Exile is a parenting strategy used by parents to relocate young African American males living in high-risk communities to safer spaces. Drawing on qualitative data collected from a longitudinal ethnographic research study on the social context of adolescent violence among African American males, this chapter examines exile as a parenting approach used to keep children safe.