Developing Coordinated Hospital-Community Trauma Informed Care to Prevent Youth Violence
Principal Investigator:
Briana Woods-Jaeger, PhD | Emory University, Rollins School of Public Health
Co-Investigators:
Jessica Sales, PhD | Emory University, Rollins School of Public Health
Randi Smith, MD, MPH | Emory University School of Medicine, Department of Surgery
Partner Organizations:
Why is this project important?
Youth violence is a significant public health issue, particularly for Black youth who experience higher rates of violence-related injuries. This project aims to interrupt the cycle of violence by providing culturally responsive, trauma-informed care. The findings will inform the development of effective hospital-community partnerships and contribute to health equity by addressing the unique needs of violently injured Black youth.
Key Contribution to Science:
While implementation of hospital-based violence intervention programs has risen considerably as a means to reduce violence-related health inequities, these programs often lack input from affected communities, such as Black youth, and fail to address the roles of racism and other structural factors contributing to program success. This study will develop implementation strategies for hospital-community trauma-informed care programs that ensure alignment between youth and community needs and program services.
Violent injury is a pervasive, preventable public health issue that disproportionately impacts youth and young adults. Risk of violent injury is increased in racially segregated, urban areas of concentrated poverty. Compared to young people in other racial/ethnic groups, Black youth experience higher rates of violence-related injuries and homicide, with homicide being the leading cause of death for this population.
Multilevel interventions that promote social support and community connectedness can reduce risk for re-injury and prevent negative psychosocial sequelae among violently injured youth. Young people who are violently injured are more likely to be involved in later violence and less likely to follow up on medical advice compared to youth with other injuries, making the time immediately following an injury a “reachable moment.”
The hospital represents an important setting for a multilevel intervention after violent injury.
Existing hospital-based interventions for violently injured youth focus largely on brief interventions designed to interrupt the cycle of violence. While these interventions show promise, they do not target socioecological factors (e.g., social support, access to resources) associated with violence-related health disparities.
This project aims to develop coordinated hospital-community trauma-informed care (HCTIC) programs for violently injured Black youth. The study uses a mixed-methods approach to assess the needs and resources of these youth and their families. By partnering with the community, this project aims to develop specific strategies for these programs to address both personal and broader social issues related to youth violence. The goal is to create a sustainable model that improves health outcomes and reduces violence-related disparities.
- Conduct a mixed-methods assessment including:
- in-depth interviews with violently-injured Black youth and their parent/caregivers and
- an electronic survey with health care providers and community stakeholders to assess:
- Black violently-injured patient needs and resources;
- essential components and resources needed for a coordinated HCTIC model;
- relative priority of implementing the coordinated HCTIC model to address violence-related inequities among Black youth; and
- compatibility of coordinated HCTIC with norms, values, perceived risks and needs.
- Partner with Black youth with lived experience of community violence exposure to analyze the qualitative data from Aim 1.