JOURNAL OF INJURY & VIOLENCE RESEARCH
Year:2020 | Volume:12 | Issue:2|Papers Count:10

Background: Well-functioning health systems and effective preventive measures require registering the exact number and valid data of fatal injuries. The present study aimed to determine the completeness of fatal injuries reported by LMO with the use of the capture-recapture method and finding the reasons for those unregistered fatal injuries in Hamedan County. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in Hamadan County from 22 August 2015 to 21 August 2016. The completeness of fatal injuries reported by LMO, as the main source of fatal njuries was estimated with the employ of the capture-recapture method including Health Department and Police. Log-linear modeling was used for statistical analysis. The number of fatal njuries that probably had not been detected in any three sources was estimated by using the GENLOG command. Results: A total of 451 fatal injuries were registered in LMO for one year. The registries were ncluded different amounts of detailed information from at least five variables in the Emergency Medical System (EMS) up to all detailed information in the LMO and Health Department. More fatal injuries occurred in males than females at all ages and the two-sex difference spectrum was wider between about 20 to 45 years old. Among cases of LMO, we found 29 unreported deaths. Therefore, the completeness of reported fatal injuries by LMO was estimated to be 86. 9%. Conclusions: Fatal injuries are under-reported by the main source of this type of death in Iran. dentification of fundamental causes, integrated death registry system, and using a standard cause of death classification are needed to promote the registration of fatal injuries.

Background: TBI, standing for Traumatic Brain Injury, is a leading cause of death worldwide; nonetheless, data on its management has hitherto been sparse. In view of the fact that brain lobectomy is a contentious issue in the management of TBI, we set out the current study to assess the mortality rate and outcomes of TBI with delayed contusion or Intracerebral Hemorrhage (ICH) undergoing lobectomy. Methods: We evaluated 135 TBI patients with delayed contusion or ICH undergoing brain lobectomy from 2001 to 2013. Withal, the mortality and Glasgow Outcome Scale (GOS) and Glasgow Comma Scale (GCS) rates were assessed in these patients and the association in between was sought. Results: The TBI patients undergoing brain lobectomy (77% male versus 23 % female) had a mean age of 43. 4± 20. 3 years and experienced a survival rate of 62. 2% (71% in females versus 60% in males). Favorable GOS was observed in 53% of male patients, compared with 27% in the females. Age was demonstrated to significantly affect the mortality rate (p=0. 0001). Initial GCS score was associated with GOS as 79. 1% of the survived patients with a GCS of higher than 9 on admission were discharged with favorable GOS. Conclusions: The evidence from the present study indicates that lobectomy can be an acceptable surgical procedure in management of TBI patients with delayed contusion or ICH.

Background: Development of construction and operation of subway rail transit system in populated cities of middle-and high-income countries along with the increasing population of its users, have exacerbated the safety problems of the users against incidents and emergencies in subway stations. Although subway emergency evacuation is considered by the governments and subway network organizations as a critical task related to passengers' safety at the time of emergency, the risk of mass evacuation in station is undeniable. The main objective of this study is to identify factors affecting safe evacuation of the population from subway station and to propose the strategies for addressing them based on experiences or opinions of stakeholders in Tehran Subways, Iran. Methods: This is a qualitative study that was conducted between January 2017 and December 2018, in which a semi-structured interview was conducted for 17 participants among the senior managers, executive managers, subway station operations staff, and subway passengers in Tehran subway stations, in the Capital of Iran. In order to analyze the data of this qualitative study, the Graneheim and Lundman method was used and manifested content analysis approach was employed. Results: Based on the findings of this study, the factors affecting safe evacuation of the population from subways station were identified in four main categories covering passengers, organization, communications, and environment. Then the main categories of "culture, interaction and cooperation of passengers", "correct and timely decision-making", "notification", and "location of emergency evacuation" were emerged as safe emergency evacuation challenges and the most important findings of this study; and strategies were proposed to improve the safety of passengers at emergency evacuation of subway stations. Conclusions: In the present study, the lack of safe approach to improving passengers' safety in the development plan of Tehran subway rail transit network is a major concern for managers and operations staff. Therefore, changing the attitude of policy makers from focusing on the quantitative development of passenger transportation services to improving safety and then the quality of passengers' trip is taken into account as an urgent need to improve the safety of subway passengers.

Background: Accidents and injuries are the leading cause of childhood morbidity and mortality. This study aimed to investigate the incidences of different causes of accidents in children under 6 years old. Methods: This population-based cross-sectional study was carried out in one year (2016-2017) on a sample of 6000 children in Southern Iran with a multistage sampling method using a standard checklist for comprehensive child health monitoring. Results: The annual incidence rate of accidents was 16% and the mean age of accident victims was 2. 5± 1. 5 years. Of these, 17. 3% and 14. 8% were male and female, respectively. 25% of the children suffered from more than one accident. The most common causes of accidents were burns (16%), falls (14%), and accidents involving objects (10%). In multivariate analysis, a higher number of male children in the family and lower child age significantly increased the likelihood of accidents (p less than 0. 05). Conclusions: This study was a direct survey of the population, and showed that the incidence rate of accidents in children in southern Iran was in line with that of other regions of Iran, but less than the world average. There was no significant difference in accident etiology and only trends in etiology were found compared to studies using existing data.

Background: Unintentional injuries in the home are one of the threats to childhood quality of life which is considered as a social determinant of health. Regarding mother's leading role in taking care of the children in Iranian families, the present study was conducted to investigate mothers' home-injury prevention attitude and performance and its contributing factors in Sahand safe community, East-Azerbaijan, Iran. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study conducted in 2017. Sampling was done using "Random Sampling method" among all mothers having at least one U-5 child and attended the health centers to receive childcare services. A valid attitude questionnaire and safety performance checklist were used for data collection. Data were analyzed by SPSS-24, using descriptive (frequency, mean, etc. ) and inferential statistics (chi-square, Kruskal-Wallis). Results: The mean age of mothers was 30. 58 (± 5. 01). About 65% of the mothers had primary or secondary school education. The mean score of mothers' attitude was 72. 12(± 6. 79). More than 58% of the mothers had an appropriate level of attitude. The mothers' injury prevention performance mean score was 66. 59 (± 12. 85). Family’ s socioeconomic status, mother's age, educational level, and job, father's job, age, and gender of the child were the contributing factors (p less than 0. 05). Conclusions: Most of the mothers have an appropriate level of home-injury prevention attitude but a low level of performance. Strengthening Primary Health Care system in safe communities would have a leading role in child safety promotion through increasing the mother's knowledge, attitude and performance level.

Background: Teen-dating violence (TDV) can lead to health problems for those involved, especially females, including homicides and is predictive of intimate partner violence in adulthood. Methods: To analyze the adolescents' perception of definitions, justifications and consequences of TDV, a qualitative study through 13 focus groups with 132 high school students from public and private schools of Rio de Janeiro city, including 70 girls and 62 boys was conducted. We followed a guide with questions about interpersonal violence and participants completed a self-administered questionnaire on socio-demographic data. The data analysis included reading and comprehension of the textual data; coding of the reports according to the emerged categories; identification of the meanings attributed by the subjects to the questions raised; comparative dialogue with literature; and elaboration of interpretative synthesis. Results: Most adolescents affirmed that TDV is not justifiable. However, in practice, they found it acceptable in certain situations. The narratives of the boys were based on the role of the perpetrator and the girls on that of the victim. Violence occurs when the man feels his power challenged and is influenced by situations of violence experienced in his own family as victims or witnesses. The TDV consequences are for the women and include, in addition to physical and psychological damage, relational problems in other spheres such as family, friends and school. The experience of violence was more common among public school students. Conclusions: The adolescents’ narratives reflect the gender patterns of society in which violence results from inequality of power. The data of this study offer subsidies to policies on TDV prevention and its consequences. They can contribute to training primary care professionals to identify on clinical consultations signs and symptoms of violence and to develop interventions to reduce the health problems of victims.

Background: Motorcyclist’ s behavior plays an important role in increasing the mortality rate caused by traffic crash. Identifying the risky behaviors of motorcycle riders is essential to maintain and improve the health of motorcycle riders and other community members. The aim of this study was to determine the riding patterns and risky riding behaviors of motorcycle riders in Bukan as a marginal small-sized Kurdish populated district in North-West of Iran and investigating some predictors of it. Methods: In this cross-sectional, 340 motorcycle riders of Bukan were studied. By referring to city health center and preparing the city map, the entire city was divided into 14 clusters based on the areas covered by the health centers. Then, 7 clusters were randomly selected out of these 14 clusters. Motorcycle riding behavior questionnaire (MRBQ) was used to study the risky behaviors of motorcycle riders while riding. Both bivariate and multivariate regression analysis methods were used to study the associations. Results: All participants were male. Their mean age was 30. 2 (SD=9. 1). The most common risky behaviors possessed by at least 23% of motorcycle riders included 1) inappropriate control of motorcycle when turning, 2) taking another person without helmet by motorcycle, 3) riding without helmet, 4) taking more than one person by motorcycle, 5) exceeding the permissible speed outer city, 6) exceeding the permissible speed inside the city and 7) carrying heavy load by motorcycle. Mean normalized MRBQ score was 30. 5 (SD=11. 2). Based on multivariate analysis, age, lacking a riding license, riding experience and average amount of riding were the independent predictors of risky riding score. Conclusions: Among the predictive factors that led to high risk behaviors in the studied motorcyclists were low age, marital status, low driving experience, low education, non-use of safety equipment lack of certification. This can be done by increasing drivers' awareness of laws and regulations and promoting the culture of traffic safety to prevent high-risk behaviors in motorcyclists in order to prevent possible injuries.

Background: Domestic violence is a social phenomenon where a family member, husband, wife or another cohabiting person in the household tries to dominate, physically or mentally, the other partner, children, parents, grandparents, in-laws, etc., using their physical advantage, threats, blackmail, with the intention of harm. The aim of the study was find the perceptions of university students regarding the phenomenon of violence and to show similarities and differences in this respect between students from Poland and Belarus (PL and BY). Methods: A total of 482 persons took part in the study, including 251 students from Szczecin (Poland) and 231 students from Grodno (Belarus). The method was a diagnostic survey using the authors’ original questionnaire. The questionnaire consisted of two parts: the first, containing 6 demographic questions, and the second containing 25 mainly closed-ended questions. Results: In the perceptions of the respondents from Poland and Belarus, women are statistically more likely to experience violence, and men are more likely to use it. The responses of students from Poland and Belarus show statistical connections regarding such behaviors as a single spank, shouting, refusing to talk – recognizing them mostly as a form of violence. The respondents from both countries also show a convergent position concerning quarrelling and forcing a person to drink alcohol or smoke cigarettes, recognizing them as violent behavior. Significant differences can also be observed with regard to such behaviors as throwing objects, name-calling and mocking, which do not indicate violence in the opinions of the majority of students from Belarus, in contrast to the Polish students, who perceive these behaviors as violent. Conclusions: Students from both countries acknowledge that the concealment of domestic violence by victims mainly results from fear of worsening their already difficult situation as well as from fear of retaliation by the perpetrator.

Background: Work place violence (WPV) is one of the workplace factors that can affect many aspects of the emergency staff's life. In this study, we are investigating the relationship between WPV and occupational stress. Methods: We surveyed emergency department (ED) staff in a cross-sectional study design in three Mashhad Hospitals between 2017 and 2018. World Health Organization WPV and occupational stress questionnaire was used and 171 out of 200 collected data were analyzed. To investigate the relationship between different variables, t-test and logistic regression were implemented. Results: In general, 58 (34. 5%) participants had reported a physical assault, 116 (71. 6%) verbal abuse, and 76 (44. 4%) bullying/harassment within the past year. Males reported more experience of physical assault (P less than 0. 001), verbal abuse (P less than 0. 04) and bullying/harassment (P less than 0. 01). The educational level and time shifts were associated with the frequency of physical violence and bullying/harassment (P less than 0. 03), respectively. We noticed an association between the job stress scales and some types of work place violence including physical assault (P=0. 02), bullying/harassment (P=0. 006) and demands scale in recent cited violence (P=0. 07). Conclusion: We presented considerable prevalence of WPV among ED staff. Improving workplace condition and reducing occupational stress could be decrease WPV frequency.

The United Nations Office of Disaster Risk Reduction defines disaster risk as the “ likelihood of loss of life, injury or destruction and damage from a disaster in a given period, and a product of the complex interactions that generate conditions of exposure, vulnerability and hazard” . Racial and ethnic minorities in the United States have been shown to have increased vulnerability and risk to disasters due to links between racism, vulnerability, and economic power, based on disadvantage related to different disaster stages: 1) reduced perception of personal disaster risk; 2) lack of preparedness; 3) reduced access and response to warning systems; 4) increased physical impacts due to substandard housing; 5) likelihood of poorer psychological outcomes; 6) cultural insensitivity on the part of emergency workers; 7) marginalization, lower socio-economic status, and less familiarity with support resources leading to protracted recovery; and 8) diminished standard of living, job loss, and exacerbated poverty during reconstruction and community rebuilding. Moreover, given that psychiatric morbidity is predictable in populations exposed to disasters, mental health and psychosocial support programs should increasingly become a standard part of a humanitarian response. In the crisis and immediate recovery phase of disasters, the focus should be on making survivors feel safe and giving them assistance in decreasing their anxiety by addressing their basic needs and welfare. So, it is critical that governmental institutions, business, and non-profit organizations proactively find mechanisms to work collaboratively and share resources. Special attention and extra resources must be directed towards vulnerable and marginalized populations. In this editorial we share lessons learned from experiencing disproportionate impact of health crisis and advocate for the notion that recovery efforts must address trauma at individual, interpersonal and community levels, and be based in a healing justice framework.