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Updated: Jul 31, 2026

The Resident-intruder Paradigm: A Standardized Test for Aggression, Violence and Social Stress
Published on: July 4, 2013
Patient reported outcomes 6 to 12 months after interpersonal violence: A multicenter cohort study
Manuel Castillo-Angeles1, Juan P Herrera-Escobar, Alexander Toppo
1From the Division of Trauma, Burn, and Surgical Critical Care, Department of Surgery, (M.C.-A., J.P.H.-E., A.S., A.H.H., D.N.), Center for Surgery and Public Health, Department of Surgery (M.C.-A., J.P.H.-E., A.T., A.S., A.H.H.), Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School; Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health (M.C.-A., J.P.H.-E., A.T., A.S., A.H.H.); Division of Trauma, Acute Care Surgery and Surgical Critical Care, Department of Surgery (S.E.S.), Boston University School of Medicine; and Division of Trauma, Emergency Surgery, and Surgical Critical Care, Department of Surgery (H.M.K.), Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts.
Purpose:
Violence continues to be a significant public health burden, but little is known about the long-term outcomes of these patients. Our goal was to determine the impact of violence-related trauma on long-term functional and psychosocial outcomes.
Methods:
We identified trauma patients with moderate to severe injuries (Injury Severity Score, ≥9) treated at one of three level 1 trauma centers. These patients were asked to complete a survey over the phone between 6 and 12 months after injury evaluating both functional and psychosocial outcomes (12-item Short Form Survey, Trauma Quality of Life, posttraumatic stress disorder [PTSD] screen, chronic pain, return to work). Patients were classified as having suffered a violent injury if the mechanism of injury was a stab, gunshot, or assault. Self-inflicted wounds were excluded. Adjusted logistic regression models were built to determine the association between a violent mechanism of injury and long-term outcomes.
Results:
A total of 1,050 moderate to severely injured patients were successfully followed, of whom 176 (16.8%) were victims of violence. For the victims of violence, mean age was 34.4 years (SD, 12.5 years), 85% were male, and 57.5% were Black; 30.7% reported newly needing help with at least one activity of daily living after the violence-related event. Fifty-nine (49.2%) of 120 patients who were working before their injury had not yet returned to work; 47.1% screened positive for PTSD, and 52.3% reported chronic pain. On multivariate analysis, a violent mechanism was significantly associated with PTSD (odds ratio, 2.57; 95% confidence interval, 1.59-4.17; p < 0.001) but not associated with chronic pain, return to work, or functional outcomes.
Conclusion:
The physical and mental health burden after violence-related trauma is not insignificant. Further work is needed to identify intervention strategies and social support systems that may be beneficial to reduce this burden.
Level Of Evidence:
Prognostic and epidemiological, level III.
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