Association Between Healing Hurt People Hospital-Based Violence Intervention Program Participation and Trauma-Related...

Examine associations between engagement with the hospital-based violence intervention program, Healing Hurt People (HHP), and trauma-related psychological symptoms among violently injured people ages 18 to 30 years.

Participants selected from 3 hospitals' emergency departments (EDs) completed clinical scales for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) with the PTSD Checklist for DSM-5 (PCL-5), depression with the Patient Health Questionnaire -8 (PHQ-8), sleep with the Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS), and perceived stress with the perceived stress scale at baseline (≤90 days after presenting to ED) and follow-up (intended follow-up 6 months after baseline). Controls were selected from the EDs of 2 hospitals before the launch of HHP between 2015 and 2016. Most intervention group participants were selected from the ED of the hospital where HHP was operational between 2014 and 2020. We performed linear and logistic regression analyses for associations between program participation and posttraumatic stress disorder, depression, sleep, and perceived stress, adjusting for baseline scores, age, sex (assigned at birth), race/ethnicity, injury type, and days between baseline and follow-up.

The analytical sample contained 47 control and 43 intervention participants. In linear regressions, HHP was not associated with changes in any trauma-related psychological symptom scores. In logistic regressions, HHP was associated with a 9 and 21 percentage-point increase in the probability of any improvement in depression and sleep, respectively.

This study's findings constitute descriptive (ie, not causal) evidence, which suggests that HHP may be associated with improvements in trauma-related psychological symptoms. When randomized control trials are not feasible, future research using quasi-experimental studies that can better address unobserved heterogeneity is needed to evaluate hospital-based violence intervention programs.