How hospital-based violence prevention professionals work: a qualitative study

Hospital-based violence intervention programs (HVIP) hinge on the ability of violence prevention professionals to assist the recovery of intentionally injured patients to prevent further spread of violence. Yet, we know little about the tactics these professionals use or whether the tactics developed by one violence prevention professional transfer to another. To address these gaps, this research catalogs the tactics frontline professionals use to meet the recovery needs of violently injured patients.

Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 23 hospital-based violence prevention professionals to identify tactics used in everyday work. Interviews were organized around 10 "hinge points" on the patient's recovery continuum deemed integral to program success, identified a priori. The Action Actor Context Target Time (AACTT) rubric helped ascertain essential information about each tactic identified via inductive thematic analysis.

We identified 214 tactics used by violence prevention professionals. Tactics addressing the initial patient encounter (n=49), trustbuilding efforts with patients (n=44), and service navigation (n=39) represented the largest and most diverse share of tactics identified. Comparably few tactics engaged patient retention (n=11) or aftercare as patients exited the program (n=3).

Dissemination of these tactics will strengthen the skillsets of current HVIP professionals, while enhancing the training of future violence prevention personnel. Findings may support the creation of practical, readily deployable toolkits to translate tactical insight to diverse contexts where HVIPs operate, including HVIPs not yet established.

VI: Evidence from a single descriptive or qualitative study.