Patients presenting with fresh trauma after interpersonal violence. Part II. Assault history

Patients presenting with fresh trauma are frequently victims of interpersonal violence. Nevertheless, few South African studies have documented the history surrounding such assaults and their management.

Patients presenting with fresh trauma to the Trauma Unit of Tygerberg Hospital were selected in order to provide a representative sample. Where patients were victims of interpersonal violence, a history of the current and previous assault(s) was taken.

Victims of interpersonal violence often reported that they had been involved in such violence on previous occasions. Nevertheless, these patients had rarely received management from psychosocial services. Patients with a previous history of having been assaulted had a number of distinct characteristics, including female gender and increased substance use.

Trauma has justifiably been described as a recurrent disease. There is an urgent need for effective psychosocial services for victims of interpersonal violence; ideally, this would prevent future multiple hospital admissions.