Canadian Injury Prevention & Control Conference Halifax, NS November 1, 2005 A PILOT STUDY ON INTENTIONAL ASSAULT INJURIES IN CHILDREN AGES 10 TO 17 YEARS, IN CANADA Project Team: Fahra Rajabali, MSc Mhairi Nolan, RN Lise Olsen, BSN, MPH, PhD (cand.) Guanghong Han, PhD Mariana Brussoni, PhD Dorry Smith, MPH

Project objectives Understand the characteristics and patterns of intentional physical assault injuries among children and youth aged 10 to 17 years Identify how and why the assaults occurred Examine relevant demographic variables of the assault victims

Why this came about Intentional Injury Among Children and Youths at BC Children’s Hospital (CHIRPP poster) Majority of intentional injuries were assault- related (39.5%) More males than females (79.7%) year olds (n=131) Friday (52%) and Tuesday (45%)

Methods Integrated two different methodologies of research; quantitative and qualitative Quantitative approach: –Aimed at better understanding the risk factors such as age, sex, location, etc. –Data from emergency departments (CHIRPP) Qualitative approach: –Gather in-depth interview data from youth –Obtain a fuller account of the events leading up to the assault

Quantitative Methods Emergency department data –14 hospitals in CHIRPP –Years –Included Siblings, cousins, peers All sports –Excluded Parents, relatives or caregivers, Police, teachers and security officers

Emergency department data –Frequencies and percentages Age, sex, location, cause, nature, body part, mechanism of injury, weapons, alcohol involvement and treatment – Chi-square and test for proportions Test for the significance of any differences between groups and proportions in the distribution Quantitative Methods

Qualitative Methods Interview data –Open-ended qualitative interviews –Interview criteria Between 10 and 17 years Presenting to B.C. Children’s Hospital Emergency Department in 2002 Provided written permission to be contacted for follow-up –7 agreed to be interviewed CHIRPP form coded for physical assault

Qualitative Methods Interview data –Interviews were audio-taped – with permission –Participants described the incident in their own words –Interview data Analyzed using thematic analysis (Boyatzis, 1998) NVivo software - used to assist with the coding process, organization of the data and identified themes

Quantitative Findings  Weekdays - 12:00pm - 1:00pm (14.3%) 3:00pm - 4:00pm (12.5%)  Weekend - 8:00pm – 10:00pm (22.1%)  Activity when assaulted -quarrel, aggression, fight or riot (55.9%)

Place of Injury Occurrence

Type of Weapon Used

Quantitative Findings Alcohol/drug related - common among males and youth aged years (4.3%) Most common body part injured: –Head/neck (66.4%) required treatment, a short observation stay in the emergency room or transferred to another hospital

Qualitative Findings Most occurred in schools - after class and when unsupervised In several of the assaults - there had been previous conflicts, arguments or verbal intimidation between the students Some students - knew the assailant (classmates) Non school assaults – random attacks

Qualitative Findings Help received - from friends, parent, coach, teachers and adult supervisors Bystanders - Their lack of action was quite notable in this set of interviews Weapons used were scissors, screwdriver and bottle

Limitations The hospitals participating in CHIRPP are not uniformly distributed across the country, therefore, the data are not representative of all regions in Canada. Complete accuracy and consistency of data cannot be assumed The small sample size for the interviews. The time lag between the assault and the interview

Recommendations for Additional Research School program and policies Role of bystanders Role of physical environment Perception from family, peers and teachers Gender issues Perpetrator demographics and circumstances Characteristics of different assault situations and their outcomes Sport-related assault considered separately

Thank you