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Injury resulting from targeted violence: An emergency department perspective
Author(s) -
Sivarajasingam Vaseekaran,
Read Simon,
Svobodova Martina,
Wight Lucy,
Shepherd Jonathan
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
criminal behaviour and mental health
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.63
H-Index - 54
eISSN - 1471-2857
pISSN - 0957-9664
DOI - 10.1002/cbm.2066
Subject(s) - sexual orientation , thematic analysis , transgender , victimisation , prejudice (legal term) , emergency department , psychology , suicide prevention , harm , medicine , poison control , psychiatry , clinical psychology , qualitative research , social psychology , medical emergency , sociology , social science , psychoanalysis
Background Hate crimes – those perpetrated because of perceived difference, including disability, race, religion, sexual orientation or transgender status – have not been studied at the point of the victim's hospital emergency department (ED) use. Aim To investigate the frequency, levels of physical harm and circumstances of targeted violence in those seeking treatment at EDs in three UK cities. Method In a multimethods study, face‐to‐face semi‐structured interviews were conducted with 124 adult ED attenders with violent injuries. Victim and perpetrator socio‐demographics were recorded. Patient narratives about perceived motives and circumstances were transcribed, uploaded onto NVivo for thematic analysis. Results Nearly a fifth (23, 18.5%) of the injured patients considered themselves to have been attacked by others motivated by hostility or prejudice to their ‘difference’ (targeted violence). Thematic analyses suggested these prejudices were to appearance (7 cases), racial tension (5 cases), territorial association (3 cases) and race, religious or sexual orientation (8 cases). According to victims, alcohol intoxication was particularly relevant in targeted violence (estimated reported frequency 90% and 56% for targeted and non‐targeted violence, respectively). Conclusions Our findings support a broader concept of hate victimisation and suggest that emergency room violence surveys could act as a community tension sensor and early warning system in this regard. Tackling alcohol misuse seems as important in this as in other forms of violence perpetration. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.