A Hospital-based Intervention for Youth Injured Through Violence
For patients and families
In plain language
An automatic summary of structured registry data. It is an orientation aid, not a substitute for the official protocol or a physician assessment.
- What is being studied
- The protocol lists: Elevate Virtual Reality (VR), Assessement completion.
- Who it may be relevant to
- Registry conditions: Violence. Basic parameters: 13 years — 17 years · All.
- What needs checking
- Age, condition and sex are only basic indicators. Prior treatment, laboratory values and other mandatory requirements appear in the eligibility criteria below.
- Where it takes place
- United States
- Next step
- Save the trial, show it to the treating physician, and confirm current recruitment with the study center. Costs, documents and travel →
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Overview
The firearm violence epidemic is a major public health problem, especially for youth. Every day in the US, approximately 100 people fall casualty to firearms through forms of violence, such as homicide, suicide, and unintentional or accidental injuries. Among youth, firearm violence remains the leading cause of death, and each year the rate of firearm-related mortality is increasing. Beyond the significant and devastating cost of human life, firearm violence is an enormous economic burden to the US, which totals an estimated $229 billion annually. In urban communities with high rates of firearm-related violence, firearm-related emergency department visits are extremely draining on the hospital system. At the national level, firearm-related injuries account for $2.8 billion annually in emergency department care each.
Detailed description
In the state of Virginia, the rates of firearm-related fatalities are over seven times higher than the national rates, and the pandemic has made this worse, as we have seen a 52% increase in firearm-related hospitalizations. With the surge in firearm violence seen nationwide, there is a dire need for new, innovative, and effective interventions for preventing firearm-related violence, injury, and mortality among youth. Hospital-based brief violence interventions can result in long-term improvement. There is a plethora of research supporting that brief violence interventions can result in long-term improvements, including interventions for violence. Less is known about the extent to which they are effective for reducing firearm-related violence. Hospital-based brief violence interventions save lives and money. Most of the people who are violently injured are indigent and without health insurance. Inpatient costs for injury at VCU Trauma Center ranging from $33,000 to $300,000 per youth, and a national cost of violence estimated at $21 billion annually. The goal of this project is to evaluate Elevate VR an effective and innovative virtual reality (VR) brief violence intervention to prevent firearm-related violence, injury, and mortality among youth.
Interventions
- Other Elevate Virtual Reality (VR)
Elevate VR is a brief violence intervention program founded on the principles of positive psychology, motivational goal setting (via gameplay), psychoeducation, cognitive-behavioral therapy, and dialectical behavioral therapy. Elevate VR includes five psychoeducational topic modules creating a 40-minute brief violence intervention. This duration is similar to well-established brief hospital-based violence interventions. - Other Assessement completion
Questionnaires will be administered to assess Firearm-related violence ( The Gun Violence Questionnaire), Violent crime (Violent Crime Assessment) and Firearm-related attitudes and beliefs (Firearm Aggression Questionnaire)
Primary outcome measures
- Firearm-related violence assessment [Time frame: Baseline, Follow-up at 1 and 3 months post baseline]
- Violent crime assessment [Time frame: Baseline, Follow-up at 1 and 3 months post baseline]
- Firearm-related attitudes and beliefs assessment [Time frame: Baseline, Follow-up at 1 and 3 months post baseline]
- Firearm-related re-injury [Time frame: Baseline, Follow-up at 1 and 3 months post baseline]
- Risky behaviors [Time frame: Baseline, Follow-up at 1 and 3 months post baseline]
- Personality traits [Time frame: Baseline, Follow-up at 1 and 3 months post baseline]
- Future aspirations [Time frame: Baseline, Follow-up at 1 and 3 months post baseline]
Eligibility criteria
Youth participant inclusion criteria:
- Aged 13-17 years old
- English speaking
Youth participant exclusion criteria:
- Youth aged <13 years and >17 years old
- Non-English speaking
- Youth of caregivers younger than 18 years old
Adult/caregiver participant inclusion criteria:
\- Aged 18 years or older
Adult/caregiver participant exclusion criteria:
\- Aged younger than 18 years
Criteria are shown verbatim from the registry (in English). Final eligibility is always assessed by the study center.
Healthy volunteers: No
Study design
- Allocation
- Non-randomized
- Model
- Parallel assignment
- Masking
- Open label
- Primary purpose
- Prevention
Study locations
United States · 1 center
- Virginia Commonwealth University — Richmond
Identifiers
NCT: NCT07475247 · HM20029563 · R01HD112416