Aug
13
Clinical Guide: Strangulation and DV
August 13, 2009 | Leave a Comment
This summer, over at the DOVE program, where I still maintain a clinical practice (albeit a sporadic one), we’ve been working on some strangulation research. With a pretty sizeable number of cases in our domestic violence program available for review, we were blessed to have a fantastic young woman (and future physician) named Michelle join our merry band for the summer to collect descriptive data. Michelle whipped through the data collection process in a matter of weeks, and we’re eagerly awaiting the analysis (which she’s sadly not in charge of, or we probably would have had those numbers within about 24 hours of her finishing data collection).
As part of her work this summer, Michelle also did a pretty comprehensive lit search on strangulation. She’s generously agreed to share it with FHO readers, so I thought I would fold it into a clinical guide on the topic. Please note that this clinical guide is specific to strangulation in domestic violence cases, and doesn’t address strangulation in all of it’s other contexts.
Frequently Cited Articles:
This is a brief chart that provides an overview (linked to PubMed) of some of the most commonly cited articles on strangulation and DV articles.
Source: Michelle Fakler
Medical:
A more extensive look at the literature available. If the citation is hyperlinked, it goes to a free full-text article. Sorry, but I couldn’t hyperlink all 94 citations to their corresponding abstracts. Not even for you guys…
Source: Michelle Fakler
Legal:
The Impact of Minnesota’s Felony Strangulation Law (2007) (PDF), WATCH Minnesota. Here’s Part II, from this past May, but all I can link to is HTML. No working PDF for this one.
Laughon, K., et al. (2009) Review and Analysis of Laws Related to Strangulation in 50 States. Evaluation Review, 33(4), 358-369. (ABSTRACT)
Turkel, A., (2008). And Then He Choked Me: Understanding, Investigating and Prosecuting Strangulation Cases. The Voice, 2(1). NDAA (PDF)
Clinical Recording Form:
If you’re looking for some ideas for charting, check out the sexual assault medical-forensic record from the Oregon Attorney General’s Sexual Assault Task Force. I was just there doing some work for the sustainability project and had the opportunity to review their record. Page 5 has a section for charting strangulation that could easily be adopted.
Presentations:
Many people ask about existing presentations on the topic. So I’ve included a few of the ones available at SlideShare. As with all user-generated content, please evaluate fully before using–I do not guarantee quality, comprehensiveness or accuracy when I provide these links:
EMS: Strangulation Trauma in Domestic Violence: Robert S. Cole, CCEMT-P
Respond to Intimate Partner Violence in Your Medical Practice: Ellen Taliaferro, MD
If you have other resources or references not already listed, please add them in the comments.
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