Sorry I missed you all on Friday–I stole away for a weekend with my kiddo. I don’t need to tell you how special that kind of time is. So not much work happened this weekend. But lots of reading did–airport delays and all that leave plenty of time for scanning my Twitter feed. I thought about calling this the sexually assaulted by powerful men edition, but while my list is definitely dominated by that topic, it’s not the entirety of it. So here’s what I’ve been reading since last we spoke.
Category: DV/IPV
The Family Justice Center Alliance has just released their new report, Addressing the Health Needs of Intimate Partner Violence Survivors. I’ve just started working my way through it. There’s important information here–I recommend setting some time aside to take a look.
Here’s the thing–I am immersed in the last throws of curriculum writing and have been for weeks, so pretty much everything I read this past weekend was related to domestic violence. So nothing from popular media to report back to you today. However, February is Teen Dating Violence Awareness Month, and our friends at VAWnet have an updated special collection for you to check out. Plus, after the jump, a small selection from the science (I made it just for you):
This week’s article was just published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, a meta-analysis looking at access to firearms and risk of homicide and/or suicide. Details after the jump:
The Battered Women’s Justice Project is hosting a webinar on February 11th, Pornography and the Abuse of Women. The session will be held from 1-2:30pm CT. One of the featured speakers is Dr. Walter DeKeseredy, who has also done some interesting work on intimate partner violence in rural communities (here and here). Good topic, rarely taught in medical circles, so I’m looking forward to it.
With trips to 3 different continents in the next 3 months on the books (along with multiple trips within the US on the calendar) I am not complaining about my time at home. It is, in fact, the exact right time to be at home for an extended stretch, what with major project deadlines looming. I took a little time this weekend to visit friends down in Charlottesville, though, and the drive home (with me in the passenger seat) afforded me a bit of time to pleasure read. So here’s what I was perusing since last we spoke:
So I feel like I say this every month, but holy hell there’s some *awesome* stuff in the literature this month. How can you not get excited by some of the articles being published right now? (Don’t roll your eyes at me, people, I can totally see you.) Even the stuff that’s not 100% relevant to our practice is just fascinating. Add to that the fact that more articles than usual are free full-text and that just leaves me beyond excited. As always, keep in mind this isn’t an exhaustive list; just the articles that caught my eye as I reviewed the new literature. Links lead to PubMed abstracts unless otherwise indicated.
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Since Last We Spoke, MLK Day
We slipped away to Philly for a weekend of food and freezing cold. We walked (according to my Fitbit) 10 miles yesterday in said cold, so not surprisingly neither me nor my spouse feel super awesome today. We’re spending the day trying to just take it easy, because tomorrow the weather gods will apparently be unkind to the DC metro area and there’s quite a bit of snow (for us) on the horizon. So while I lounge about eating brownies and watching a marginal John Cusack movie, let me share what I’ve been reading since last we spoke:
The National Health Collaborative on Violence and Abuse is hosting a webinar January 21st from 1-2:30 pm ET, Supporting Our Troops’ Families: The Impact of Family Violence on Military Families. There are CMEs available; nurses you get the bum deal on this one–no CEUs (which I have to say is disappointing considering the chair of the Collaborative is a nurse; there are nursing organizations participating in the Collaborative, including IAFN; one of the speakers is a nurse; and the moderator is a nurse–tough to understand how that happens). Still, it looks like a good session, being familiar with several of the folks presenting. Details after the jump:
After a grueling week in trial, I was able to get back home this weekend to begin the holiday season in earnest. I had the overnight flight home from Honolulu, and thanks to an upgrade, actually slept the whole way back; I’ve been in a jet-lagged haze for the past 36 hours thanks to that questionable decision. So last night while unable to sleep I finally caught up on some reading (and some emails). Here’s what’s caught my attention since last we spoke:
The Tribal Forensic Healthcare project has another webinar coming up: Abuse Screening, Intervention and Documentation in the Health Care Setting. The session will be held January 24th at 3pm ET. CEUs are available; CMEs have been applied for.
Well, my friends, I am heading out the door bright and early tomorrow for a week of work in the Pacific. I will be putting in some guaranteed long hours so posts next week may be spotty. Please note that if you send me requests or questions I may be a bit delayed in responding, so thanks in advance for your patience. In the meantime, here’s this month’s Articles of Note. Some great stuff out this month, and even a few free full-text articles. There’s a lot to slog through, but I couldn’t help myself. Enjoy.
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Since Last We Spoke, 12/9/13
I’m hanging out at the Army JAG school for a few days, teaching and waiting to hear if I will actually be on the road 2 days or 2 weeks (I could get excited about either, but I’m definitely feeling the pull of being home with my spouse). I could be headed to Hawaii at the end of the week, but that work is up in the air at this moment, so for now I am surrounded by ice and snow in Charlottesville, VA. Not a bad place to be, all things considered. The lousy weather that started yesterday certainly had us home-bound over the weekend, and left plenty of time for napping–and reading. So here’s what’s caught my eye since last we spoke:
Medscape has an overview of an article (recently published in Neurology), Brain Injury Lingers at Least 4 Months After Concussion, about the length of time it takes to fully heal from mild traumatic brain injury. As professionals caring for assaulted patients it’s certainly worth a read (and some ensuing discussion) considering statements such as this:
He said it was not possible from this study to give advice on how long the brain takes to return to normal. “But I would say that the current advice that the patient just sits out for a week is really not satisfactory. Our results suggest a much longer period is needed for healing. If it was my child with a concussion I would try and preclude activities that might result in another mild traumatic brain injury for at least a couple of months and probably longer.”
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Vicarious Trauma and Self Care
JWI’s National Alliance to End Domestic Abuse is hosting a webinar, Vicarious Trauma and Self Care. It’s being offered December 19th from noon-1:30pm ET. Since this is a topic we need to talk about much more and there aren’t a lot of webinars with this focus I would encourage you to consider registering.
The Children’s Safety Network is hosting a webinar on December 11th: Leveraging Hospitals to Stop the Cycle of Violence. The session will be held from 2-3pm ET and is free of charge. Details after the jump:
I hope all of you who were celebrating the holiday(s) last week had a lovely time of it; we certainly did. And what a luxury to just take 5 days off, with minimal connectedness for most of that time. But today it’s back to my fully-plugged reality, and the sprint to get everything done before folks scatter during the last 2 weeks of the year. December means the end of a project; what appears to be the beginning of another; one more military trial; and some quality time with a few of my favorite JAGs. This week I’m home, though, which will hopefully translate to serious productivity and catching up on some reading. Speaking of which, here’s what’s caught my eye since last we spoke:
I’ll keep this brief, because I have much to do today and intend to take the rest of the week off (surrounded by family and eating my weight in Thanksgiving/Hanukkah treats). Also, we’re nursing colds in the FHO household right now, so some prescribed down time is in order. First things first: today begins the 16 Days of Activism to End Gender Violence Campaign. Head over to their site to read up on the campaign, get some ideas for how you can participate and check out their downloadable resources.
I mentioned the MORE article in a recent Since Last We Spoke post, but yesterday, the survey they featured exploring the relationship between domestic violence and chronic health conditions was formally discussed at a Capitol Hill briefing sponsored by the magazine and the Verizon Foundation. As part of that briefing they also released a really nice executive summary of the study results (PDF). Trying to make a case to your hospital that your program should be responding to more than just sexual assault patients? Or are you trying to make the case to your organization’s administration or your funders that DV is a public health issue? Add this to your supporting documents. (You can also check out a report on the study by MSNBC here.)
I am currently hopscotching my way back across the country after stealing a weekend with my spouse in Santa Fe (post-awesome week of SANE training in Montana). Plenty of time to catch up on some reading since I did not do anything even related to work while down there (hello Canyon Road., hello silver jewelry, hello green chile). Tomorrow I will be back at it, but for today I am hurrying up and waiting–a lot. So here’s what I’ve been reading (today) since last we spoke: