Category: Elder Abuse/Neglect

Articles of Note: December 2019 Edition (See You in 2020)

Post author By Jen
Post date December 12, 2019
6 Comments on Articles of Note: December 2019 Edition (See You in 2020)

This will be the last post of the year–I am closing up shop for the remainder of the year to prep a couple of large projects and spend some time with family and friends (not to mention, celebrate a milestone birthday with Sasha 🙂 ). When I come back, it will likely be with a brand new website, a completely new look, and the 11th anniversary of FHO. I imagine there will be a giveaway involved in commemorating that momentous occasion, so stay tuned for more details.

I figured we’d end the year in the most appropriate way–one final Articles of Note to give folks a bit of reading over the holidays. You’ll notice it looks a little different–PubMed has had a facelift, and in the process, is better in some ways, but worse for this list. So now, all links lead to Publisher’s websites for abstracts, except where indicated (and there’s a lot that’s free full text this month). Nice to also see some friends among the authors.

As always, thanks for turning out to this nerdy little website in 2019. Almost 2000 of you now subscribe; more than 22K new users showed up this year, and if you’re wondering what the number one most visited page was on the site (besides the home page, of course), it was this one (which I guess, shouldn’t surprise me that much).

See you back here next year. A safe, happy and healthy holiday to you all.

xoxo Jen

Loading…

Taking too long?

Reload document

Open in new tab

Download [107.06 KB]

________________

Have you checked out the FHO store lately? You can find the newest research brief, Applying The Strangulation Research To Expert Testimony In Cases With Adult Victims. Or purchase the complete set of three (Strangulation, Aging Bruises, and Consensual Sex Injury) for a special price.

Child Abuse DV/IPV Elder Abuse/Neglect

Best Practice Guidelines for Child Abuse, Elder Abuse, and Intimate Partner Violence (& a Short Rant)

Post author By Jen
Post date December 4, 2019
10 Comments on Best Practice Guidelines for Child Abuse, Elder Abuse, and Intimate Partner Violence (& a Short Rant)

I meant to post this a couple of weeks ago when it showed up in my inbox and then it got buried, so I am a bit late in getting this up. The American College of Surgeons recently published its Trauma Quality Improvement Program Best Practice Guidelines for Child Abuse, Elder Abuse, and Intimate Partner Violence. This is a pretty rich resource for all of you hospital-based folks out there (and there’s some helpful information for those of you in the community, as well). It’s a chewy document (more than 120 pages), so there’s a lot to work through, but it’s certainly worth your time. Screening tools, assessment recommendations, coding resources–it’s all in there.

And not for nothing, but related to a significant pet-peeve of mine: this is what we’re talking about when we’re talking about best practices. Guidelines created from evidence-based literature when available and consensus of a professional clinical/scientific group when evidence is unavailable. Frequently (read: at trial) people like to sling the term best practices around with no weight behind it. Best practices are not oral traditions passed down from clinician to clinician. Best practices are written documents, published and available to the profession. If you tell me (or testify) that something is a best practice, please be prepared to identify where that best practice can be found. Because if it’s not published somewhere, it’s not a best practice–it’s just your practice.

Thank you for coming to my TED talk.

__________________________

Articles of Note Child Abuse DV/IPV Elder Abuse/Neglect Sexual Assault Testimony

Articles of Note: November 2019 Edition

Post author By Jen
Post date November 13, 2019

Time once again for Articles of Note, our monthly romp through the peer-reviewed literature. Plenty to read, plenty to consider this month (as always). Links lead to PubMed abstracts–please don’t stop there. Sift through the abstracts to decide what’s worth your time, and what doesn’t apply to your clinical life. Better yet, divide among your colleagues and get together for real-time discussion. What an excellent use of staff meeting time.

Loading…

Taking too long?

Reload document

Open in new tab

Download [139.03 KB]

_______________________

Articles of Note Child Abuse DV/IPV Elder Abuse/Neglect Sexual Assault Testimony

Articles of Note: October 2019 Edition

Post author By Jen
Post date October 16, 2019

It’s time once again for Articles of Note, our monthly romp through the newly published peer-reviewed literature. There is *a lot* of choice material to sort through this month, so I hope you will spend some quality time with the list. As always, links lead to PubMed abstracts.

Loading…

Taking too long?

Reload document

Open in new tab

Download [137.74 KB]

__________________________

Articles of Note Child Abuse DV/IPV Elder Abuse/Neglect Sexual Assault Testimony

Articles of Note: September 2019 Edition

Post author By Jen
Post date September 5, 2019

It’s time once again for Articles of Note, our monthly romp through the peer-reviewed literature. Nothing free this month, but plenty worth tracking down, so I encourage you to spend some time with the list. It’s particularly fitting that I get a new edition up since I am sandwiching it between two weeks of teaching testimony, this week at Ft. Hood and next week at the annual IAFN conference, where we discuss at length the importance of fidelity to the science.

All links lead to PubMed abstracts. Happy reading!

Loading…

Taking too long?

Reload document

Open in new tab

Download [116.21 KB]

______________________________

Child Abuse DV/IPV Elder Abuse/Neglect Sexual Assault

Five Lies We Tell Ourselves About Trauma

Post author By Jen
Post date August 21, 2019
1 Comment on Five Lies We Tell Ourselves About Trauma

Jason Kander and his wife Diana published an excellent article over at Crooked Media today, Five Lies We Tell Ourselves About Trauma. It’s 100% relevant to the work we all do because it applies equally to the issue of secondary trauma, which is something we should be discussing far more in our field. It would be a great topic for an upcoming staff meeting–particularly as a way to check in with the team.

There’s a lot that resonates, but one thing in particular:

I made the mistake of trying to rank—and therefore disregard—my own trauma for many years, and that only made things worse. If something happened and you haven’t felt right since, then you should address it. To quote a friend, “Somewhere there’s a vet who was in the first wave at the D-Day invasion telling himself to get over it because he was all the way in the back of the landing craft.”

Thinking “other people have it worse” doesn’t actually diminish your own trauma, it just diminishes your power to heal, because your brain only knows what you experienced. Whether it’s combat, a serious accident, or an assault, there are many possible sources of trauma. Telling yourself to get over it, or thinking “I shouldn’t let this bother me,” will get you nowhere.

Read the whole article here.

_______________________

DV/IPV Elder Abuse/Neglect Sexual Assault

New Clinical Guide: Caring for Transgender, Gender Non-Conforming and Non-Binary Patients in the Forensic Setting

Post author By Jen
Post date August 8, 2019

In doing some writing this week for one of my projects I realized I had a decent collection of resources for a much-needed clinical guide: Caring for Transgender, Gender Non-Conforming and Non-Binary Patients in the Forensic Setting. It’s long overdue, and while I know it is not exhaustive, it’s a good starting place for everyone who hasn’t given this enough (or any) attention in their programs. To be clear, most of the guidance is focused more on general care issues than forensic setting-specific issues, which means it would be ideal to take one (or a few) of the resources listed here and have a robust discussion with your team about how to apply the recommendations to your own policies, documentation, and general approaches to patient communication. It’s a great topic for your next staff meeting.

____________________________

Articles of Note Child Abuse DV/IPV Elder Abuse/Neglect Sexual Assault Testimony

Articles of Note: August 2019 Edition

Post author By Jen
Post date August 7, 2019

It’s time once again for Articles of Note, our regular romp through the peer-reviewed science. Check it: we have not one, but two scientific papers this month on physicians committing misconduct, so that’s fascinating. We also get a look at how a clinician’s personal history of domestic violence impacts clinical care. Needless to say, there’s some good reading to be done in this edition (as always). Most links go to PubMed abstracts except where otherwise indicated.

Loading…

Taking too long?

Reload document

Open in new tab

Download [111.88 KB]

__________________________________

Articles of Note Child Abuse DV/IPV Elder Abuse/Neglect Sexual Assault

Articles of Note: July 2019 Edition

Post author By Jen
Post date July 11, 2019

It’s time once again for Articles of Note, our monthly romp through the peer-reviewed literature. This month there’s quite a bit that’s freely downloadable, so look for the FREE FULL TEXT notations for immediate gratification. Otherwise, links lead to PubMed abstracts and you can take it from there. Plenty here to keep you occupied…

Loading…

Taking too long?

Reload document

Open in new tab

Download [105.64 KB]

_____________________________

Child Abuse DV/IPV Elder Abuse/Neglect Sexual Assault Testimony

Using Expert Eyes and Ears to Document What We See and Hear

Post author By Jen
Post date July 9, 2019

SAFEta has a webinar coming up, On Looking and Writing: A Guide to Using Expert Eyes and Ears to Document What We See and Hear. The session will be held August 15th at 2pm ET. From the registration:

This webinar will help participants unlock their ability to see and write; to document their patient’s physical state and behaviors in an accurate manner. You will learn how to “paint a picture” with your words and accurately describe outward appearance, visible behavior, speech and eye contact using instantly understandable language.

_______________________________________

Articles of Note Child Abuse DV/IPV Elder Abuse/Neglect Sexual Assault Testimony

Articles of Note: May/June 2019 Edition

Post author By Jen
Post date June 4, 2019

Time once again for Articles of Note, our (almost) monthly romp through the peer-reviewed literature in search of all things new and/or useful to clinical practice, public policy, and testimony. As you may have noticed, I didn’t make one happen in May, so this month’s combined is pretty lengthy. There’s *a lot* here to work through, but I think it’s worth it. Some familiar faces in the bunch, too. Hope you enjoy.

Loading…

Taking too long?

Reload document

Open in new tab

Download [127.67 KB]

______________________________

DV/IPV Elder Abuse/Neglect Sexual Assault

Is Your Agency Ready to Serve Transgender and Non-Binary Clients?

Post author By Jen
Post date May 14, 2019

I just discovered that FORGE has recently published a self-assessment, Is Your Agency Ready to Serve Transgender and Non-Binary Clients, and before you are all, of course, we are, we already do, may I suggest you take a good long look at the tool. Then at your program. And then start making the fixes you need to make. Bonus: if you’re in program development mode like we are right now, it’s like a glorious (albeit extensive) checklist. Not everything will be applicable, but enough of it is that you should download this ASAP.

Excellent work, team FORGE. This is a great (and much needed) resource.

________________________________

Have you checked out the FHO store lately? You can find our newest research brief, Aging Bruises Based On Color, plus our original guide, Injury Following Consensual Sex. Both available now for electronic download.

Child Abuse DV/IPV Elder Abuse/Neglect Sexual Assault Testimony

Updated Clinical Guide: Use of ALS to Identify Bruising

Post author By Jen
Post date April 30, 2019

In anticipation of the next research compilation, I have updated one of the most popular clinical guides on the site, Use of ALS to Identify Bruising. There have been a number of research articles published since the guide was last updated, so those have been added.

___________________________

Elder Abuse/Neglect

WEAAD 2019: Lifting Up Voices of Older Survivors

Post author By Jen
Post date April 25, 2019

On June 5th at 2pm ET, the National Clearinghouse on Abuse in Later Life (NCALL), in collaboration with the National Center on Elder Abuse (NCEA), will be hosting a webinar to preview a draft of their new video series, Lifting Up the Voices of Older Survivors. The webinar will be in anticipation of World Elder Abuse Awareness Day, (June 15th) and it’s a particularly good one for your multidisciplinary teams. For those of you looking at expanded practice, this is a great opportunity to begin that conversation. I’m looking forward to seeing the video series, myself.

Articles of Note, April 2019 Edition

Post author By Jen
Post date April 11, 2019

Time once again for Articles of Note, our monthly frolic through the peer-reviewed literature. I assure you, this month’s is *full* of science you’re going to want to read, some of which is freely available through the links posted below. Everything else takes you to PubMed abstracts, which should take you down some excellent rabbit holes of their own. Happy reading!

Loading…

Taking too long?

Reload document

Open in new tab

Download [121.15 KB]

_____________________________

Elder Abuse/Neglect

National Indigenous Elder Justice Initiative Healthcare Training Module

Post author By Jen
Post date March 28, 2019

Last year I posted about the toolkit published by the National Indigenous Elder Justice Initiative, and mentioned that they anticipated publishing a module for healthcare providers. I finally revisited their site, and the module is now live. It does a nice job of tackling a variety of issues related to recognition, the interplay of culture and understanding of abuse, and diagnosis and documentation, so if you’re looking for a place to start delving into this topic, it may be just what you’re looking for.

________________________________

Elder Abuse/Neglect

New Research in Elder Abuse: Developing a Geriatric Injury Documentation Tool

Post author By Jen
Post date March 21, 2019

Sometimes with as much content contained on this site, things get lost. So I wanted to make sure I took a minute to highlight an article that has recently been published that might otherwise get missed in my usual roundup of research pubs every month. It’s in the elder abuse arena and has more of a medical-forensic focus, making it a comparatively less common finding in our world.

Developing the Geriatric Injury Documentation Tool (Geri-IDT) to Improve Documentation of Physical Findings in Injured Older Adults (Kogan, et al). The objective of the study: “To (1) use insights from experts to develop a tool to assist clinicians in appropriately and completely documenting physical findings in injured older adults for potential future forensic investigation of abuse or neglect and (2) to assess the feasibility of incorporating this tool into clinical practice.

Very excited to read this.

__________________________________________

Child Abuse DV/IPV Elder Abuse/Neglect Sexual Assault

New HIV Data from CDC

Post author By Jen
Post date March 19, 2019

A few things of which to be aware from CDC on HIV in the US that may impact your forensic practice:

Understanding the Impact of HIV: Diagnoses, Incidence and Prevalence (PDF)

HIV Among Women Fact Sheet (PDF)

HIV Infection Risk, Prevention, and Testing Behaviors Among Men Who
Have Sex With Men—National HIV Behavioral Surveillance, 23 U.S. Cities, 2017 (PDF)

Transmission Patterns in a Low HIV-Morbidity State — Wisconsin, 2014–2017

*And your reminder for assessing risk for HIV following sexual assault:

Recommendations for postexposure HIV risk assessment of adolescent and adult survivors within 72 hours of sexual assault

Assess risk for HIV infection in the assailant, and test that person for HIV whenever possible.
Use the algorithm to evaluate the survivor for the need for HIV nPEP (Figure) (312).
Consult with a specialist in HIV treatment if nPEP is being considered.
If the survivor appears to be at risk for acquiring HIV from the assault, discuss nPEP, including benefits and risks.
If the survivor chooses to start nPEP (312), provide enough medication to last until the follow-up visit at 3–7 days after initial assessment and assess tolerance to medications.
If nPEP is started, perform CBC and serum chemistry at baseline.
Perform an HIV antibody test at original assessment; repeat at 6 weeks, 3 months, and 6 months.

Assistance with nPEP-related decisions can be obtained by calling the National Clinician’s Post Exposure Prophylaxis Hotline (PEP Line) (telephone: 888–448–4911).

___________________________________

Articles of Note Child Abuse DV/IPV Elder Abuse/Neglect Sexual Assault

Articles of Note, March 2019 Edition

Post author By Jen
Post date March 7, 2019
1 Comment on Articles of Note, March 2019 Edition

Since we’re in a research frame of mind, I figured I might as well go ahead with this month’s Articles of Note, and there’s a lot to work through. I don’t want to completely nerd out on everyone, but man, there is some good reading to be done. As always, links generally take you to PubMed abstracts except where indicated.

Loading…

Taking too long?

Reload document

Open in new tab

Download [114.12 KB]

_______________________________________

Articles of Note Child Abuse DV/IPV Elder Abuse/Neglect Sexual Assault Testimony

Articles of Note: February 2019 Edition

Post author By Jen
Post date February 6, 2019
4 Comments on Articles of Note: February 2019 Edition

It’s time once again for Articles of Note, our monthly waltz through the newly published peer-reviewed literature. I have to tell you, it’s a pretty glorious selection this month. Links lead to PubMed abstracts except where indicated.

Thinking about having a journal club for your team (or just looking for the next article to assign)? Here are some suggestions based on this month’s review:

For adult/adolescent SANE programs: Ectopic pregnancy following oral levonorgestrel emergency contraception use. or Vulnerabilities Relevant for Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children/Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking: A Systematic Review of Risk Factors.

For CAC/peds programs: Barriers and facilitators affecting self-disclosure among male survivors of child sexual abuse: The service providers’ perspective. or Estimating the probability of abusive head trauma after abuse evaluation.

For expanded programs: Acquired Brain Injury in the Context of Family Violence: A Systematic Scoping Review of Incidence, Prevalence, and Contributing Factors. or Childhood maltreatment and intimate partner violence victimization: A meta-analysis.

Loading…

Taking too long?

Reload document

Open in new tab

Download [111.80 KB]

______________________________________________

Have you checked out the FHO store lately? You can find our newest research brief, Aging Bruises Based On Color, plus our original guide, Injury Following Consensual Sex. Both available now for electronic download.

Sign up for our Newsletter

Navigate

Connect

Search