Goal completion among participants of a region-wide hospital-based violence intervention program: an observational cohort study.

Abstract

Background: Hospital-based violence intervention programs (HVIPs) provide victims of violence with case management services to promote healing and reduce violent reinjury. Life Outside Violence (LOV), the St. Louis region-wide HVIP, is the first multisystem HVIP in the country. The objective of this study was to describe rates of individualized treatment plan (ITP) goal completion among adolescent and young adult LOV participants and explore differences across ITP goal categories.

Methods: This is a retrospective observational cohort study of patients aged 8-30 who presented to a LOV partner hospital for a violent injury between August 15, 2018 and December 31, 2024 and participated in LOV. The LOV REDCap database was queried for patient demographics, injury type, ITP goal category, and goal completion. Analysis included descriptive statistics of participant characteristics and goal categories set and completed.

Results: This cohort included 263 LOV participants who were primarily black (96%), male (63%) young adults (51%) and injured by a firearm (63%). A majority of LOV participants (85%) identified an ITP goal; of these 139 (62%) completed at least one goal. The most common goal category identified was Health and healthcare (34%), within which the subcategory of Mental health was prominent (58%). Social and community goals were completed at the highest rate (70%).

Conclusions: HVIPs are highly individualized programs that address the unique needs of violent injury survivors. Overall, LOV participants set and completed ITP goals at a high rate. Findings indicated robust support for social and community related goals. These findings can inform patient-centered service provision and evaluation methods among other HVIPs and violence intervention programs.