Doctoral Dissertation Awards and New Investigator Awards
2005 New Investigator Abstracts
Amy Bonomi, MPH, PhD
Group Health Cooperative
Center for Health Studies
1730 Minor Avenue, Suite1600
Seattle, WA 98101-1448
Email: ctrhsgrants@ghc.org
Project Title: Individual and Neighborhood Factors Associated with
Intimate Partner Violence Risk
Project Period: 9/1/05-8/31/06
Description: The high prevalence of intimate partner violence (IPV) (25%-54%) over an adult women's lifetime, and its profound health impact such as injury and sometimes chronic conditions or death underscores the importance of considering its risk and protective factors at multiple levels of influence. This study will investigate both individual and neighborhood factors related to IPV risk and these factors longitudinally, given that IPV is context-specific, arising in part from the interaction between neighborhood and individual level characteristics over time.
Social disorganization theory will be used to investigate the influence of neighborhood-level socioeconomic advantage, residential stability, and family stability; individual level factors associated with victims and perpetrators (e.g., race/ethnicity, substance abuse history, prior year IPV history); and arrest status on risk of any IPV recurrence and chronicity (number of recurrences), type (physical vs. non-physical) and severity (involving weapons and/or victim injury) over a one-year period. Data on IPV recurrence will be derived from an existing cohort of 6788 Seattle couples followed
for one year after an incident of police-reported IPV. Generalized estimating equations will be used to test the hypothesis that residences in neighborhoods characterized by high per capita income and education, low unemployment, and residential mobility and family disruption protects against any IPV recurrence, frequency of recurrence, and recurrence of physical and severe IPV within the original victim-perpetrator dyad, independent of individual level characteristics describing victims and perpetrators. This is the largest longitudinal study to evaluate neighborhood and individual factors
associated with IPV chronicity, type and severity. Researchers can better target specific populations for interventions and elucidate community- level lPV prevention efforts with greater knowledge of how specific neighborhood level factors contribute to IPV risk. The investigator will work with the King County and Washington State Departments of Health to translate study findings into programs that consider neighborhood and individual factors for IPV risk and that can be rigorously evaluated.
Dawn
Comstock, PhD
Center for Injury Research and Policy
Children’s Research Institute
700 Children’s Drive
Columbus, Ohio 43205
Email: comstocd@ccri.net
Project Title: High School Sports Injury Surveillance - Collecting Incidence and Exposure Data
Project Period: 8/30/05-8/29/06
Description: The epidemiology of sports-related injury is changing. As the number of high school sports participants increases, so does the number and severity of injuries, yet the study of injuries in this population has been limited by the inability to calculate injury rates, compare findings across groups, or generalize findings from small study samples. This study proposes to reduce the morbidity, mortality, and disability among adolescent athletes caused by sports-related injuries by developing and implementing a permanent, internet-based high school sports-related injury surveillance
system.
Researchers will develop and pilot test an internet-based high school sports related injury surveillance system in a nationally-representative sample of US high schools, from which national estimates can be calculated; implement the injury surveillance system for a pilot period of one academic year; and evaluate the system following the pilot period for completeness of reporting and quality of data. This project is expected to reduce the morbidity, mortality, and disability caused by high school sports-related injuries within 3 to 5 years by providing accurate national estimates of injury
incidence, rates, and risk factors. This addresses CDC’s mission to promote physical activity and to prevent injuries and also addresses several Healthy People 2010 injury prevention objectives.
Julie Crouch, BA, MA, PhD
Northern Illinois University
301 Lowden Hall
Dekalb, IL 60115
Email: jcrouch@niu.edu
Project Title: When Baby Cries: The Role of Hostility-Related Schema in Physical Abuse Risk
Project Period: 8/31/05-8/30/06
Description: Automatic accessibility of hostility-related schema, (i.e., mechanisms that influence how information is processed), which occurs without intention or awareness, may increase the risk of child physical abuse (CPA). If so, strategies for altering information processing activities—which is not part of most intervention strategies—may be needed to augment the effectiveness of programs designed to prevent CPA. This research will inform prevention efforts by increasing understanding of those mechanisms associated with CPA risk.
Researchers will examine whether hostility-related schema are automatically accessible to parents at high risk for CPA. The proposed study is the first to use a lexical decision-making task to examine accessibility of hostility-related schema in high-risk for CPA parents. Differences between high- and low-risk parents in their latencies to respond to hostility-related words will be assessed using a 2 (CPA risk; high, low) x 3 (context; quiet, smiling, crying child) analysis of variance with repeated measures on the second factor. This study promotes Healthy People 2010 goals to reduce child
maltreatment and related fatalities and CDC’s interest in advancing research for effective child abuse prevention. This project will also suggest potential targets for CPA prevention practices.
William Fernandez, MD, MPH
Department of Emergency Medicine
Boston Medical Center
One BMC Place, Dowling 1 South
Boston, MA 02118
Email: William.Fernandez@BMC.org
Project Title: Brief Intervention to Increase Safety Belt Use Among Emergency Department Patients
Project Period: 8/30/05-8/29/06
Description: Although consistent seat belt use (SBU) is the most effective means for motorist to reduce the risk of death or serious injury in a crash, its prevalence remains low in some states.
Researchers will test the utility of a brief intervention to increase SBU among emergency department (ED) patients with self-reported use that is less than “always.” They will also determine if the brief intervention is more effective among those being tested for a motor vehicle crash-related injury during a “teachable moment” than other non-injured ED patients receiving the same intervention. The research staff will systematically sample ED patients, screening for SBU among eligible participants during a three-month period. Upon obtaining verbal consent, researchers will ask participants to
complete a self-administered screening form about health and safety issues, including SBU. Patients that screen positive, (i.e., give an answer of less than "always use" safety belts) on a SBU screening question will be asked to participate in an intervention to promote health and safety among ED patients. Participants will be reimbursed for their time, and asked to give written informed consent via IRB-approved forms and a HIPAA release form; complete an intake form, and agree to a follow-up phone interview at three and six months post-enrollment. Participants will be randomized into one of two
groups: an intervention group that will receive a brief intervention designed to increase SBU, and a control group that will receive only standard care. Research staff will contact participants for a follow-up phone survey at three and six months to test the hypothesis that individuals randomized to the intervention group will have a higher self-reported SBU than those in the control group that received only standard care. Likewise, for the secondary
(exploratory) analysis, the hypothesis is that among those treated for MVC-related trauma—and randomized to the intervention group—will have a higher self-reported SBU than others with non MVC-related trauma due to a greater receptivity to brief intervention techniques during the ED visit (i.e., the "teachable moment"). Study results will help inform effective strategies for increasing SBU in the nation.
Joel Stitzel, BS, MS, PhD
Wake Forest University Health Sciences
Medical Center Boulevard
Winston-Salem, NC 27157
Email: jstitzel@wfubmc.edu
Project Title: Control and Quantitation of Pulmonary Contusion
Project Period: 9/30/05-9/29/06
Description: More than two-thirds of patients presenting to the emergency room for surgery have sustained a pulmonary contusion. An adult or child with a pulmonary contusion experiences different outcomes. Yet even among normal adults, pulmonary contusion is clinically and biomechanically one of the least understood injuries resulting from blunt trauma.
Researchers propose to develop a model that will control pulmonary contusion in the lung; quantitate pulmonary contusion in the lung; and will formulate finite element injury metrics of pulmonary contusion. The study population is male Wistar rats, for which a pulmonary contusion injury model exists, but is not well developed. A multidisciplinary team will gather clinical and biological data related to pulmonary contusion. New engineering data will be used. Biomechanically, the model will be helpful for developing interventions to protect motor vehicle occupants, children involved in falls, etc.
from sustaining a pulmonary contusion. Clinically, the model will be useful for evaluating treatment strategies in the acute care setting. The model will allow for a quantifiable control and measurement of pulmonary contusion injury.
Lisa Van Bramer, BA, MD
University of Colorado Health
Sciences Center
Dept. of Preventive Medicine and Biometrics
4200 East 9th Avenue Box B119
Denver, CO 80262
Email: Lisa.VanBramer@uchsc.edu
Project Title: Evaluating New Tools to Link Pre-hospital and Hospital Injury Surveillance Data
Project Period: 8/30/05-8/29/06
Description: Although many agencies collect injury surveillance data, there is currently no comprehensive system for data collection analyses of non-hospitalized, nonfatal injuries in Colorado or of follow-up after injury hospitalization.
Researchers will develop and implement a comprehensive electronic injury surveillance system (EISS) linking pre-hospital and Department of Safety data to the Denver Health Trauma Registry. Geospatial analyses will be incorporated as a tool to improve its usefulness and accessibility. It will also act as a model for other locales to enhance public health infrastructure. A mixed quantitative/qualitative approach will be used. The investigator will evaluate aspects of this injury surveillance system including the ability and feasibility of linking disparate data systems; use of the aggregate
database for targeting motor vehicle-traffic incidents; feasibility of replicating the model in other parts of Colorado; and the process of working with stakeholders to develop and implement this EISS. Injury surveillance at local and state levels is essential for setting research priorities and for targeting and evaluating prevention, treatment, and rehabilitation efforts. This project will improve targeted intervention capacity at a local public health level using an innovative approach to enhance injury surveillance activities.
Anita Vasavada, BS, MS, PhD
School of Chemical Engineering and Bioengineering
PO Box 646520
Wegner Hall 205
Washington State University
Pullman, WA 99164-6520
Email: vasavada@wsu.edu
Project Title: Gender-Specific Neck Musculoskeletal Models for Analyzing Whiplash Injury
Project Period: 8/30/05-8/29/06
Description: Female gender is associated with increased incidence and severity of whiplash injury, but the reasons underlying this association remain unclear. Though models can be used to explain how biomechanical gender differences influence head and neck kinematics during whiplash and thus injury, analyzing gender differences in whiplash has been limited as there is no model of the human female neck. This project will characterize geometrical differences in vertebrae and muscles in size-matched males and females and 50th percentile females.
Researchers propose to characterize these differences by measuring neck muscle and vertebral dimensions from magnetic resonance images (MRI) and radiographs in male and female subjects who are size-matched in external dimensions and in 50th percentile females. Researchers will also quantify gender differences in neck volumes and bone dimensions. Geometric parameters will be compared between genders using t-tests, and regression analyses will determine whether mathematical relationships exist among parameters. This study will identify modifiable risk factors for and mechanisms of nonfatal
whiplash injuries of the neck and back. It will also improve the understanding of the mechanisms of whiplash injury, providing information that can aid in the design of preventive measures and treatment protocols.