Long Oral Presentation ANZTS Trauma 2024 Conference

Brain Injury and Family Violence: Establishing a Tool to Support Clinical Practice (21647)

Toni D Withiel 1 , Christine Thai 1 , Kathryn Upton 2 , Vincent Oxenham 2 , Heather Francis 2 , Caroline A Fisher 1
  1. Royal Melbourne Hospital, Parkville, VIC, Australia
  2. Macquarie University , Macquarie Park, NSW, Australia

Family Violence is a global public health issue. In Australia, nearly one third of assault-related hospital admissions are due to family violence. Victim-survivors often sustain facial, head and neck injuries and are at risk of cognitive dysfunction. However, brain injury often remains undiagnosed, leaving victim-survivors without appropriate access to support and treatment. Although timely identification of brain injury and cognitive dysfunction is vital, the healthcare and community sectors have been slow to respond, with no local screening tools available to facilitate early detection. In this presentation, we will report a new screening tool for brain injury/cognitive dysfunction, developed by our team using a modified Delphi method, that is culturally sensitive and safe for Australian victim-survivors. Our Delphi panel - including clinicians, First Peoples and people with lived-experience – rated their agreement with the content and clarity of screening items across three discrete survey rounds. Mixed method results from the study will be presented, along with the final screening tool (data collection and analysis still underway at present). The development of an Australian brain injury/cognitive dysfunction screening tool represents an important first step in supporting clinicians and victim-survivors to screen for, and provide support with, cognitive challenges stemming from family violence. In the longer term, this screening tool will also support epidemiological efforts to capture prevalence of brain injury/cognitive dysfunction in victim-survivors of family violence.