Eleventh International Conference on Health, Wellness & Society

Abstract

Social media (SM) services offer an avenue to engage at-risk individuals for gun violence prevention programs. This survey of gun violence victims seeks to estimate their utilization of SM services, characterize SM conflict preceding gun violence, and identify the communication of gun violence injuries via SM services. This is a descriptive survey of patients treated for gun violence injuries at the trauma service of the Cook County Hospital (Chicago, IL), which treats approximately 1,100 gun violence injuries annually. We report preliminary results of 25 participants (3-10/2018); target enrollment is 100 participants via a convenience sample. On average, participants reported reading 9.2 messages/day (SD 11.7) and posting 7.8 messages/day (SD 17). One participant reported an interpersonal conflict via SM, and 2 participants reported having read and posted SM messages that may have increased their risk for their injury. In the past week, participants reported reading SM messages related to: gun violence 36%, other violence 12% and gang activity 8%. During hospitalization, 16% participants shared their injury on SM. A nontrivial subset of this gun violence population are active on SM services and report having observed SM content related to gun violence within the prior week. Some participants perceived that their SM activity increased their risk of gun violence. These preliminary results suggest SM services offer an important channel of communication for violence prevention efforts.