New tools from CATT and PedsConcussion for screening, diagnosis, and management of brain injury due to intimate partner violence
By Malayka Gormally. This article was initially published in the 12/19/24 edition of our Concussion Update newsletter; please consider subscribing.
An NBC News article, Brain injuries often go unrecognized among domestic violence victims, explains that nearly 25% of all women have experienced domestic violence, and up to 90% of these women have sustained at least one brain injury–including concussion. Most of these women do not get screened for brain injury, including when they go to the emergency department. “Anywhere a domestic violence survivor goes, there should be some sort of screening for a concussion and brain injury,” according to Dr. Javier Cárdenas, director and founder of the West Virginia Brain Injury Center.
Two new tools are available to meet this need. PedsConcussion, the Living Guideline for Pediatric Concussion, has published a Supplement: Intimate Partner Violence-Related Head and Neck Trauma. The supplement is for healthcare providers working with adolescents and provides a trauma-informed approach to initial medical assessment, medical follow-up, different types of medical sub-specialists to refer to for various injuries, and links to further resources. The supplement, created in collaboration with SOAR and researchers from Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, notes that “Teen dating is a common cause of physical and sexual violence.”
The Concussion Awareness Training Tool (CATT) for Women’s Support Workers is a second tool to address this need. This free online course “is a program designed for people who support survivors of intimate partner violence. It provides the information needed to take an evidence-based approach in recognizing, responding to, and managing concussion.” The course is 45 minutes long, includes five learning checks, and awards a certificate upon completion. In addition to the course, you can read several CATT posts about concussions in the context of intimate partner violence.
