A hospital-based program that supports victims of gun and knife violence can reduce the likelihood that those victims will be reinjured or commit violence themselves, according to a new Boston University study.
The findings offer hope for similar programs nationwide and may encourage cities to target investment in them to reduce gun violence, according to lead researcher Jonathan Jay, a BU School of Public Health associate professor of community health sciences. Jay calls the study of the Boston Medical Center (BMC)–founded Violence Intervention Advocacy Program (VIAP) “my most important work,” because of its potential to provide advocates with evidence in support of such efforts: “If we invest more in hospital-based violence intervention programs, will that help cities get their gun violence levels down?”
The Violence Intervention Advocacy Program study was supported by a Fund for a Safer Future grant and included researchers from Boston University’s School of Public Health, Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine, and Sargent College of Health & Rehabilitation Sciences; Boston Medical Center; Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia; Health Alliance for Violence Intervention; and the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
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