POPULATION HEALTH: Is violence a disease? Contagious?

Humans copy behavior.  Violence witnessed over time is contagious.  This concept and the development of the “cure violence model” is described in the opening article by Dr. Gary Slutkin in this issue of Health Progress devoted to “Suffering Violence.”  Dr. Slutkin propounds that:

“…violence is transmissible.  It behaves like all epidemics.  It has the exact characteristics of a contagious disease.  Violence as a public health problem is not merely a metaphor, it is a scientific fact.” (Slutkin, 2016, p. 5).

John Morrissey takes up the same theme and reports on violence prevention in West Baltimore.  Among these approaches included the investment by Bon Secours Hospital in vacant lots near the hospital.

Michael Romano describes the impact of work by CHI Franciscan Health in Tacoma to turn vacant lots into soccer fields, and other Catholic Health Initiatives projects.

There is more in this issue.  The entire magazine can be viewed here: https://www.chausa.org/publications/health-progress/issues/july-august-2016

Sources:

Slutkin, G. (2016, July-Aug.). Is violence ‘senseless’? Not according to science: Let’s make sense of it and treat it like a disease. Health Progress, 97(4), 5-8.  Click here: https://www.chausa.org/publications/health-progress/article/july-august-2016/is-violence-‘senseless’-not-according-to-science-let’s-make-sense-of-it-and-treat-it-like-a-disease

Morrissey, J. (2016, July-Aug.). Violence: A community health approach. Health Progress, 97(4), 9-14.  Click here: https://www.chausa.org/publications/health-progress/article/july-august-2016/violence-a-community-health-approach

Romano, M. (2016, July-Aug.). Why a trash-strewn lot became a soccer field. Health Progress, 94(4), 17-23.  Click here: https://www.chausa.org/publications/health-progress/article/july-august-2016/why-a-trash-strewn-lot-became-a-soccer-field  Posted by AHA Resource Center (312) 422-2050, rc@aha.org