Gunshot Survivorship: Navigating Personal Care, Family, and Safety

Session Submission Type: Complete Thematic Panel

Abstract/Description

Survivors of firearm injury suffer from multiple systems of traumatic stress and experience racial health disparities that include increased rates of victimization, prevalence of long-term physical injury and mental illness. The impact of gun violence survivorship also extends to families, causing a notable rise in mental health disorders among relatives’ post-incident. More research is needed to understand the psychological and interpersonal impacts of gun violence on survivors and their families, as well as their perceptions of service effectiveness. The studies in this thematic panel address these gaps by utilizing qualitative interviews and ethnographic research, focus groups and digital storytelling with gunshot survivors and family members from three separate cities in the mid-Atlantic region of the United States. Findings illustrate: 1) How gunshot survivors and family members evaluate safety, protection and outline their personal conceptualization of health and care. 2) How survivorship has altered communication patterns, identities and family systems between survivors and family members. 3) The perceived effectiveness of services and what constitutes viable gun violence prevention efforts. Recommendations detail interventions and policies that are predicated on racial justice and culturally responsive mental health support models for survivors and their families.

Sub Unit

• Area V. Victimization / 37. Consequences of Victimization

Individual Presentations

• Scars of Survival: Family Systems in the Wake of Community Based Gun Violence - Nathan Aguilar, Columbia University; Owyn Guinnip, Columbia University; Gabrielle Andrade, Columbia University

• The Importance of Feeling: The Possibilities of Care in Hospital-based Violence Intervention Programs - William Wical, Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health Center for Gun Violence Solutions Department of Health Policy and Management

• We Can Heal Ourselves: Peer Healing Circles for Black Men Survivors of Violent Firearm in Baltimore - Joseph Richardson, University of Maryland

• Reimagining Perceptions of Safety & Protection After a Violent Firearm Injury - Nazsa S. Baker, Rutgers University