The Feasibility and Utility of Using Coded Ambulance Records For a Violence Surveillance System: A Novel Pilot Study

By  Debbie Scott, Cherie Heilbronn, Kerri Coomber, Ashlee Curtis, Foruhar Moayeri, James Wilson, Sharon Matthews, Rose Crossin, Alex Wilson, Karen Smith, Peter Miller and Dan Lubman

The acute association between interpersonal violence, alcohol and drug use, self-harm, and mental health issues is relatively unexplored. Violence-related ambulance attendances were analysed, differentiated by type of violence and by victim or aggressor of violence, as well as the co-occurrence of alcohol and drug use, self-harm, and mental health issues. Ambulance attendances related to victims of violence had few co-occurring issues beyond alcohol and drug misuse. In contrast, attendances related to aggressors were more complex, with high proportions of co-occurring mental health, self-harm, and alcohol and drug issues. These findings demonstrate the utility of ambulance data for surveillance of interpersonal violence  

Trends & issues in crime and criminal justice no. 595. Canberra: Australian Institute of Criminology. 2020. 17p.