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Abstract #152002

Andrea Lynn Genovesi, MA¹, Amy E. Donaldson, MS¹, Brynna L. Morrison, BS¹, and Lenora Olson, MA, PhD². (1) Intermountain Injury Control Research Center, University of Utah, 295 Chipeta Way, PO Box 581289, Salt Lake City, UT 84158-1289, 801-581-7280, andrea.genovesi@hsc.utah.edu, (2) Intermountain Injury Control Center, University of Utah, 295 Chipeta Way, P.O. Box 581289, Salt Lake City, UT 84158-1289

Objectives. The primary objective of our study was to evaluate newspapers as a surveillance tool for violent deaths. Methods. Deaths resulting from violence were identified for the National Violent Death Reporting System (NVDRS) project. The Utah articles reporting these deaths were compared with NVDRS. We adopted the NVDRS definitions and coding manual to abstract information from the articles. Results. There were a total of 852 articles covering 131 violent deaths (17% of NVDRS deaths). While homicides accounted for 7% of all violent deaths in Utah, over half of article reported violent deaths were homicides. Almost all (94%) of homicides and homicide/suicides were reported in at least one article. In contrast, only 12% of suicides and 6% of deaths the medical examiner classified as of undetermined intent were reported, even though these account for over 90% of all violent deaths. Despite the large number of articles reporting on violent deaths, few of these articles (5%) contained public health information. There were five basic types of public health information: domestic violence related, substance abuse, aging resources, gangs, and general homicide facts. Discussion. Overall our study found that there is a bias in story selection in newspapers. Homicides are reported in a disproportionate number relative to other types of death. These findings suggest if suicides were reported in newspapers in proportion to the degree in which they occur, according to the ME, the general public could have a more accurate sense of the scope these types of deaths that affect our public health.

Learning Objectives:

• List the types of violent deaths reported by newspapers and assess their representation.
• Assess whether newspapers can be used as a form of surveillance for violent deaths and can be used as a document source for NVDRS.
• Identify the information that newspapers report that has high agreement of variable with medical examiner and police reports.

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Any relevant financial relationships? No
Any institutionally-contracted trials related to this submission?

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.