The epidemiology of facial trauma in a city in Northern Brazil

The aim of the present work is to carry out an epidemiological study with patients with facial fractures who were operated on in the city of Belém do Pará. In the Years 2015 to 2020, in addition to a literature search on the topic, data was collected on the system of a health insurance company in the city of Belém. It was approved by the Research Ethics Committee of the Dental Research Center and São Leopoldo Mandic Dental School. Facial fractures in Belém do Pará had a 3.5 times higher incidence in men than women. One of the explanations lies in the increased number of men involved in interpersonal aggression, violent sports and traffic accidents. Mostly there were fractures in the zygomatic area and in the nose. The vast majority were treated with open reduction. Facial fractures are multifactorial, but traffic awareness campaigns and alcohol abuse should be incorporated into government projects in each national area.

Incidence and impact of incivility in paramedicine: a qualitative study

BackgroundIncivility or rudeness is a form of interpersonal aggression. Studies suggest that up to 90% of healthcare staff encounter incivility at work with it being considered ‘part of the job’.MethodsQualitative, in-depth, semistructured interviews (n=14) undertaken between June and December 2019. Purposive sampling was used to identify front-line paramedics working for one NHS Ambulance Trust. Interviews lasted between 16 and 45 min, were audiorecorded, verbatim transcribed and analysed using thematic analysis.ResultsFour themes were identified: paramedics reported a lack of respect displayed both verbally and non-verbally from other professional groups. The general public and interdisciplinary colleagues alike have unrealistic expectations of the role of a paramedic. In order to deal with incivility paramedics often reported taking the path of least resistance which impacts on ways of working and shapes subsequent clinical decision-making, potentially threatening best practice. Finally paramedics report using coping strategies to support well-being at work. They report that a single episode of incivility is easier to deal with but subsequent episodes compound the first.ConclusionsThis study highlights the effect incivility can have on operational paramedics. Incivility from the general public and other health professionals alike can have a cumulative effect impacting on well-being and clinical decision-making.

Perceived Experiences of Community Violence Among Adolescents: A School Survey From Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Community violence (CV) is a global public health problem due to its high frequency and severe consequences. Although CV is one of the leading causes of death among adolescents, little is known about the everyday CV situations that do not lead to death. This study aimed to estimate the frequency of exposure to and involvement in CV situations among adolescent students from public and private schools in the city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. This was a cross-sectional study of 693 individuals in their second year of high school selected through stratified multistage random sampling. Information about their exposure to and involvement in CV was collected through a self-completed multidimensional questionnaire in the classrooms. For approximately 30% of the adolescents, someone close to them had been murdered, and 40% had already seen the corpse of a victim of homicide. Seventeen percent reported having been directly involved in CV situations. Approximately 38%, 13%, and 25% had been victims of robberies, interpersonal aggression, and death threats to either themselves or their relatives, respectively. Many of these situations occurred more than once. In general, CV was more frequently reported by boys and by those who did not live with both parents. Adolescents from higher economic classes experienced more interpersonal aggression and felt a greater need to carry a gun. Those who belonged to the lower economic classes and studied in public schools were more exposed to lethal violence than other students. The results call attention to the very high percentage of adolescent students that are involved in CV situations as well as to the differences in violence rates among population subgroups. Such findings should be considered when planning CV prevention and management actions in schools and other socialization spaces for adolescents.

[Pre-print] Reconciliation in human adults: A video-assisted naturalistic observational study of post conflict conciliatory behaviour in interpersonal aggression

Reconciliation is an aspect of natural conflict resolution with similar behaviour patterns documented in non-human primates, human children, and human adults in hunter gather societies. However, actual or potential post-conflict reconciliation behaviour amongst adults living in industrialized societies has rarely been studied systematically. In this paper, we observed naturally occurring conflicts between adults that were captured by public space security cameras in England. Reconciliation was found in in one-quarter of all conflicts and was significantly more prevalent in milder than in severe conflicts. Reconciliation typically occurred spontaneously between opponents – and was found both within friendship groups and across stranger groups. Reconciliation between opponents also appeared to be facilitated by peers, law enforcement, or shared objects. In some instances, reconciliation extended beyond the initial conflict dyad to include conciliatory interactions towards victimized third-party mediators. These findings add to a growing body of cross-cultural and cross-species evidence demonstrating the presence and function of post-conflict reconciliation Taken together, the paper extends knowledge about the repertoire of behaviours that form part of a reconciliation ethogram and introduces a typology of five reconciliation types that are central to the study of conciliation in post-conflict adult aggression.