Innovative Methods for Using National Violent Death Reporting System Data to Investigate Intimate Partner Violence-Related Homicides and Suicides

Early evidence suggests that in the United States (US), intimate partner violence (IPV) contributes to almost 1 in 10 (9.5%) violent deaths with known circumstances, including about 7% of suicides, an understudied form of IPV-related fatality. Fatalities that result from IPV include homicides, homicide-suicides, and suicides not preceded by homicide. Research indicates that in most IPV-related fatalities, IPV was present prior to the fatal incident, and many who die due to IPV interacted with formal service providers before their death, indicating potential missed prevention opportunities.

The research producing the above statistics used novel methods that leveraged data from the US National Violent Death Reporting System (NVDRS), a national surveillance system that organizes and maintains detailed information about violent death incidents. NVDRS houses extensive quantitative and qualitative data concerning the circumstances of fatal incidents that are gleaned from death certificates and law enforcement, coroner/medical examiner, and toxicology reports. The system is a resource for enhancing scientific understanding of violent death and encouraging the development of effective violent death prevention strategies. Social work researchers are at the forefront of efforts to use the NVDRS to better understand fatalities in the context of IPV and potential pathways for intervention.

Roundtable presenters will draw on their expertise using NVDRS data to understand IPV-related fatalities, share challenges and lessons learned, and facilitate discussion on avenues for future research and ways to use NVDRS to support local communities. As such, the aims of this roundtable are for participants to: (1) appraise innovative methods for using NVDRS data to investigate IPV-related fatalities; (2) identify opportunities and challenges of using NVDRS data; and (3) discuss ways to utilize NVDRS to analyze IPV-related fatalities in their own communities of practice and research.

To meet these aims, the presenters will discuss their own research to illustrate the use of the NVDRS. Dr. Graham will describe her study concerning IPV-related homicides and suicides among young people under age 25 and collaborations with state-level health departments to use NVDRS data to inform practice. Dr. AbiNader will discuss her study on the role of coercive control in IPV perpetrator suicidal motivation and her work concerning how to manage research teams using the NVDRS. Dr. Kafka will describe her use of natural language processing methods to identify IPV-related fatalities in NVDRS data. Dr. Fusco and Dr. Rai will share their NVDRS work concerning pregnant victims of intimate partner homicide and intimate partner stalking precipitated homicides, respectively, with attention to ways their findings inform fatality prevention and future research. The roundtable will end with a discussion of audience member potential uses of the NVDRS.