Policy | ISSUES | The Ohio State University

Ohio Recovery Housing Conference 2026

Wed, 15 Apr 2026 13:00:00 +0000

Dr. Keith Warren, Dr. Gia Barboza-Salerno, and Taylor Harrington will present at the 2026 Ohio Recovery Housing Conference during Breakout Session D (1:00 - 2:15 PM) on Wednesday, April 15, 2026.

This presentation will share findings from the lab’s ongoing research on recovery housing, examining the role of recovery housing in supporting individuals with substance use disorder, particularly in underserved and high-risk communities.

Conference Details:

Date: April 15, 2026
Time: 1:00 - 2:15 PM
Session: Breakout Session D
Registration: Register here
Full Schedule: View conference agenda

Craniofacial Injuries in IPV-Related Physical Abuse

Wed, 27 Aug 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Overview

Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) is a widespread public health crisis, and craniofacial injuries—including trauma to the head, face, and neck—are among the most common physical consequences. Many of these injuries involve brain trauma such as concussion, traumatic brain injury (TBI), or hypoxic-ischemic brain injury (HIBI).

National emergency department data indicate that nearly 900,000 IPV-related visits occurred during the study period, with almost three in five involving craniofacial trauma. Female survivors experienced injury rates nearly five times higher than males, with the starkest disparities in early adulthood (ages 20–34).

Policy Relevance

Legal Context: Recognition of IPV-related craniofacial injury in statutes and clinical guidelines can improve survivor protections and treatment access.
Health Systems: Emergency medicine protocols should include screening for IPV in patients with head, face, and neck injuries.
Civil Rights: Survivors face barriers in healthcare and justice systems; data-driven policy is needed to reduce disparities in detection, treatment, and support.

Recommendations

Mandate IPV screening protocols in emergency departments, especially for craniofacial injuries.
Expand Medicaid and social safety net coverage for long-term treatment of IPV-related traumatic brain injuries.
Increase funding for prevention and survivor support programs that integrate health and legal services.

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Historical Discipline in Colorado School Districts (2011–2017)

Wed, 27 Aug 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Overview

School discipline practices are a critical measure of equity in education. Suspensions and expulsions are strongly linked to negative academic and developmental outcomes, including higher dropout risk, lower graduation rates, and greater involvement with the juvenile justice system.

Analysis of Colorado Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC) records from 2011 to 2017 shows that exclusionary discipline is not distributed randomly. Districts serving larger proportions of children in poverty face disproportionately high rates of in-school and out-of-school suspension. Across all years studied, there is a strong poverty gradient: each 1 percentage-point increase in child poverty predicts about +0.20 OSS and +0.18 ISS per 100 students. These disparities highlight the structural nature of discipline outcomes and the urgent need for systemic policy responses.

Policy Relevance

Legal Context: Colorado law requires that districts implement fair, clearly communicated conduct policies and ensure that discipline allows for discretion and supportive alternatives. Yet this legal mandate is often a neglected component of discipline outcomes and processes, leaving inequities in enforcement unchecked.
Educational Equity: Disproportionately high suspension rates in high-poverty districts fuel achievement gaps, dropout risk, and long-term justice involvement.
Civil Rights: Unequal enforcement of discipline undermines the legal promise of equal educational opportunity. Stronger accountability mechanisms are needed to ensure fair application of state and federal mandates across districts.

Recommendations

Address the Poverty Gradient: Direct funding and resources to high-poverty districts, where suspension rates are consistently highest.
Support Alternatives to Suspension: Expand restorative practices, mental health supports, and culturally responsive interventions to reduce reliance on exclusionary discipline.
Enforce Legal Mandates Equally: Strengthen oversight to ensure that fair, clearly communicated conduct codes and supportive alternatives are applied consistently across all districts.
Improve Data Transparency: Require disaggregated reporting (by race, sex, disability) to monitor compounding disparities and support equity-focused interventions.

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Intimate Partner Violence & Brain Injury in U.S. Adults: Findings from the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey, 2021

Wed, 27 Aug 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Overview

National survey data show that adults who screen positive for intimate partner violence (IPV) experience more injuries and face greater medical costs than those who do not. Nine million screened IPV-positive using the HITS screening tool, and survivors were significantly more likely to utilize emergency rooms and hospitals for treating their injuries. Head and brain injuries were much more frequent among IPV survivors, and the average cost of treating these injuries was nearly twice as high compared to adults who did not screen positive for IPV.

Key Messages

Approximately 9 million adults screened positive for IPV in 2021.
IPV-positive adults had 3–4× higher ER and inpatient injury rates than IPV-negative adults.
Adults who screened positive for IPV experienced more than twice the rate of brain-injury healthcare events compared to those who screened negative.
Average per-capita spending on brain-injury care was about twice as high among IPV-positive adults.
Inpatient TBI events are less common than ER events but far more costly; counts and spending are higher among IPV-positive adults.
Poverty, social stressors, depression, and chronic conditions are significantly associated with IPV screen positivity.

Policy Relevance & Recommendations

Standardized protocols: Implement routine protocols so that IPV-positive patients with head injury are screened for brain injury, and patients with head injury are also screened for IPV.
Integrated referral pathways: Establish clear referral systems across emergency, primary, and specialty care so that when screening protocols are triggered, patients are automatically connected to appropriate follow-up services.
Follow-up for delayed symptoms: Incorporate temporal follow-up in care plans, recognizing that brain injury symptoms may appear or worsen over time.
Accessibility and appropriateness: Ensure screening and follow-up services are accessible, widely available, and tailored to the needs of IPV survivors.
Holistic screening: Extend screening beyond identifying head injury to include social and health needs that may magnify injury effects and increase vulnerability to future IPV.
Care coordination: Utilize medical social workers and interdisciplinary teams to integrate medical, psychosocial, and safety needs into a comprehensive care response.

Methodology

This brief analyzes nationally representative data from the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey—Household Component (MEPS-HC) 2021. Adults (age ≥18) were classified as IPV screen-positive if they scored ≥10 on the Hurt, Insult, Threaten, Scream (HITS) scale, a validated four-item screening tool for intimate partner violence.

Injury outcomes were identified using ICD-10-CM codes and Clinical Classifications Software Refined (CCSR) groupings from the MEPS Conditions file, with condition–event linkages used to assign emergency department (ER), inpatient, outpatient, office-based, home health, and prescription care to specific injuries. Brain injuries were defined as traumatic brain injury (ICD-10 S06) and other head injuries (S00–S09).

We estimated:

Injury and brain-injury events per 100 adults,
Per-capita spending (in 2021 USD), and
Weighted counts of injury-linked encounters.

Analyses applied MEPS survey weights (PERWT21F) and accounted for the complex design (VARSTR, VARPSU). We used survey-weighted generalized linear models (svyglm) to generate adjusted comparisons standardized over age, sex, and race/ethnicity. Risk ratios were estimated for sociodemographic factors, health-related social needs, and chronic health conditions associated with IPV screen positivity.

Suggested Citation

Barboza-Salerno, G. E., Shockley McCarthy, K., Watson-Grace, A., Harrington, T., McCarthy, M. A., Peremen, N., & McLucas, O. (2025). Intimate Partner Violence & Brain Injury in U.S. Adults: Findings from the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey, 2021. Policy brief. The Ohio State University, ISSUE Lab (Investigating Spatial Structures in Urban Environments).

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