Launching the Houston Hospital-Based Violence Intervention Program (Houston-HVIP): Developing and Evaluating a Hospital-Based Intervention to Reduce Recurrent Violence

Launching the Houston-HVIP: Developing and Evaluating a Hospital-Based Intervention to Reduce Recurrent Violence

A prior violent injury is one of the strongest predictors of future violent injury, highlighting the importance of effective hospital-based interventions to prevent reinjury. This project will establish and evaluate the Houston Hospital-Based Violence Intervention Program (Houston-HVIP). Using a randomized controlled trial, the study will assess the effectiveness of Houston-HVIP in reducing violent reinjury and improving behavioral, mental, and physical health outcomes over a 12-month follow-up period among those enrolled in the study in ages 16-35 years of age.

Study Overview

• Status: Recruiting
• Conditions: Firearm Injury
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Houston-HVIP treatment; Behavioral: Standard of Care

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Estimated): 274
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

• Study Contact: Name: Sandra McKay, MD; Phone Number: (713) 500-5666; Email: Sandra.McKay@uth.tmc.edu
• Study Contact Backup: Name: Alexander Testa, PhD; Phone Number: (210) 276-9000; Email: Alexander.Testa@uth.tmc.edu

Study Locations

• United States
  • Texas
    • Houston, Texas, United States, 77030
      • Recruiting
      • The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston
      • Contact: Sandra McKay, MD; Phone Number: (713) 500-5666; Email: Sandra.McKay@uth.tmc.edu
      • Contact: Alexander Testa, PhD; Phone Number: (210) 276-9000; Email: Alexander.Testa@uth.tmc.edu

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Child; Adult
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• presented for a gunshot injury stemming from community violence at Memorial Hermann Hospital
• English or Spanish-speaking
• provide informed voluntary consent to participate in the study
• live in Harris County at time of enrollment

Exclusion Criteria:

• presenting for a firearm injury arising from a self-inflicted gunshot or unintentional gun violence
• actively detained by criminal justice systems at time of enrollment

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Prevention
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: Double

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Houston-HVIP treatment group	Behavioral: Houston-HVIP treatment; Participants will be assigned a case manager to provide a brief assessment of , psychological and social needs and a risk assessment and create individualized discharge planning. Participants will be referred to tailored social service programs based on the needs, including assessments of social determinants of health, educational and financial needs, and subsequent referral for programs such as job training, educational support, housing assistance, or financial assistance programs for identified needs. Participants identified at risk for violence perpetration via a risk assessment screener will be referred to the violence interrupter services. Long-term opportunities for engagement with the trauma survivors' network within Memorial Hermann Hospital will be available and encouraged.Participants will receive a structured curriculum that will include regular check-in with an assigned case manager over 6 months to promote successful community-based program integration and completion.
Active Comparator: Standard of Care group	Behavioral: Standard of Care; Participants will be assigned a case manager to meet with the injured patients to briefly assess (a) psychological and social needs and (b) a risk assessment and create individualized discharge planning. Resources for the patient to connect with social service programs will be provided by the case manager. Long-term opportunities for engagement with the trauma survivors' network within Memorial Hermann Hospital will be available and encouraged. Follow-up contacts and services from an assigned case manager over two weeks following discharge from the hospital to ensure that the patient has contacted the community-level violence outreach organizations.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Time Frame
Change in repeat violent victimization as assessed by the number of participants who return to the hospital system for for an intentional firearm injury	Baseline , 3 months, 6 months, 9 months and 12 months

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Change in repeat non-firearm violent victimization as assessed by the number of participants who return to the hospital system for an intentional non-firearm injury		Baseline , 3 months, 6 months, 9 months and 12 months
Change in attitudes towards firearm violence as assessed by Firearm Violences Attitudes (Sheley; Shapiro) questionnaire	This is a 13-item questionnaire; however, only items 3,4,7,9,10,12 and 13 will be asked. Each is scored from 1(strongly disagree) - 4(strongly agree), Maximum score of 28 .Higher score indicates more aggression.	Baseline , 3 months, 6 months, 9 months and 12 months
Change in post-traumatic stress as assessed by the post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Checklist Version 5(PCL-5)	This is a 20-item questionnaire; however only items 1 and 4 of the PCL-20 will be asked. These 2 items will be anchored to a stressful experience. And each is scored form 0(not at all)-4(extremely), maximum score of 8, higher score indicating worse outcome	Baseline , 3 months, 6 months, 9 months and 12 months
Change in aggression as assessed by the Copeland-Linder questionnaire.	This is a 7-item questionnaire; however, only items 1, 5, and 6 will be asked. Each is scored from 1(strongly disagree) - 4(strongly agree). Maximum score is 12. Higher score indicates more aggression	Baseline , 3 months, 6 months, 9 months and 12 months
Change in general health as assessed by the 12-item Short Form Health Survey (SF-12)	This is a 12 item questionnaire; however, only item #1 will be asked. It is scored from 1(excellent) - 5(poor), higher number indicating worse outcome	Baseline , 3 months, 6 months, 9 months and 12 months

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: The University of Texas Health Science Center, Houston
• Collaborators: National Institute of Nursing Research (NINR)
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Sandra McKay, MD, The University of Texas Health Science Center, Houston; Principal Investigator: Alexander Testa, PhD, The University of Texas Health Science Center, Houston

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): September 16, 2025
• Primary Completion (Estimated): February 1, 2028
• Study Completion (Estimated): May 31, 2028

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: February 8, 2024
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: February 8, 2024
• First Posted (Actual): February 16, 2024

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): January 21, 2026
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: January 19, 2026
• Last Verified: May 1, 2025

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Health Services Administration; Health Care Quality, Access, and Evaluation; Quality of Health Care; Quality Indicators, Health Care; Standard of Care
• Other Study ID Numbers: HSC-MS-23-0904; UG3NR021232 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract); UH3NR021232 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: NO

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No
• product manufactured in and exported from the U.S.: No