Injury Prevention Research Center

Technology that our bicycle safety researchers use shows how behavior and the environment interact and can help identify what policies, infrastructure changes, and educational programs are needed to improve safety.

We connected with Lisa Cushatt, Executive Director of Iowa ACEs 360 and Sarah Welch, who leads Iowa ACEs 360’s communication efforts and the Sesame Street in Communities work in Iowa, to talk about the ground-breaking research on childhood trauma and what the coalition is doing to help Iowan families heal.

Several researchers at the University of Iowa are studying injury & violence issues among U.S. veterans, including opioid use disorder/overdoses, suicide, traumatic brain injuries (TBI), and sexual violence during military service.

According to the CDC, one in every five children under the age of 15 killed in traffic crashes are pedestrians. Among the dangers for teen and young child pedestrians are distracted walking (i.e., from headphones and texting), unsafe crossings, increased roadway traffic, and larger vehicles. Most pedestrian deaths occur in urban areas. However, rural roads…

According to the CDC, the highest number of overdose deaths ever recorded in a 12-month period in the U.S. (over 81,000) happened in the 12 months ending in May 2020.  The CDC data suggests overdose deaths were already increasing in the months before COVID-19 and accelerated during the pandemic.

Rural injuries & violence is an understudied area in public health and presents unique challenges for research. With differences in population and geographic remoteness and the growing diversity of the people living in rural communities – how do we define rural?

As the crippling pandemic swept across the world in 2020, the injury & violence prevention (IVP) field stepped up. Here we look back at some of our center’s highlights over the past year.

On November 18 cities across the U.S. will light up green to mark the first National Injury Prevention Day to raise awareness that childhood injuries are serious but preventable.

The UI Injury Prevention Research Center connected with Jenifer Maze, a clinical psychologist at the UCLA Semel Institute and National Child Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN) for a question/answer session about how these challenging times are affecting the mental health of children and families, and what we can do to help.

In the U.S., falls are the leading cause of injury and death from injury in adults 65 years and older. Falls prevention programs can help, but the COVID-19 pandemic has postponed programs or forced them online.