Dataset Information

Mapping definitions, measures and methodologies of assessing police violence in the health literature: a scoping review protocol.

ABSTRACT:

Introduction

Police violence is a growing public health issue in the USA. Emerging evidence suggests that negative police encounters are associated with adverse physical and mental health outcomes. There is a critical need to examine the relationship between police violence and health disparities. However, the lack of consensus on a conceptual and operational definition of police violence is a limitation in scientific investigations on police violence and its health impacts. Here, we present the protocol for a scoping review that maps definitions, measures and methodologies of assessing police violence in the health literature.

Methods and analysis

We will comprehensively search PubMed, Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature and APA PsycInfo databases. We will use the following string of key terms separated with the Boolean operator 'or': 'police violence', 'police brutality', 'police use of force', 'law enforcement violence', 'law enforcement brutality', 'law enforcement use of force' and 'legal intervention'. An English language limit will be applied. We will include studies published in English or that have an English language abstract available. Eligible studies will include: (1) a definition of police violence and/or (2) a measurement of police violence.

Ethics and dissemination

This scoping review does not require ethical approval. The findings of this review will be disseminated through publication in a peer-reviewed journal and at conferences.

SUBMITTER: Harris LK

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10030772 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Mapping definitions, measures and methodologies of assessing police violence in the health literature: a scoping review protocol.

Harris Latesha K LK Conklin Jamie L JL Woods-Giscombe Cheryl L CL Cortés Yamnia I YI

BMJ open 20230315 3

<h4>Introduction</h4>Police violence is a growing public health issue in the USA. Emerging evidence suggests that negative police encounters are associated with adverse physical and mental health outcomes. There is a critical need to examine the relationship between police violence and health disparities. However, the lack of consensus on a conceptual and operational definition of police violence is a limitation in scientific investigations on police violence and its health impacts. Here, we pre ...[more]

PMID: 36921937

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Project description:IntroductionPrecision public health is an emerging and evolving field. Academic communities are divided regarding terminology and definitions, and what the scope, parameters and goals of precision public health should include. This protocol summarises the procedure for a scoping review which aims to identify and describe definitions, terminology, uses of the term and concepts in current literature.Methods and analysisA scoping review will be undertaken to gather existing literature on precision public health. We will search CINAHL, PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science and Google Scholar, and include all documents published in English that mention precision public health. A critical discourse analysis of the resulting papers will generate an account of precision public health terminology, definitions and uses of the term and the use and meaning of language. The analysis will occur in stages: first, descriptive information will be extracted and descriptive statistics will be calculated in order to characterise the literature. Second, occurrences of the phrase 'precision public health' and alternative terms in documents will be enumerated and mapped, and definitions collected. The third stage of discourse analysis will involve analysis and interpretation of the meaning of precision public health, including the composition, organisation and function of discourses. Finally, discourse analysis of alternative phrases to precision public health will be undertaken. This will include analysis and interpretation of what alternative phrases to precision public health are used to mean, how the phrases relate to each other and how they are compared or contrasted to precision public health. Results will be grouped under headings according to how they answer the research questions.Ethics and disseminationNo ethical approval will be required for the scoping review. Results of the scoping review will be used as part of a doctoral thesis, and may be published in journals, conference proceedings or elsewhere.

Project description:BACKGROUND & METHODS:Recent social movements have highlighted fatal police violence as an enduring public health problem in the United States. To solve it, the public requires basic information, such as understanding where rates of fatal police violence are particularly high, and for which groups. Existing mapping efforts, though critically important, often use inappropriate statistical methods and can produce misleading, unstable rates when denominators are small. To fill this gap, we use inverse-variance-weighted multilevel models to estimate overall and race-stratified rates of fatal police violence for all Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs) in the U.S. (2013-2017), as well as racial inequities in these rates. We analyzed the most recent, reliable data from Fatal Encounters, a citizen science initiative that aggregates and verifies media reports. RESULTS:Rates of police-related fatalities varied dramatically, with the deadliest MSAs exhibiting rates nine times those of the least deadly. Overall rates in Southwestern MSAs were highest, with lower rates in the northern Midwest and Northeast. Yet this pattern was reversed for Black-White inequities, with Northeast and Midwest MSAs exhibiting the highest inequities nationwide. Our main results excluded deaths that could be considered accidents (e.g., vehicular collisions), but sensitivity analyses demonstrated that doing so may underestimate the rate of fatal police violence in some MSAs by 60%. Black-White and Latinx-White inequities were slightly underestimated nationally by excluding reportedly 'accidental' deaths, but MSA-specific inequities were sometimes severely under- or over-estimated. CONCLUSIONS:Preventing fatal police violence in different areas of the country will likely require unique solutions. Estimates of the severity of these problems (overall rates, racial inequities, specific causes of death) in any given MSA are quite sensitive to which types of deaths are analyzed, and whether race and cause of death are attributed correctly. Monitoring and mapping these rates using appropriate methods is critical for government accountability and successful prevention.

Dataset Information

Mapping definitions, measures and methodologies of assessing police violence in the health literature: a scoping review protocol.

Introduction

Methods and analysis

Ethics and dissemination

Publications

Mapping definitions, measures and methodologies of assessing police violence in the health literature: a scoping review protocol.

Similar Datasets

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