Nonfatal Strangulation Knowledge and Experience in Health Care Professionals

BACKGROUND: Nonfatal strangulation (NFS) is a high-lethality act commonly associated with intimate partner violence and sexual assault. Strangulation-specific knowledge among U.S. health care professionals outside of forensic settings is not well characterized. AIM: To examine NFS knowledge and clinical decision-making across health care roles and assess whether licensure type or clinical experience was associated with knowledge scores. METHODS: A cross-sectional survey was administered to 131 U.S. health care professionals. A 10-item composite knowledge score was analyzed using ANCOVA, controlling for years of experience. RESULTS: Mean composite score was 5.68 (SD=1.576, range=2-9). Licensure type was significantly associated with scores (P=0.001, partial η²=0.120). Nursing professionals scored highest (M=6.22), significantly outperforming providers (M=5.42), prehospital (M=4.85), and allied health providers (M=4.43). Years of experience were not significant (P=0.412). DISCUSSION: Nursing professionals had a significantly higher level of comfort than other healthcare roles, suggesting that education and experience are not uniformly distributed during schooling and on-the-job training. This may suggest that healthcare education would benefit from more broadly applied education, although the size of the study limits the generalizability of conclusions. CONCLUSION: Strangulation knowledge varied by professional role and was not associated with clinical experience, highlighting the need for standardized, cross-disciplinary education.