Injury prevention is a new way to think about trauma. Many psychologists identify trauma with mental health only. Yet trauma in the community ranges from physical injury to psychological and social harm. Each manifestation presents opportunities for psychologists to bring their tools of assessment and health behavior change to reduce injuries and their impact in the community.Whether by violent or unintentional means, injury exacts a large toll on individuals, families, workplaces, and the community. Nearly 150,000 people die each year from injuries; another 3 million are hospitalized or treated in emergency departments. It is estimated that injuries cost society more than 260 billion dollars annually. Injuries cause more years of potential life lost than cancer, heart disease, or stroke combined and are the leading cause of death during the first 4 decades of life. These health burdens are not trivial (National Research Council, Committee on Trauma Research, 1985; Institute of Medicine, 1999).This enormous burden on the health care system is shared by practicing psychologists and social workers who see the aftermath of trauma on patients. Patients are helped by psychologists to manage posttraumatic stress disorders. Families shattered by the loss of loved ones from an automobile crash or a child drowning are assisted by social workers and family therapists. Psychologists help communities to manage the fear and grief that results from a school shooting, child abuse, fire in a housing complex or nightclub, a teenage suicide, or a terrorist attack.These threats to community health pose a real challenge for the field. Trauma from injury, whether self-inflicted, inflicted by others, or unintentional, is largely preventable. Behaviors that give rise to injury and violence are amenable to preventive interventions, just as are many diseases.Psychologists too often limit their involvement in injury and trauma to the post-injury phase of assessment and treatment, and neglect psychology's role in prevention. Behavioral and social sciences are needed to document behavioral and social risk factors, and to develop interventions that influence social norms and shape individual and community preventive behavior. This chapter highlights the significance of the growing problem of injuries in public health and demonstrates how psychologists can beand are-involved. As examples, we address community health promotion for injury control, reducing youth violence, improving children's response to fire emergencies, and recovering from collective violence in war-torn countries. These are but a few examples of how psychology has relevance to injury prevention, and it is our hope that it will motivate other psychologists to see a role for themselves in injury prevention.
J86SLEET ETAL.