Forensic Nursing

Katherine Scafide featured in National Institue of Justice National Research Conference panel

Mary Cunningham — Fri, 27 Oct 2023 19:35:47 +0000

Katherine Scafide featured in National Institue of Justice National Research Conference panel Mary Cunningham Fri, 10/27/2023 - 15:35

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Katherine Scafide, PhD, RN, FAAN

Using Science To Enhance Equity: Findings and Implications From a Study To Detect Bruising on Victims With Dark Skin

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Forensic Nursing

Nursing

Associate professor featured on American Journal of Nursing cover

Mary Cunningham — Tue, 18 Jul 2023 16:11:58 +0000

Associate professor featured on American Journal of Nursing cover Mary Cunningham Tue, 07/18/2023 - 12:11

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Katherine Scafide, PhD, RN, FAAN

The American Journal of Nursing’s July 2023 issue featured Associate Professor Katherine Scafide demonstrating alternate light source technology to humanitarian and filmmaker Angelina Jolie. Jolie wrote an editorial featuring Scafide’s work for the issue. An article about Scafide's alternate light source research is in the “Nurse Innovators” section. View the journal here (may require a subscription).

Scafide also featured in People, Media Entertainments Arts Worldwide News, Medical Express, and Science Magazine.

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Multidisciplinary Mason Research Team Receives Nearly $1 Million Department of Justice Grant

Mary Cunningham — Tue, 05 Jul 2022 16:56:23 +0000

Multidisciplinary Mason Research Team Receives Nearly $1 Million Department of Justice Grant Mary Cunningham Tue, 07/05/2022 - 12:56

In This Story

Katherine Scafide, PhD, RN, FAAN

Janusz Wojtusiak, PhD

David Lattanzi

Researchers in the College of Health and Human Services and College of Computing and Engineering seek to develop a new, quantitative approach to analyzing the age of bruises

Researchers in Mason's College of Health and Human Services and Volgenau School of Engineering received a $988,559 grant from the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, for a three-year study pairing forensic bruise analysis with machine learning.

Dr. Katherine Scafide, RN

School of Nursing Associate Professor Katherine Scafide, Director of the Machine Learning and Inference Laboratory Janusz Wojtusiak, and Associate Professor in the Department of Civil, Environmental, and Infrastructure Engineering David Lattanzi are continuing their work on forensic bruise analysis on diverse skin tones with this new grant.

Law enforcement and legal professionals often rely on the accuracy and interpretation of injury documentation to inform their decisions; however, current bruise assessments provide little reliable data that can be used.

“Image analysis using deep learning, a sub-domain of machine learning, has demonstrated significant benefits in accuracy and reliability within health care; yet few studies have applied these techniques to the forensic analysis of injuries,” said Scafide, the principal investigator. “Our new study seeks to use deep learning to help improve our understanding of how bruises appear over time on diverse skin tones. The results will have broad implications for forensic clinical practice, criminal justice response, and future research.”

Dr. Janusz Wojtusiak

The team will develop a new, quantitative approach to identify the age of a bruise using deep learning models while determining its reliability and accuracy. Additionally, the team will develop a secure, searchable platform to store digital bruise images providing a comprehensive look at the healing process across diverse skin tones. The platform will integrate deep learning modeling and support future research and collaboration within the forensic science community.

“There is great potential for machine learning to support and improve forensic nursing techniques and reporting. Machine learning helps solve complex problems, and in forensic nursing, it can aid in the understanding of bruise tones over time,” said Wojtusiak.

Lattanzi brings his expertise using deep machine learning and image analysis to track damage to civil infrastructure to the research team. "It's exciting to take what we've learned and apply it in a way that deepens the societal impact of our work," said Lattanzi.

Dr. David Lattanzi, PE

This research directly builds off a 2019 Summer Impact Grant that the research team received from the Mason Provost Office.

“This new grant from the Justice Department exemplifies how we were able to turn a multidisciplinary and collaborative research-learning experience for undergraduates into a federally-funded and impactful research project that can benefit the health and well-being of vulnerable populations,” said Scafide.

"This collaboration started because a former doctoral student of mine met Kat and recognized that she and I might have a promising collaboration," said Lattanzi. "This project really speaks to the critical role graduate students play in advancing research by making connections that faculty don't always see."

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Collaborative for Health Equity

Alternate Light Five Times More Effective in Detecting Bruises on Victims of Color

dhawkin — Thu, 30 Apr 2020 16:10:07 +0000

Alternate Light Five Times More Effective in Detecting Bruises on Victims of Color dhawkin Thu, 04/30/2020 - 12:10

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Press Release
For Immediate Release

Contact
Michelle Thompson
mthomp7@gmu.edu
703-993-3485

As a consequence of COVID-19 stay-at-home orders, rates of domestic abuse have increased. Improved procedures are needed to increase effectiveness of detecting bruises for people of color.

FAIRFAX, VA - Bruise detection and diagnosis is currently conducted by sight, under regular light, and bruises are often difficult to see on victims of violence depending on their skin color and the age of their injury.

As a result, individuals with dark skin tones are at a significant disadvantage in having their injuries properly identified and documented. This can have a significant impact on both medical and legal outcomes for victims of violence. For example, strangulation, a violent act often perpetrated during intimate partner violence, is now charged by many states as a felony. Detecting bruises associated with these dangerous offenses can provide important evidence towards prosecution.

A George Mason University study led by Dr. Katherine Scafide found alternate light was five times better at detecting bruises on diverse skin tones.

To address the challenges of detecting bruises, Scafide and colleagues conducted a randomized control trial with 157 participants to test the effectiveness of an alternate light source at detecting bruises compared to commonly used white light. They also assessed the impact of skin color, age, gender, localized fat, and mode of injury on bruise detection. They found that using alternate light was five times better at detecting bruises on victims across a variety of skin tones than white light. Results of the study were published in the Journal of Forensic Sciences.

“As domestic violence rates soar worldwide during the COVID-19 pandemic, we need innovative ways of capturing its effects on victims,” urges Dr. Katherine Scafide, a forensic nursing expert who led the randomized control trial at the College of Health and Human Services at George Mason University. “Alternate light could be the tool towards addressing the disparity in detecting bruises across diverse populations.”

“Alternate light improves our ability to see bruises,” explains Scafide. “We need to implement this technology into the care of adult patients who have experience physical trauma, but only after evidence-based guidelines are developed and evaluated.”

Scafide cautions that alternate light can detect bruises but should not yet be used to diagnose bruises because other skin lesions (e.g., scars, hyperpigmentation) may appear similar when viewed using this technology. Alternate light should only be interpreted in conjunction with a history of injury and other physical assessment findings.

Scafide will continue this work with a new grant from the National Institute of Justice that will allow her to develop and evaluate evidence-based guidelines for implementing alternate light in the clinical assessment of bruises.

This study was supported by the National Institute of Justice grant 2016-DN-BX-0147. The opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the Department of Justice.

About George Mason University

George Mason University is Virginia's largest and most diverse public research university. Located near Washington, D.C., Mason enrolls 38,000 students from 130 countries and all 50 states. Mason has grown rapidly over the past half-century and is recognized for its innovation and entrepreneurship, remarkable diversity and commitment to accessibility. For more information, visit https://www2.gmu.edu/.

About the College of Health and Human Services

George Mason University's College of Health and Human Services prepares students to become leaders and shape the public's health through academic excellence, research of consequence and interprofessional practice. The College enrolls 1,917 undergraduate students and 950 graduate students in its nationally recognized offerings, including: 5 undergraduate degrees, 12 graduate degrees, and 11 certificate programs. The College is transitioning to a college public health in the near future. For more information, visit https://chhs.gmu.edu/.

Forensic Nursing

Katherine Scafide featured in National Institue of Justice National Research Conference panel

In This Story

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Associate professor featured on American Journal of Nursing cover

In This Story

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Multidisciplinary Mason Research Team Receives Nearly $1 Million Department of Justice Grant

In This Story

Researchers in the College of Health and Human Services and College of Computing and Engineering seek to develop a new, quantitative approach to analyzing the age of bruises

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Alternate Light Five Times More Effective in Detecting Bruises on Victims of Color

Apply Now

As a consequence of COVID-19 stay-at-home orders, rates of domestic abuse have increased. Improved procedures are needed to increase effectiveness of detecting bruises for people of color.

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