The Role of Social Workers to Address Gunshot Wound Survivors’ Longitudinal Service Needs: Insights from Qualitative Interviews with Gunshot Wound Survivors and Trauma Center Staff

Introduction: Gun violence remains a critical public health issue in the United States. Following a gunshot wound, survivors experience long-term physical, psychological, and socio-economic consequences. While acute medical care addresses immediate injury, recovery often extends far beyond hospital settings. Survivors often face barriers related to housing instability, limited access to mental health care, financial strain, and challenges navigating systems outside of the hospital setting. These intersecting challenges highlight the need for coordinated approaches that extend beyond clinical treatment. Social workers and care coordinators, especially within trauma-informed care frameworks and hospital-based violence intervention models (HVIP), are uniquely equipped to serve as a bridge between acute medical treatment and sustained community recovery. This study aim to examine how social workers operate as bridges between trauma care and long-term recovery for gunshot wound survivors.

Methods: 10 hospital staff members (medical and non-medical staff) and 25 gunshot wound victims were interviewed. Participants were recruited from the University of Chicago Medicine Trauma Center. Purposive sampling was employed to recruit participants working at the center. Qualitative interviews were transcribed and analyzed using thematic analysis to identify key patterns, with multiple coders involved to enhance reliability.

Results: Findings from the interviews highlight the central role of social workers and care coordinators in supporting the holistic well-being of gunshot wound survivors, particularly during the transition from hospital to community settings. Survivors consistently described social workers as critical sources of support, helping them navigate recovery beyond medical care. Staff members similarly emphasized the importance of these roles in ensuring continuity of care and addressing psychosocial needs. Social workers and care coordinators were instrumental in identifying and mitigating barriers to recovery, including challenges related to housing, insurance coverage, transportation, and access to ongoing care. Across interviews, they were frequently characterized as “unsung heroes,” providing essential yet often underrecognized support comparable to that of clinical staff.

Conclusion and Implications: Overall, findings underscore the central role of social workers in violence recovery systems and demonstrate that recovery from gun violence extends beyond medical treatment to encompass critical social support. Also, these findings highlight the need to improve interdisciplinary understanding to enhance long-term recovery and continuity of care.