Gua Sha, An Asian Traditional Therapy That Could Mimic Physical Injury / 대한법의학회지

Gua Sha is a traditional Asian medicine with different names in many Asian countries. It is a treatment to scrape the petechiae of the skin with ointment. It has generally been administered to patients with upper respiratory infections, heat syndrome, and pain. Herein, we report the case of a 31-year-old Cambodian man who was found dead at a farm accommodation. During the autopsy, multiple linear intradermal hemorrhages without subcutaneous damage were observed in the upper chest and both shoulders. The cause of death was sudden unexpected nocturnal death syndrome because he was a young Asian man who died while sleeping without specific findings. Since it is an unfamiliar traditional medicine in Korea compared to other Asian countries, forensic officers without background knowledge about Gua Sha initially suspected that he was severely assaulted or pressed against a particular object enough to cause crush asphyxia. Because of the difficulty of going to the hospital during the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic, Gua Sha was used to treat headaches and mild fever. Therefore, this case shows that understanding the culture of other countries could be helpful for investigations especially with the increase of multicultural families in Korea.

Self-Injurious Thoughts and Behaviors Interview-Korean Version: Psychometric Properties

Objective@#There is currently no structured interview tool developed that comprehensively evaluates self-injurious thoughts and behaviors (SITB) in Korea. The Self-injurious Thoughts and Behaviors Interview (SITBI) collectively measures suicidal ideation, plans, gestures, attempts, and non-suicidal self-injuries (NSSI). The SITBI’s reliability and validity have been established with it being widely used in English speaking countries. This study evaluated the psychometric validity of the Korean version of the SITBI (SITBI-K). @*Methods@#The SITBI’s validity as a diagnostic assessment tool for NSSI and suicidal behavior disorder (SBD), as defined by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-5th edition, was examined. Analyses were performed on 108 university students reporting experiences of suicidal thoughts and behaviors (female 84.26%, mean age=22.10, ±SD 3.33). @*Results@#The SITBI-K displayed excellent interrater reliability, with a credible test-retest reliability at two months. Construct validity examined the correlation between the SITBI-K’s modules and approved the self-report results. Appropriate convergent and discriminant validities were obtained for suicidal ideation, plans, gestures, attempts, and NSSI. @*Conclusion@#The SITBI-K showed excellent psychometric validity at a level comparable to the original. Its clinical utility for both NSSI and SBD diagnoses was confirmed.