Archives

Firearm Violence by the Mentally Ill: Mental Health Professionals’ Perceptions and Practices

Findings have been summarized in the following categories: mental health professionals training, screening for the presence of firearms, engagement in firearm safety counseling, and perceptions regarding firearm violence in the United States. Mental health professionals need more training regarding firearm issues if they are going to play a role in reducing firearm trauma by the mentally ill. Their impact will be primarily on firearm suicides.

Talking with Families: Interventions for Health Care Clinicians

Clinicians need to connect with families within the context of their beliefs around gun ownership. This will facilitate providing effective guidance that maximizes the safety of all children within their homes, whether the children are their own or visitors.

Firearms storage safety discussions in VA primary care: Staff perspectives

Primary care staff also outlined five tools and processes needed to meaningfully implement FSS discussions in primary care: training on firearms and firearms culture; examining personal attitudes toward firearms; developing supplemental materials to normalize and support FSS discussions; increasing knowledge of firearms laws and regulations; and providing scripts to facilitate conversations.

From Taboo to Accepted: Increasing Gun Safety Counseling in Pediatric Primary Care

Effective interventions, such as pediatric primary care health care providers (HCPs) doing firearm injury prevention (FIP) counseling while giving anticipatory guidance during a well child check, can have a strong impact on decreasing the number of firearm injuries. The evidence-based practice project used an existing evidence-based bundle approach to educate and train HCPs from primary care clinics within a large pediatric healthcare organization to consistently offer FIP counseling during as many well child checks (WCC) as possible.