This article reviews developmental risk factors for involvement in youth gun violence, as well as evidence-based community programs to prevent gun violence. We then discuss ways in which health and mental health care providers can prevent youth gun violence and promote safety.
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School Nurses Can Reduce Firearm Injuries and Deaths
The most effective approach to creating safe and supportive school environments requires a comprehensive, coordinated effort including school-wide, district-wide, and community-wide strategies. School nurses, healthcare partners embedded in school communities, can guide these efforts. This article reviews data on school located gun violence through a public health lens, as well as outlines a framework for levels of prevention, including downstream, midstream, and upstream strategies.
Pediatric Hospitalists at the Front Line of Gun Violence Prevention: Every Patient Encounter Is an Opportunity to Promote Safe Gun Storage
By adopting the mind-set of screening each child for unsecured guns in the home during every encounter and providing safe storage counseling, pediatric hospitalists can contribute to the medical community’s response to the epidemic of gun violence in our communities.
Impact of a Firearm Safety Device Distribution Intervention on Storage Practices After an Emergent Mental Health Visit
Distribution and training in the use of firearm storage devices increased TSS in the study population, improves pediatric safety and should be part of the routine care of these high-risk patients.
Firearm Safe Storage in Rural Families: Community Perspectives About Ownership and Safety Messaging
Informed by community-based participatory methods, focus groups and key informant interviews were conducted to design a safe storage prevention strategy for rural families. Participants included a broad array of community stakeholders (n = 40; 60% male, 40% female; age 15–72, M = 36.9, SD = 18.9) who were asked to identify acceptable messengers, message content, and delivery mechanisms that were perceived as respectful to the strengths of rural culture.
Effectiveness of Interventions to Promote Safe Firearm Storage
Seven clinic- and community-based studies published in 2000–2012 using counseling with or without safety device provision met the inclusion criteria. All 3 studies that provided a safety device significantly improved firearm storage practices, while 3 of 4 studies that provided no safety device failed to show an effect.
Community based program to improve firearm storage practices in rural Alaska
This community based program demonstrated that Alaska Native gun owners accepted and used gun safes when they were installed in their homes, leading to substantial improvements in gun storage practices. Trigger locks were much less likely to be used.
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.
A Community Educational Intervention to Improve Firearm Safety Behaviors in Families
The author uses an established curriculum for improving gun safety within the family and collects data on its effectiveness within a community institution.
Evaluation of a Community-Based Handgun Safe-Storage Campaign
This study examined a multifaceted community education campaign to promote safe handgun storage and the campaign’s impact on firearm locking and loading practices in households with children