The long-term goal is to decrease suicide and suicidal behaviors in at-risk youth through preventative interventions. Investigators propose to develop an interactive intervention ("Safer Still") to help promote safe storage of firearms during the critical period immediately following high-risk care transitions. The objective of this study is to develop and test the Safer Still intervention as an efficient adjunct to traditional care for adolescents aged 12-17 years who are discharged from psychiatric hospitals and living in households where firearms are stored unsafely.
The objective of this study is to develop and test the Safer Still intervention as an efficient adjunct to traditional care for adolescents aged 12-17 years who are discharged from psychiatric hospitals and living in households where firearms are stored unsafely. Exploratory aims of the study are as follows: (1) Evaluate parental motivation to change firearm storage behavior as a potential mediator of the three-month intervention effect. Investigators hypothesize that higher change scores in the "action" stage of the readiness to change model1 at one month will mediate the intervention effect at three months; (2) Identify whether the response to the Safer Still intervention varies by adolescent history of suicide attempt and parental primary reason for firearm ownership at one and three months; and (3) Ascertain common parental reasons for declining to safely store firearms.
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
PREVENTION
Masking
SINGLE
Enrollment
80
An interactive intervention will be developed to help promote safe storage of firearms during the critical period immediately following high-risk care transitions.
Families randomly assigned to the control condition will receive a psychological placebo that will feature an education only website developed by NCH's web design team. This website will cover warning signs for suicide, the leading methods of suicide - so that both conditions have content that features information about firearms - and locating professional help. The control website will NOT feature these three behavioral economic strategies--namely (a) multiple suggested alternatives for means restriction, (b) requests to justify inaction regarding means restriction, and (c) normative feedback about means restriction.
Nationwide Children's Hospital
Columbus, Ohio, United States
NOT_YET_RECRUITINGNationwide Children's Hospital Behavioral Health Pavillion
Columbus, Ohio, United States
RECRUITINGHousehold Lethal Means Survey (HLMS)
The Household Lethal Means Survey (HLMS) asks the parent to indicate whether there are any guns kept in or around the home, and if so to describe how the gun(s) and ammunition are stored. The HLMS will be supplemented with three questions from the 2018 California Safety and Well-Being Survey. These three questions address reasons for firearm ownership, loaded handgun carrying in the past 30 days, and high-capacity magazine ownership. At follow-up, the study survey assesses whether and how firearm ownership and storage practices changed since baseline. Similar questions at baseline and follow-up are asked about lethal medications.
Time frame: Baseline, One month and Three months
Stages of Change Questionnaire (SOCQ)
Readiness to change firearm and medication storage practices will be assessed using the Stages of Change Questionnaire (SOCQ), a psychometrically sound 12-item self-report measure ( 5-point Likert scale; -2 = "Strongly Disagree"; +2 = " Strongly Agree"). The scale will be used to measure the four stages of change (Pre-contemplation, Contemplation, Action, and Maintenance). Items numbered 1,3,6,10 Precontemplation, items numbered 2,4,7,11 = Contemplation and items numbered 5,8,9,12 = Action. A negative scale score reflects an overall disagreement with items measuring the stage of change, whereas a positive score represents overall agreement. The highest scale score represents the Stage of Change Designation.
Time frame: Baseline, One month, and Three months
This platform is for informational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional.