A family-centered approach to firearm safety can change how guns are kept in homes and may offer a new path to reducing suicide risk.
A new University of Michigan study, published in Injury Prevention, tested a method called the Family Safety Net in Alaska, which shifts suicide prevention away from individual screening and toward household action. This change, researchers say, could help reach people who are often missed by standard tools.
“Currently, suicide is a leading cause of death, particularly for young people, and is not getting better with the same old approaches. said Lisa Wexler, research professor at the U-M Institute for Social Research and professor of social work. “Our typical suicide screening tools rely on individual self-report and miss people who are suicidal for a number of reasons, such as suicide behavior can be impulsive, not sure they want help, fear of losing personal agency in service of safety, etc.”
The approach suggests that caregivers take three actions. First, they answer brief screening questions about whether someone in the home may be at risk of suicide. Second, they participate in a brief motivational interviewing session, and receive free firearm safety and mental health awareness resources. Lastly, participants receive positive text messages for a month afterward that emphasize the person’s good intentions in fun, culturally based ways.
Learn more about these efforts via a news release published on Newswise.
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