Firearm carriage among urban and rural students receiving care in School Based Health Centers and opportunities for prevention
This research seeks to address this critical issue by developing and evaluating innovative, evidence-based primary prevention programs tailored for urban and rural youth accessing care through school-based health centers (SBHCs). The results will provide preliminary data for large-scale randomized controlled trials, aligning with national priorities to advance firearm injury prevention in community healthcare settings.
Abstract
Firearm injuries are the leading cause of death among adolescents. Yet, despite increased attention to the problem, rates of adolescent firearm carriage and firearm-related injuries and deaths have continued to increase. There is an urgent need for evidence-based primary prevention approaches that intervene early on factors that contribute to firearm injury for both urban and rural youth, namely firearm carriage. The results of the proposed research will provide preliminary data for the resubmission of a large-scale randomized control trial (RCT) applications to NIH and the development of a second large-scale randomized control trial (RCT) applications to NIH or CDC to develop and evaluate the efficacy of primary prevention programs tailored to youth receiving health services through SBHC in urban or rural settings. The proposed projects are innovative as there are currently no rigorously performed RCTs of theory-based primary firearm injury prevention programs that can be applied as part of a clinical encounter in SBHCS in either urban or rural settings. The proposed research is timely as it aligns with the funding priorities by the National Institute of Nursing Research to develop and evaluate firearm injury primary prevention interventions leveraging community healthcare settings.