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Pediatric practice based evaluation of the Steps to Prevent Firearm Injury program
P J Oatis1, N M Fenn Buderer, P Cummings
1Department of Pediatrics, St Vincent Mercy Medical Center, Toledo, Ohio, USA.
Insights
A pediatric intervention did not significantly reduce gun ownership or improve safe gun storage. While some reductions were observed, they did not reach statistical significance, indicating a need for further research in firearm safety education.
Area of Science:
- Public Health
- Pediatrics
- Injury Prevention
Background:
- Firearm-related injuries are a significant public health concern in pediatric populations.
- Safe gun storage practices are crucial for preventing unintentional injuries and deaths.
Purpose of the Study:
- To assess the effectiveness of an educational intervention on gun ownership and storage habits among families with pediatric patients.
- To estimate the prevalence of guns in homes and how they are stored before and after the intervention.
Main Methods:
- A before-and-after trial was conducted in an inner-city pediatric primary care practice.
- Parents completed anonymous questionnaires on gun ownership and storage.
- The intervention followed the American Academy of Pediatrics' Steps to Prevent Firearm Injury program.
Main Results:
- Gun ownership decreased from 9.4% to 7.0% among surveyed families, with handgun ownership falling from 5.4% to 3.0%.
- The prevalence of storing guns unlocked remained unchanged at 2.7%.
- The rate of keeping any gun loaded decreased from 1.6% to 0.5%, though these changes were not statistically significant (p > 0.05).
Conclusions:
- The practice-based educational intervention did not achieve statistically significant reductions in gun ownership or improvements in safe gun storage.
- Further strategies may be needed to effectively promote safer firearm storage in homes with children.
Objective:
To estimate the prevalence of gun ownership and methods of gun storage in homes of pediatric patients before and after an educational intervention.
Design:
Before and after trial.
Setting:
Hospital based, inner city, pediatric primary care practice.
Participants:
Consecutive sample of parents of patients with appointments August to November 1994.
Intervention:
Before the intervention, participants completed an anonymous questionnaire regarding ownership and storage of guns in their home. The intervention followed the Steps to Prevent Firearm Injury program of the American Academy of Pediatrics. It began after the parent completed the questionnaire and was reinforced at subsequent visits until July 1995. Families completing a baseline questionnaire and returning to the office July to October 1995 were resurveyed.
Main Outcome Measure:
Reported change in gun ownership and methods of storage.
Results:
A gun(s) in the home was reported by 8.7% of respondents. Matched baseline and follow up questionnaires were available for 23.6% of families. In these, gun ownership reportedly decreased after intervention from 9.4% to 7.0%, handgun ownership fell from 5.4% to 3.0%, and long gun ownership fell from 6.1% to 5.5%. Storing guns outside of a locked container did not change from the baseline prevalence of 2.7%, but keeping any gun loaded fell from 1.6% to 0.5%. All p values were >0.05.
Conclusion:
This study was unable to demonstrate a statistically significant decline in gun ownership or improvement in gun storage after a practice based intervention designed to encourage these behaviors.