Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, Atlanta, GA, United States.
Department of Pediatrics, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, United States.
Front Public Health. 2024 Mar 21;12:1352400. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2024.1352400. eCollection 2024.
In the United States, 33% of households with children contain firearms, however only one-third reportedly store firearms securely. It's estimated that 31% of unintentional firearm injury deaths can be prevented with safety devices. Our objective was to distribute safe storage devices, provide safe storage education, evaluate receptivity, and assess impact of intervention at follow-up.
At five independent, community safety events, parents received a safe storage device after completing a survey that assessed firearms storage methods and parental comfort with discussions regarding firearm safety. Follow-up surveys collected 4 weeks later. Data were evaluated using descriptive analysis.
320 participants completed the surveys, and 288 participants were gunowners living with children. Most participants were comfortable discussing safe storage with healthcare providers and were willing to talk with friends about firearm safety. 54% reported inquiring about firearm storage in homes their children visit, 39% stored all their firearms locked-up and unloaded, 32% stored firearms/ammunition separately. 121 (37%0.8) of participants completed the follow-up survey, 84% reported using the distributed safety device and 23% had purchased additional locks for other firearms.
Participants were receptive to firearm safe storage education by a healthcare provider and distribution of a safe storage device. Our follow up survey results showed that pairing firearm safety education with device distribution increased overall use of safe storage devices which in turn has the potential to reduce the incidence of unintentional and intentional self-inflicted firearm injuries. Providing messaging to promote utilization of safe storage will impact a firearm safety culture change.
在美国，33%有孩子的家庭拥有枪支，但据报道只有三分之一的家庭安全存放枪支。据估计，31%的非故意枪支伤害死亡可以通过安全装置来预防。我们的目标是分发安全储存装置，提供安全储存教育，评估接受程度，并在随访时评估干预的效果。
在五个独立的社区安全活动中，父母在完成一项调查后收到了一个安全储存装置，该调查评估了枪支储存方法和父母对枪支安全讨论的舒适度。在 4 周后收集了后续调查。使用描述性分析评估数据。
320 名参与者完成了调查，其中 288 名参与者是拥有枪支并与孩子同住的父母。大多数参与者都愿意与医疗保健提供者讨论安全储存问题，并且愿意与朋友讨论枪支安全问题。54%的人表示在访问孩子所在的家庭时询问过枪支储存情况，39%的人将所有枪支上锁并卸弹储存，32%的人将枪支/弹药分开储存。121 名（37%）参与者完成了后续调查，84%的人报告使用了分发的安全装置，23%的人购买了其他枪支的额外锁。
参与者对医疗保健提供者提供的枪支安全储存教育和分发安全储存装置持接受态度。我们的后续调查结果表明，将枪支安全教育与装置分发相结合，增加了整体使用安全储存装置的比例，从而有可能降低非故意和故意的自我伤害性枪支伤害的发生率。提供促进安全储存利用的信息将影响枪支安全文化的改变。
