Preventive medicine
-
Preventive medicine · Dec 2022
Examining risky firearm behaviors among high-risk gun carriers in New York City.
Precarious firearm conduct among inexperienced gun possessors has the potential to intensify firearm-related fatalities and injuries. The current study involves face-to-face interviews with 51 high-risk (and prohibited) residents of Brooklyn and the Bronx, NY, each of whom have either been shot or shot at. We analyze study participants' lived experiences regarding urban gun violence (including as victims and perpetrators), firearm handling, sharing, and improper storage. ⋯ These informal methods were shaped by respondents' desire to arm themselves despite inadequate access to firearm training. Study participants also described routinely stashing firearms in unsecure, easily accessible locations. Our study findings have important implications for informing community-based harm reduction and safety strategies among persons within high-risk networks.
-
Preventive medicine · Dec 2022
Psychosocial aspects of coping that predict post-traumatic stress disorder for African American survivors of homicide victims.
African Americans disproportionately experience homicide, and the psychological consequence of experiencing this traumatic event interferes with daily function, often in the form of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). According to the Model of Coping for African American Survivors of Homicide Victims (MCAASHV), African Americans coping with the traumatic impact of homicide are influenced by: the violent nature of the death itself, racial- and cultural-bound experiences (e.g., cultural trauma, the culture of homicide including stigma, blame, shame, and lack of justice) and psychological processes including racial appraisal and coping strategies (e.g., spiritual, collective, meaning making). This study examined the direct and indirect effects racial- and cultural-bound experiences have on PTSD through coping strategies among 304 African American survivors of homicide victims across the United States using Qualtrics Panel collected in March-May 2018. ⋯ Coping (β = -0.38, p < .001) and culture of homicide (β = -0.27, p < .001) were negatively related to PTSD. Cultural trauma (β = 0.11, p < .014), culture of homicide (β = 0.43, p < .001), reactions to homicide (β = 0.11, p < .006) and racial appraisal (β = 0.32, p < .001) were positively associated with coping (R2 = 52%), and all were indirectly associated with PTSD through coping. Findings provide strong support for the MCAASHV and highlight the direct and indirect effects of racial and cultural experiences of coping that explain PTSD among African Americans chronically exposed to homicide.
-
Preventive medicine · Dec 2022
Gun violence in K-12 schools in the United States: Moving towards a preventive (versus reactive) framework.
Intentional shootings in K-12 schools in the U. S. persist as a public health problem. The number of shootings in K-12 schools has increased precipitously since 2017. ⋯ We also highlight the role of stricter gun laws, reasonable school security efforts, bystander interventions, building awareness within school communities, and meaningful investments in early interventions and mental health services. Children, who have been tragically exposed to any number of adverse experiences in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, deserve more reasoned choices and large-scale investments in understanding and cutting off the root causes of school gun violence; not just a reliance on strategies that focus on what to do in the moment of a violent act. As gun violence in K-12 schools persists, we must reframe the discourse about school gun violence around prevention, not reaction.
-
Interpersonal firearm injuries pose a persistent public health threat in the United States (US). Strategic interventions to curb these injuries require evaluation of measurable outcomes that prove effectiveness and substantiate efforts for wider scaling and implementation. ⋯ In this commentary we urge that the term which can insinuate racialized criminality and reinforce stigma, no longer be used to describe people who experience firearm injuries. We also advocate for reconsideration of 'recidivism' as an ideal evaluation metric for the success of tertiary firearm injury prevention programs.