An ED-based Randomized Clinical Trial of Lethal Means Counseling for Parents of Youth at Risk for Suicide
Abstract
The National Action Alliance to Prevent Suicide recently released a research agenda aimed at significantly reducing suicide over the next decade. Aspirational Goal 12, "Reduce access to lethal means that people use to attempt suicide," calls for identifying effective strategies to reduce a suicidal person's access to firearms and other lethal means.
A promising strategy is to counsel patients seen in the emergency department (ED) for a psychiatric emergency to reduce access to firearms (the most lethal suicide method) and medications (the most common method of suicide attempt). To date, however, few studies have evaluated changes in firearm storage practices among those who received lethal means counseling (LMC), and those that have, including a pilot conducted in Colorado by the study team, have lacked control groups. Results from the pilot, which provided emergency department based LMC counseling to parents of suicidal adolescents, found that among gun-owning parents, 33% had unlocked guns at home on the day of the ED visit and none did on follow up.
Using the piloted LMC protocol, we will conduct the first randomized, controlled trial (RCT) of the effectiveness of ED-based LMC on firearm and medication storage. The proposed RCT, to be conducted in five Colorado hospitals, will test whether parents of at-risk adolescents who are treated in hospitals that have (vs. have not yet) implemented our LMC protocol are more likely to store household firearms and medications safely.…
How strong is the evidence?
Evidence Hub reads this as a randomized trial, done in people. Its evidence level is 2 of 5 (High · randomized trial). Randomized trials of a reasonable size are the strongest single-study design. Reported size: 575 participants or records.
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