Reducing Firearm Suicide Among Veterans: Evaluating Peer-Delivered Lethal Means Counseling
This study aims to reduce firearm suicide among Veterans by testing a new approach called PEERS (Peer Engagement and Exploration of Responsibility and Safety). PEERS involves a one-on-one session, lasting 15 minutes to one hour, with a fellow Veteran who owns firearms. This session focuses on secure firearm storage practices. You might be able to join if you are a Veteran, own a firearm, and currently store it in a way that is not fully secure. The study wants to see if Veterans who receive PEERS use more secure firearm storage practices compared to those who only receive general information. We are looking to enroll 100 Veterans, but the current recruitment status is unclear.
- Study design
- This interventional study plans to enroll 100 participants. It compares a behavioral intervention (PEERS) to a control group that receives no treatment.
- What's involved
- You would have a one-on-one session with a Veteran peer, lasting 15 minutes to one hour, either in-person or virtually. You would also complete questionnaires at the start, 1-week, 6-months, and 1-year.
- Compensation
- Not stated in the trial record.
- Follow-up
- Participants will be followed for one year after the intervention, with questionnaires at 1-week, 6-months, and 1-year.
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Reducing Firearm Suicide Among Veterans: Evaluating the Effectiveness of Peer-Delivered Lethal Means Counseling
At a glance
Conditions
Where it's being run
1 sites across 1 statesStudy leadership
- Claire Houtsma, PhD · PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR · Southeast Louisiana Veterans Health Care System, New Orleans, LA
Who to contact
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Do you actually qualify for this trial?
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Inclusion
Exclusion
What this trial measures
- Modified MIRECC Lethal Means QuestionnaireEligibility Screening, Baseline, Follow-ups (1-week, 6-months, 1-year)
The MIRECC Lethal Means Questionnaire (Simonetti, 2017) is a 13-item self-report measure designed to assess experiences with firearms. Items include questions about number and type of firearms owned, primary reason for firearm ownership, and firearm handling. It also includes items related to firearm storage practices. Two open-ended questions were also added to allow participants to describe, in their own words, their current firearm storage practices, and at follow-ups to describe any changes they've made to their firearm storage that is not captured in the other questions. Responses to three key firearm storage items will be totaled to create a composite storage score, with higher scores indicating safer storage practices. Range of values: 0-6.
- Theory of Planned BehaviorBaseline and Follow-ups (1-week, 6-months, 1-year)
A 15-item measure was designed using Francis and colleagues' (2004) guide to assess each of the four subdomains of the Theory of Planned Behavior. Specifically, there are three items assessing intentions to increase secure firearm storage (e.g., "I intend to increase my use of secure firearm storage"), four items assessing attitudes towards increasing secure firearm storage, four items assessing subjective norms surrounding increasing secure firearm storage (e.g., "People who are important to me want me to increase my use of secure firearm storage"), and four items assessing perceived behavioral control of increasing secure firearm storage. All items include 7-point Likert scale response options and the items within subdomains (e.g., intentions, attitudes) are averaged to produce overall subdomain scores. Range of values: 1-7.
- Beliefs and Attitudes about Firearms and SuicideBaseline and Follow-ups (1-week, 6-months, 1-year)
A 3-item questionnaire used to evaluate belief in relationships related to suicide risk. Items include, "To what extent do you think owning a firearm is related to suicide risk?", "To what extent do you think how a firearm is stored (e.g., gun safe, loaded) is related to suicide risk?", and "To what extent do you agree with the statement 'if somebody wants to die by suicide and you prevent them from using a specific method, they will simply find another way to die'?" Participants will respond on a 5-point Likert scale, with higher scores indicating higher belief in the statement or described relationship. Range of values: 0-12.
- Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Checklist for DSM-5 (PCL-5)Baseline and Follow-ups (1-week, 6-months, 1-year)
PTSD symptoms will be assessed using the PCL-5, including the criterion A face page (Blevins et al., 2015). The PCL-5 includes a brief set of questions assessing whether an individual has experienced a criterion A stressor, followed by a 20-item self-report questionnaire designed to assess each of the 20 Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders - 5th Edition (DSM-5) PTSD symptoms. Participants will first be asked to respond to five questions on the face page assessing for criterion A stressors. Next, they will be asked to respond to the 20-item self-report measure using a 5-point Likert scale, with higher scores suggesting higher symptom severity. In addition to a total score, the PCL-5 yields four subscale scores reflecting the four PTSD symptom clusters (i.e., re-experiencing, avoidance, alteration in cognitions and mood, and arousal and reactivity). Range of values: 0-80.