Supportive Hospital-Based Intervention for Firearm Trauma

The long-term goal of this study is to decrease community rates of youth gun violence. The objective is to test the long-term effects of a hospital-initiated intervention and examine how social contexts influence its adoption and sustained effects. This study will be conducted in collaboration with the Spirit of Charity Trauma Center at University Medical Center to implement a hospital-initiated intervention to reduce gun violence amongst older youth.

The multi-faceted intervention includes motivational interviewing and firearm safety training as part of a broader risk reduction effort involving case management. The proposed study, known as the Supportive Hospital-Based Intervention for Firearm Trauma (SHIFT), will employ a mixed methods approach, including a quasi-experimental study, to test the efficacy of the Motivational Interviewing (MI) intervention compared to treatment as usual (TAU) control condition. The hypothesis of this study is that this harm reduction intervention will be more effective in changing firearm-related behaviors and beliefs than the control condition at 3- and 6-months and reducing gun violence at 18-months post-baseline. If successful, the proposed intervention would significantly reduce gun violence and gun violence recidivism amongst youth in our community. The investigators will test our hypothesis via three specific aims:

• To establish the effects (at 6 months) of a hospital-initiated, community-integrated practice approach on firearm related behaviors and beliefs amongst older youth (16 to 24 years). Our primary working hypothesis is that youth allocated to the MI prevention condition will have safer firearm related behaviors and beliefs compared to the TAU control condition at 6 months post- enrollment.
• To establish the effects (at 18 months) of hospital-initiated, community-integrated practice- based approach on rates of gun violence amongst older youth (16 to 24 years). Our primary working hypothesis is that youth allocated to the MI prevention condition will have reduced gun violence recidivism compared to the TAU control condition at 18 months post-enrollment. Gun violence constructs to be measured include hospital readmittance for gun violence wounds, arrest records for gun violence, and frequency of carrying or using a gun.
• To gain in-depth understanding of older youth's (16 to 24 years) social and normative environments that may influence such a practice. Supplementing quantitative findings with a qualitative study of older youth will more fully capture the social contexts supporting or hindering gun violence behavior changes supported by our practice-based approach. Identifying and examining these factors in-depth will contribute to a more nuanced understanding of how to support the long-term durability of approach effects.

Inclusion criteria

• 16 to 24 years old
• gunshot wound, stab wound, or assault related blunt force trauma injury treated at University Medical Center
• reside in the state of Louisiana
• capacity to provide voluntary informed consent or assent as approved by the Institutional Review Board of Tulane University

Exclusion criteria

• not voluntarily agreeing to participate
• not available to participate in study activities in a private room
• age under 16 or over 24
• do not reside in the state of Louisiana
• not acknowledging English as their first language
• being in the judgment of the trauma surgery service as too physically compromised to participate
• intellectual disability as estimated by clinician judgment following mental status examination
• current psychosis as evidenced by structured clinical interview and mental status examination that are administered on as needed basis
• current legal detention status
• injury was a result of intimate partner violence
• does not have the capacity to provide voluntary informed consent or assent as approved by the Institutional Review Board of Tulane University