This Article  • Full text  • PDF  • Send to a friend  • Save in My Folder  • Save to citation manager  • Permissions  Citing Articles  • Citation map  • Citing articles on HighWire  • Citing articles on Web of Science (10)  • Contact me when this article is cited  Related Content  • Similar articles in this journal  Topic Collections  • Adolescent Medicine  • Patient Safety/ Medical Error  • Alert me on articles by topic  Social Bookmarking   What's this?

Barry S. Solomon, MD, MPH; Anne K. Duggan, ScD; Daniel Webster, ScD, MPH; Janet R. Serwint, MD

Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 2002;156:769-775.

Background  Firearms continue to be a major cause of mortality in adolescence. Although the American Academy of Pediatrics strongly encourages pediatricians to counsel adolescents and their parents on firearm safety, few residency programs educate their trainees in this area. More in-depth information is needed to design effective educational interventions.

Objectives  To determine the attitudes, beliefs, and practices of pediatric residents regarding firearm safety counseling and to compare their counseling practices for adolescents and parents of adolescents during health maintenance visits.

Design  Cross-sectional survey.

Participants  Pediatric residents from 9 programs in the mid-Atlantic region.

Results  Of the 322 respondents (76% response rate), few believed that it is not a pediatrician's responsibility to counsel, that their patients are not at risk for firearm injury, and that children are safer with a gun in the home. However, only 50% reported routine counseling, and more than 20% reported almost never counseling adolescents and their parents on firearm safety. Barriers included inadequate training (38%), insufficient time (26%), and a lack of preceptor expectation (13%). The strongest predictors for counseling adolescents included the belief that gun-related media coverage influences counseling practice, level of training, and personal experience with guns in the home. The strongest predictors for counseling parents of adolescents were the belief in the media's influence on counseling practice, perceived counseling effectiveness, and discomfort with firearm safety counseling.

Conclusions  To increase counseling practices, clinical preceptors should aim to strengthen residents' comfort in counseling and to develop specific ways to enhance their perceived effectiveness in counseling parents.

From The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Division of General Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine (Drs Solomon, Duggan, and Serwint), and Johns Hopkins University Center for Injury Research and Policy (Dr Webster), Baltimore, Md.

CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter     What's this?

THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES

Guns, Adolescents, and Mental Illness
McNamara and Findling
Am. J. Psychiatry 2008;165:190-194.
FULL TEXT  

Pediatricians' involvement in gun injury prevention
Olson et al.
Inj. Prev. 2007;13:99-104.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Injury prevention training: a cluster randomised controlled trial assessing its effect on the knowledge, attitudes, and practices of midwives and health visitors
Woods et al.
Inj. Prev. 2004;10:83-87.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Understanding and Preventing Violence in Children and Adolescents
Rivara
Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med 2002;156:746-747.
FULL TEXT