Citation

Everett SA, Price JH, Bedell AW, Telljohann SK. J. Community Health 1997; 22(5): 313-324.

Affiliation

Department of Health Promotion and Human Performance, University of Toledo, OH 43606, USA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1997, Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

9353680

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to identify family physicians' firearm safety counseling beliefs and behaviors. A survey was mailed to a random sample of 600 members of the American Academy of Family Physicians. A three wave mailing technique was used to maximize the response rate and yielded 271 usable surveys (55% response rate). Outcome measures included training experience in firearm safety counseling, the prevalence of firearm safety counseling by family physicians, and their perceptions regarding such counseling. The majority (78%) of family physicians lacked formal training on how to counsel patients about firearm safety and 49% believed more time should be spent in residency programs on firearm safety counseling. The majority (84%) of respondents never or rarely counseled patients on firearm safety and 50% believed firearm safety counseling should be a low priority in their delivery of primary care. The majority of respondents did not regularly counsel patients about firearm safety, did not believe firearm safety counseling should be a priority, and did not believe firearm safety counseling would be effective in reducing firearm-related trauma.