Preventing Firearm Suicide by Phone: An Examination of Means Safety Practices Across US Crisis Centers

Objective:
Crisis centers (e.g., lifelines or crisis lines) provide publicly-accessible resources and support for individuals who are experiencing suicidal thoughts and behaviors. Crisis centers are on the frontline of suicide prevention, as many people who need professional help do not access formal mental health care services. Some crisis centers focus on the general population; others cater to specific groups (e.g., youth, families, veterans, and the elderly). Crisis centers are located across the U.S. and serve urban, rural, and suburban communities. The COVID-19 pandemic has rendered in-person mental health care even less accessible, and crisis centers have reported substantial increases in calls. Additionally, firearm ownership during this time has increased.

Gun owners who purchased a firearm during the pandemic are more likely to have recent and lifetime suicidal ideation than non-firearm owners or firearm owners who only purchased firearms before the pandemic. The U.S. faces an influx of high-risk firearm owners at a time of elevated stress and decreased access to care. Crisis centers are necessary settings to conduct means safety practices with diverse individuals who are at risk for suicide. Yet, there is little research that examines how crisis centers train and use firearm means safety for suicide prevention, and even less research comparing different needs across the wide demographic range of callers. This gap in knowledge is where we position our study.

Our team's goal is to understand the current use and attitudes toward firearm mean safety throughout crisis centers, and to identify barriers to using such practices with diverse callers at risk of suicide. This will be accomplished first through a quantitative survey administered to crisis center works across the country, with an effort to balance representation across various geographic areas. We will then conduct a series of qualitative interviews with a selection of participants in order to better understand gaps in training and paths towards increasing the use of means safety strategies with suicidal firearm owners who call in to crisis.

Funded By:
New Jersey Gun Violence Research Center

Project Status:
In progress

Principal Investigator (PI):
Hannah Szlyk, PhD

Amount Awarded:
$58,641