Article Text
Abstract
Objectives To describe community-driven suicide prevention partnerships between firearm retailers and public health officials (‘gun shop projects’), including common elements and challenges.
Methods We conducted qualitative interviews with leaders from state-level and national-level partnerships to determine common features, challenges and strategies used by these groups. Data were coded via theme analysis; two independent coders followed a shared codebook developed in an iterative fashion and with high inter-rater reliability.
Results Across 10 interviews, data revealed four main themes: (1) community building was a cornerstone of these efforts; (2) appropriate messaging and language were vital to successes; (3) groups employed various educational and outreach campaigns and (4) groups identified common challenges and obstacles.
Conclusions Gun shop project partnerships between firearm retailers and public health officials show promise, with thematic data demonstrating common trends and steps towards successful programme implementation. Evaluative data are needed to determine the impact of these efforts on suicide prevention in local communities.
- suicide prevention
- firearms access
- community engagement
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Footnotes
Twitter @EmmyBetz
Funding This study was funded by Defense Suicide Prevention Office. Grand number (#47QFPA18D0004).
Competing interests None declared.
Patient and public involvement Patients and/or the public were not involved in the design, or conduct, or reporting, or dissemination plans of this research.
Patient consent for publication Not required.
Ethics approval The Colorado Multiple Institutional Review Board reviewed and approved this study as exempt.
Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.
Data availability statement Data are available upon reasonable request. Data collected include deidentified participant interview transcripts. Data could be made available upon reasonable requests to the corresponding author and are not permitted to be reused.