A Community Based Participatory Research Approach for Addressing the Role of Firearms in Suicide Prevention among Black Males
Principal Investigators:
Dorian Lamis, PhD, ABPP | Emory University School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
Nadine J. Kaslow, PhD, ABPP | Emory University School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
Randi Smith, MD, MPH | Emory University School of Medicine, Department of Surgery
Co-Investigators:
Lauren Hudak, MD, MPH | Emory University School of Medicine, Department of Emergency Medicine
Sarah Dunn, PhD, ABPP | Emory University School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
Ann Schwartz, MD | Emory University School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
Timothy Moran, PhD | Emory University School of Medicine, Department of Emergency Medicine
Partner Organization:
Why is this project important?
This project addresses the urgent need for culturally tailored interventions to prevent firearm-related suicides among Black men. By leveraging community insights and applying rigorous scientific methods, the study aims to reduce the incidence of suicide and improve mental health outcomes for this high-risk population. The findings will contribute to the broader field of suicide prevention and inform future research and practice.
Key Contribution to Science:
This study applies CPBAR and implementation science methods to develop and pilot a novel culturally responsive trauma-informed interventions to reduce suicidal behavior in Black men with access to lethal means.
Firearms account for over half of all suicide deaths in the United States, and this rate is increasing among Black men. There is a gap in our understanding of the unique individual, relationship, community, and societal level root causes and protective factors associated with suicidal behavior (e.g., ideation, attempts, death) in this population. In addition, although interventions exist for other populations, there are no published or evidence-based culturally responsive preventive interventions to reduce suicidal behavior in Black men, even though culturally relevant evidence-informed suicide prevention behavioral health practices are known to positively impact specific ethnoracial communities. This project uses community-based participatory research (CBPR) principles to investigate risk and protective factors for firearm suicide among Black men. The study will adapt existing evidence-based interventions (EBIs) to create culturally responsive strategies to prevent self-inflicted injury or death among multiply marginalized (e.g., limited education, live in poverty, encounter high levels of race-related disparities) Black men with access to firearms.
- Characterize risk and protective factors that differentiate Black men who present to the hospital after an intentional self-inflicted gunshot wound (i.e., attempters) from Black men who have no history of suicide attempt but have access to a firearm (i.e., nonattempters).
- Use CBPR and implementation science methods to create a preventive intervention guide to reduce firearm-related suicide risk.
- Conduct a pilot study of the culturally-responsive preventive intervention guide.