Kaiser To Fund Gun Injury Research

Kaiser Permanente, the nation's largest nonprofit, integrated health system, will fund three clinical research studies related to gun injury research.

The clinical research studies that focus on how clinicians can help prevent firearm injuries, including suicide, intimate partner violence, and accidents, as part of its pledge to invest $2 million to prevent gun injuries and deaths.

The studies will be led by investigators at three of Kaiser Permanente's regional research institutes in partnership with its Permanente Medical Group clinicians and physicians.

The studies are:

• Understanding Risk Factors of Firearm-related Injuries and Death in Adult and Pediatric Populations: Risk Prediction and Opportunities for Prevention. This study builds on existing work in Kaiser Permanente Washington that involves screening patients who are receiving mental health-related care for access to firearms.

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• Evaluating a Web-Based Education Tool for Safe Firearm Storage in Patients at Risk for Suicide. This study will focus on patients who report suicidality during medical or mental health visits. It will test the impact of an anonymous, web-based decision aid for safe firearm storage as an adjunctive approach to existing provider-delivered interventions.
   

•  Understanding Risk Factors of Firearm-related Injuries and Death in Adult and Pediatric Populations: Risk Prediction and Opportunities for Prevention. This study will develop a risk prediction model for both intentional and unintentional firearm-related injuries leveraging data from Kaiser Permanente Southern California and community-level data. It will also generate a heatmap of high-risk communities to inform strategies for firearm injury prevention interventions at the medical center and clinic level.

In 2018, Kaiser Permanente announced the formation of its Firearm Injury Prevention Task Force and an accompanying $2 million research fund to address preventable gun-related injuries and death.