4 - (SYM 118) Involving Concerned Significant Others in Upstream Lethal Means Safety Interventions to Prevent Firearm Suicide in Veterans

Firearms are the most lethal and commonly used means for suicide attempts in Veterans. Unsafe storage of firearms (e.g., unlocked and/or loaded) is associated with greater risk for death by suicide. To reduce injury and death by suicide via firearm, new suicide prevention interventions are needed that reach Veterans far in advanced of a mental health crisis. Further, Veterans often want to include a family member or friend (i.e., concerned significant other; CSO) in their suicide prevention care (DeBeer et al., 2019).

The Family FireArms Safety Training (FFAST) intervention was developed to address these concerns. Veterans and CSOs were engaged through an advisory board at the start of intervention development. The advisory board met quarterly for a year during intervention development. Further, the research team was also comprised of CSOs. This intervention is a single-session lethal means safety intervention incorporating the cooperation of a Veteran’s CSO.

This intervention was piloted with 9 Veteran and CSO dyads (N = 18). Measures included assessments on firearm storage practices, perceptions of firearm-related risks, and participant satisfaction administered at baseline, post-intervention, and 1-month follow-up. In addition, semi-structured interviews assessing the impact and experiences related to the intervention were conducted at the 1-month follow-up.

Major findings included changes in self-reported firearm storage practices for Veterans and CSOs from the baseline to 1-month follow-up, including increases in percentages of Veterans and CSOs who stored firearms securely (i.e., locked and unloaded), and greater agreement with storing firearms securely in the home. Semi-structured interviews were conducted at the post-intervention and 1-month follow-up to further receive feedback from Veterans and CSOs on their experiences of the intervention. Veterans and CSOs continued to adopt safe storage practices and report changes in perceptions of firearm-related risk.

Veterans and CSOs also found the intervention to be beneficial to themselves and potentially for other Veterans and CSOs. Involving stakeholders was crucial to the development and testing of this pilot intervention. Currently, additional data is being collected with 30 dyads.