Date Available

4-24-2019

Year of Publication

2019

Degree Name

Doctor of Nursing Practice

Committee Chair

Dr. Dianna Inman

Clinical Mentor

Dr. Karen Butler

Committee Member

Dr. Stephanie Stockburger

Abstract

Objective: The purpose of this project was to implement a routine gun violence screening tool into practice in order to assess the need for this type of screening in the Adolescent Medicine Clinic at the University of Kentucky.

Methods: This study used a quasi-experimental one group posttest design to examine the impact of the implementation of a gun violence screening tool on the proportion of patients screened and the proportion of patients referred for intervention that screen positive.

Results: There were 44 adolescent patients that participated in this study (n=44). Twelve out of 44 participants screened positive, which means they scored a 1 or higher on the screening tool. Of the 27% that screened positive, 10 of the 12 declined referral to meet with a mental health professional. Of the two that agreed to a mental health referral, only 1 kept their scheduled appointment.

Conclusion: Over a quarter of the participants in the study screened positive on the SaFEty screening tool used in this study. This percentage is significant for concern for gun violence in the Adolescent Medicine patient population. Further research is needed in this area, including how to best screen patients, assessing their resistance to mental health referral, and the screening results in various local neighborhoods.

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