Safer Storage Safer Homes An Inpatient Pediatric Lethal Means Counseling Pilot Trial

The Behavioral Health service at Monroe Carell Jr Children's Hospital at Vanderbilt (MCJCHV) provides specialized care for children and adolescents offering settings for patients to feel safe and supported while awaiting inpatient psychiatric care. Patients admitted to this team include children and adolescents with behavioral and psychological health challenges, including anxiety, depression, emotional distress, mood or personality disorders and many other mental health issues placing them at increased risk from harm from lethal means (sharps, medications, and firearms). Reducing immediate access to lethal means may mitigate the risk of fatal self-harm in youth. While likely beneficial in the inpatient setting, only one study exists examining the effects of an educational intervention for parents of hospitalized children. To address this gap, we plan to implement a pilot intervention to offer secure storage counseling and device distribution to families of behavioral health patients who indicate firearm ownership on initial screening. The primary goal of this project is to determine the utilization and feasibility of providing these tools in the inpatient setting. We will additionally be assessing the feasibility of recruiting and retaining participants as well as the acceptability offering secure storage counseling in our study population to help inform future studies. This will be a single arm observational pilot study. Participants will be asked to complete a pre- and post-survey via REDCap. Participants will first complete a self-guided pre-survey including demographic questions and current behaviors for medication and firearm storage. There will then be a 5-minute injury prevention educational session (lethal means counseling which is an underperformed standard of care for patients admitted with behavioral or mental health needs) informed by current evidence. The participants will also complete an online self-guided follow-up survey 1 month following the educational training. A REDCap link will be sent to the participant via email. Reminders will be sent at 1,2, and 7 days. Participants will be compensated for their participation.