Shannon Frattaroli

Evaluated community fire safety interventions in the United States: a review of current literature.

The purpose of the study was to assess the state of fire prevention research, provide an updated synthesis of evaluated fire prevention programs, and discuss the role of fire fighters and data systems in prevention efforts. The review included all evaluations of U.S. based fire prevention interventions published between January 1998 and September 2004 and any earlier articles about U.S. fire prevention interventions not included in two prior review articles. We retrieved information from each identified study including evaluation findings, involvement of fire service personnel and use of existing data systems. We identified twelve articles: seven reported on smoke alarm interventions, three on multi-faceted programs, and two other programs. Five programs involved fire service personnel in the design, implementation, and/or evaluation, and three used existing data systems. Studies reviewed suggest that canvassing and smoke alarm installations are the most effective means of distributing alarms and increasing the functional status of distributed alarms. The functionality of smoke alarms, an issue noted in earlier reviews, remains a problem. Programs involving partnerships with fire departments have indicated success in preventing fires and deaths, improving smoke alarm ownership and functional status, and improving children’s fire safety knowledge. Using existing data systems to target and to evaluate interventions was effective. In the years since prior reviews, some improvements in the rigor of evaluation designs have been made, but there is still a need for high quality evaluations that will inform fire injury prevention efforts.

Urban youths’ perspectives on violence and the necessity of fighting

Objectives: To assess youth perceptions of the causes and consequences of violence generally, the causes and consequences of fighting specifically, and to determine how best to approach fighting in the context of violence prevention activities. Methods: Thirteen structured focus group interviews with youths from three high violence urban settings: a large, urban high school, a training center for disadvantaged youths, and a school for adjudicated youths. Participants were 120 urban, predominately African-American youths and young adults ages 14–22 years (mean: 17.2 years). Seven focus groups were conducted with females, and six with males. Results: Adolescents identified the causes of violence on multiple levels including: individual, family, interpersonal, and community level factors. Most youths (89%) had been in a physical fight. Participants felt that fighting was not “right”, but identified situations in which it was necessary. Specifically, fighting was used as a problem solving tool, and could prevent escalation of violence. Youths felt that the adults in their lives, including physicians, were generally ill equipped to give advice about violence, as adults’ experiences were so removed from their own. Participants looked to experienced role models to offer problem solving and harm reduction strategies. Youths were open to receiving anticipatory guidance about violence and fighting from primary care physicians they felt comfortable with, and who showed respect for their experiences. Conclusions: Interventions that include blanket admonitions against fighting should be reassessed in light of youth perceptions that fighting plays a complex role in both inciting and preventing more serious violence.

How Delinquent Youths Acquire Guns: Initial Versus Most Recent Gun Acquisitions

BackgroundAccess to firearms among delinquent youths poses significant risks to community safety. The purpose of the study was to describe how a group of criminally involved youths obtained guns.MethodsYouths were randomly selected from a juvenile justice facility to participate in a semistructured, anonymous interview. Transcripts were coded and analyzed with the aid of textual analysis software.ResultsOf the 45 participants, 30 had acquired at least 1 gun prior to their most recent incarceration, and 22 had acquired multiple guns. About half of the first gun acquisitions were gifts or finds. The first guns youths acquired were usually obtained from friends or family. The most recent acquisitions were often new, high-calbier guns, and they came from acquaintances or drug addicts. New guns often came from igh-volume traffickers. Gun acquisitions from strangers or through “straw purchases” were rare. Though few obrtained guns directly throug theft, some youths believed their supplier bad stolen guns. Youths rarely left their community to obtain a gun.ConclusionsGuns were readily available to this sample of criminally involved youths through their social networks. Efforts to curtail high-volume, illegal gun traffickers and to recover discarded guns from areas in which illicit drug sales take place could potentially reduce gun availability to high-risk youth.

Separating Batterers and Guns: A Review and Analysis of Gun Removal Laws in 50 States.

Firearms play an important role in lethal domestic violence incidents. The authors review state laws regarding two policies to separate batterers from firearms: laws authorizing police to remove firearms when responding to a domestic violence complaint (“police gun removal laws”) and laws authorizing courts to order guns removed from batterers through a protective order (“court-ordered removal laws”). As of April 2004, 18 states had police gun removal laws; 16 states had court-ordered removal laws. The authors examine relevant characteristics of the laws and recommend that these laws be mandatory, apply to all guns and ammunition possessed by an abuser, and include clear procedures to enhance implementation.

Understanding and informing policy implementation: a case study of the domestic violence provisions of the Maryland Gun Violence Act.

The Maryland Gun Violence Act, enacted into law in 1996, explicitly authorized courts to order batterers to surrender their firearms through civil protective orders. It also vested law enforcement with the explicit authority to remove guns when responding to a domestic violence complaint. In order to assess how these laws were implemented, we designed a case study and collected data from in-depth, key informant interviews, court observations, and relevant documents. We present findings from this study and recommend how to increase the likelihood that policies designed to separate batterers and guns are implemented in a way that will result in greater protections for victims of domestic violence.

Toward environments and policies that promote injury-free active living--it wouldn't hurt.

Although being active is vital to the health and well-being of children, increases in physical activity can lead to an elevated risk of injury, which is a leading cause of childhood mortality globally. This article provides an overview of the evidence base concerning unintentional injuries associated with popular forms of physical activities for youth, and describes how injury prevention and child obesity professionals can work together to prevent injuries while promoting active lifestyles. Policy and environmental interventions that are beneficial to both outcomes are highlighted and recommendations for future research for these complementary areas are also provided.

Implementing a public health approach to gun violence prevention: the importance of physician engagement

Evidence-based, well-implemented, and enforced gun policies can reduce gun violence, and this vision can be realized with the help of physicians. As the details of policy proposals unfold and the p...

Unintentional Gun Injuries, Firearm Design, and Prevention: What We Know, What We Need to Know, and What Can Be Done

The public health community has long recognized unintentional gun injuries as a public health issue. In 1998 in the United States, 866 people died from unintentional gunshot wounds, resulting in a crude death rate of 0.32 per 100,000. Unintentional gun deaths have been declining since at least 1920, yet the reasons for this downward trend are not understood. Possible explanations, such as changes in gun ownership and demography, changes in access to guns among population subgroups, safety practices, and artifactual influences are discussed. Intervention strategies for reducing the risk of unintentional gun injury are also discussed.

Using Research Evidence to Reframe the Policy Debate Around Mental Illness and Guns: Process and Recommendations

Recent mass shootings have prompted a national dialogue around mental illness and gun policy. To advance an evidence-informed policy agenda on this controversial issue, we formed a consortium of national gun violence prevention and mental health experts. The consortium agreed on a guiding principle for future policy recommendations: restricting firearm access on the basis of certain dangerous behaviors is supported by the evidence; restricting access on the basis of mental illness diagnoses is not. We describe the groups process and recommendations.

Women with protective orders report failure to remove firearms from their abusive partners: results from an exploratory study.

AIMS The purpose of this study was to describe the perceptions of women who sought court protection orders for domestic violence (PODV) about actions to implement laws intended to disarm their abusers. METHODS We identified female victims of intimate partner violence (IPV) in New York and Los Angeles primarily through family courts and records of police calls for domestic violence. Of these, 782 were surveyed and asked about their experiences seeking PODV from courts, judges ordering the removal of firearms from defendants, and if firearms were actually surrendered or confiscated. RESULTS Of the 542 victims who had obtained a PODV and knew whether their abuser owned a firearm, 82 (15%) reported that their abuser owned a firearm. Although state law either allowed or mandated judges issuing PODVs to require abusers to surrender their firearms, 21 victims (26%) reported that judges used this authority. Ten victims (12% of victims with armed abusers) reported that their abuser had either surrendered all of his firearms or had the firearms seized. When victims reported that the judge ordered their abuser to surrender his firearms, victims were more likely to report that all firearms were either surrendered by the abuser or confiscated by law enforcement. CONCLUSIONS Based on the perceptions of the IPV victims in this study, laws designed to disarm domestic violence offenders were either poorly implemented or failed to inform victims when their abusers firearms were surrendered or confiscated.