Elizabeth Johnson-Young, Assistant Professor of Communication, has published a co-authored essay “Assessment of Pediatric Residents’ Attitudes toward Anticipatory Counseling on Gun Safety” now available in the peer-reviewed journal Children. This project was completed in conjunction with research colleagues in emergency pediatrics from University of Maryland, Kaiser, and The Herman and Walter Samuelson Children’s Hospital at Sinai and is part of a larger set of data and projects. The current publication is the first among a few upcoming publications from the project and presents data and conclusions regarding pediatric medical residents’ attitudes towards anticipatory guidance counseling about firearms and firearm safety. Survey items asked residents about their knowledge of current gun safety campaigns, as well as their own gun safety counseling practices. Overall conclusions are that residents support the idea of counseling patients on firearm safety as part of their anticipatory guidance practices, but seem to recognize that the subject of firearms can be problematic. Educational programs and resources are needed to support pediatricians in this type of counseling.
This paper is now available in open access form.