Clinical psychologists' firearm risk management practices and perceptions

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate clinical psychologists' firearm risk management activities with patients. Specifically, the purpose was to investigate the current practice of discussing firearm risk management among patients with certain mental health disorders. Methods: A three-wave mail survey of a national random sample of clinical psychologists using a valid and reliable questionnaire. Results: A total of 339 clinical psychologists out of 600 responded for a response rate of 62%. About one-half (51.6%) of the clinical psychologists reported they would initiate firearm safety counseling if the patients were assessed as at risk for self-harm or harm to others. The majority (78.5%) of clinical psychologists felt firearm safety issues were greater among those with mental health problems. Approximately 40% of clinical psychologists reported counseling all suicidal patients regarding firearm safety. The majority of clinical psychologists did not have a routine system for identifying patients with access to firearms (78.2%). Almost half (48.1%) of clinical psychologists reported one barrier to firearm safety counseling. Almost 47% of clinical psychologists believed it was likely that firearm safety counseling would reduce the number of suicide attempts and suicides in patients and/or their families. Less than half (46%) of clinical psychologists reported not receiving any information on firearm safety issues. Conclusions: The findings of this study suggest that a more formal role regarding firearms is needed in the professional training of clinical psychologists and a position statement by the American Association of Clinical Psychologists is needed.