A PHONE-AND-TELEHEALTH PROGRAM CUT RISKY FIREARM BEHAVIORS 57%.
Three remote counseling sessions and a phone tool helped young people make safer decisions in a rigorous trial.
A youth-designed intervention paired three telehealth counseling sessions with mobile support and more than doubled the reduction in risky firearm behavior seen with standard care.
WHAT HAPPENED
Researchers enrolled nearly 400 emergency-department patients ages 16 to 30 who had carried a firearm in the previous three months. Participants assigned to IntERact received three remote counseling sessions plus a mobile tool. At six months, risky firearm behaviors had fallen 57%, with additional improvements reported in violence involvement, injury, substance use, anxiety and depression.
WHY THIS IS HOPESLOP
The result treats safety as a skill people can practice, not a character judgment. A relatively compact intervention met young people where they already were — on their phones — and produced a measurable change in a randomized trial.
ORIGINAL SOURCEUniversity of Michigan Institute for Healthcare Policy and InnovationRead the original report
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