Opportunities and barriers to engaging caregivers in firearm suicide prevention: findings from focus groups with caregivers of veterans.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Firearms are involved in more than 70% of U.S. Veteran suicides. Caregivers, defined as family members or concerned significant others, can play an important role in firearm suicide prevention through initiating conversations about secure firearm storage with Veterans. Our objective was to explore caregivers' experiences with lethal means safety (LMS) conversations and identify perceived barriers to caregivers discussing LMS with healthcare providers and with Veterans.

Methods

We conducted focus groups with 32 caregivers with experience caring for a Veteran at risk for suicide. Qualitative data were analyzed using thematic analysis.

Results

We identified three primary themes: 1) caregivers recognize and endorse the importance of having conversations about s

SUBMITTER: MacWilliams K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12465913 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature