Preventing Firearm Violence in Youth: A Hospital-based Prevention Strategy

NCT05078164 | Recruiting

• 2 other identifiers: HM200229751R01HD108025
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 300
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

The goal of the study is to understand if hospital-based violence interventions are effective for reducing youth violence among violently injured youth. This study will allow researchers to learn more about the intervention's effectiveness. The researchers also want to understand if the violence intervention impacts other behaviors, such as firearm use, drug use, aggression, risky behaviors, and rates of violent re-injury.

Conditions

Violence in Adolescence

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (5)

• Firearm-related violence

  Total number of unique firearm-related violence incidents will be assessed multiple ways including self-report assessment and semi-structured clinical assessments.

  6 months

• Firearm-related carrying behaviors

  Total number of firearm-related carrying behaviors will be assessed multiple ways including self-report assessment and semi-structured clinical assessments.

  6 months

• Firearm-related beliefs

  Total number of firearm-related beliefs endorsed will be assessed multiple ways including self-report assessment and semi-structured clinical assessments.

  6 months

• Firearm-related re-injury

  Total number of unique firearm-related re-injury incidents will be measured multiple ways including self-report, caregiver-report, hospital records, and the National Death Index.

  6 months

• Firearm-related mortality

  Number of deaths will be collected from hospital records and the National Death Index.

  6 months

Study Arms (2)

Treatment as Usual

NO INTERVENTION

Youth who will not receive BTG services and will receive treatment as usual (TAU) in the hospital.

Bridging the Gap (BTG)

EXPERIMENTAL

Youth randomized to Bridging the Gap (BTG) services will receive a hospital-based violence prevention program with 3-months of community case management and a firearm counseling program.

Behavioral: Bridging the Gap (BTG)

Interventions

Bridging the Gap (BTG) BEHAVIORAL

Bridging the Gap: Bridging the Gap is a hybrid model for violence prevention which integrates a hospital-based brief violence intervention (BVI) delivered to the patient while in hospital with a wrap-around community case management prevention strategy. Firearm Counseling Program: The firearm counseling program was developed to be administered in the hospital alongside the 6-step intervention program, as well as in the patient's home after hospital discharge. The firearm safety counseling program includes 3 components aimed at understanding patient risk, reducing firearm-related violence risk-factors, and helping patients increase firearm safety practices.

Bridging the Gap (BTG)

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 10 Years - 17 Years
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: No
• Age Groups: Child (0-17)

You may qualify if:

• Youth are aged 10-17 years and their adult caregivers are aged 18 years and older
• Receiving treatment in the hospital for a violence-related injury (e.g., gunshot wound) or referred to BTG/IVPP services
• English speaking
• Eligible for BTG services (which includes living within the BTG catchment area for the hospital; Richmond City and neighboring counties)

You may not qualify if:

• Youth are \< 10 years old
• Youth are \> 18 years old
• Prisoners

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Virginia Commonwealth University: lead
• Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD): collaborator

Study Sites (1)

Virginia Commonwealth University

Richmond, Virginia, 23298, United States

RECRUITING

Study Officials

• Nicholas Thomson

  Virginia Commonwealth University

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Central Study Contacts

Nicholas Thomson

CONTACT

804-628-5541; Nicholas.Thomson@vcuhealth.org

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: NONE
• Purpose: PREVENTION
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: SPONSOR

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: September 29, 2021
• First Posted: October 14, 2021
• Study Start: May 4, 2022
• Primary Completion (Estimated): December 1, 2026
• Study Completion (Estimated): December 1, 2026
• Last Updated: February 4, 2026

Record last verified: 2026-02

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will not share

Locations

US (1)