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Psychiatric Residency Directors’ Perceptions of Firearm Access by the Mentally Ill in the United States

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Abstract

Firearms injuries place a unique burden on America in terms of lives lost (31,000/year), disability (70,000 nonfatal injuries/year), and economic costs ($174 billion in 2010). The purpose of this study was to examine psychiatric residency directors’ perceptions of firearm access issues of the mentally ill. In late Fall 2012 and early Spring of 2013, a three-wave mailing was used to survey the membership of the American Association of Directors of Psychiatric Residency Training (N = 129). Due to the homogenous small sample size descriptive statistics were calculated to describe the responses. A total of 72 (56 %) directors responded. Almost 1 in 4 (23.6 %) thought that access to firearms by the seriously mentally ill should not be prohibited. The majority (91.7 %) supported closing the background check loophole. The majority (54.2 %) also believed that singling out the mentally ill as a group of “banned purchasers” adds to the stigma of the mentally ill (54.2 %) but a plurality (44.4 %) did not believe reporting the mentally ill to authorities would result in the mentally ill avoiding treatment. The current method of reducing access by the mentally ill to firearms is perceived by psychiatric residency directors as ineffective and burdensome to the mentally ill.

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Acknowledgments

Funding was provided by the authors.

Conflict of interest

All authors report no conflict of interest associated with this research.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Professor Emeritus of Public Health, University of Toledo, Toledo, OH, 43606, USA

    James H. Price

  2. Department of Health Education, University of Toledo, Toledo, OH, 43606, USA

    Amy J. Thompson

  3. Department of Health Education, Ball State University, Muncie, IN, USA

    Jagdish Khubchandani

  4. Department of Health Education, Black Hills State University, Spearfish, SD, USA

    Michael Wiblishauser

Authors
  1. James H. Price
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  2. Amy J. Thompson
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  3. Jagdish Khubchandani
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  4. Michael Wiblishauser
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Correspondence to James H. Price.

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Price, J.H., Thompson, A.J., Khubchandani, J. et al. Psychiatric Residency Directors’ Perceptions of Firearm Access by the Mentally Ill in the United States. J Community Health 39, 322–326 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10900-013-9764-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10900-013-9764-z

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