For decades, gun violence was treated as a battle to be won rather than a problem to be solved. – Nicholas Kristof
What an honor it was to present at a general session at the NASN 2023 conference in Orlando, Florida this past week. The focus of my presentation was how school nurses have an opportunity to join the public health approach to reduce gun violence in schools and communities. Refusing to accept gun violence as inevitable because it is predictable and, therefore, preventable, we envisioned a school community that prioritized school connectedness and healing approaches, fostering environments where students could truly thrive.
I reviewed the findings from a pilot research study that I have been working on with partners from Mass General Hospital Gun Violence Prevention Center and Northeastern University School Health Academy. The purpose of the research study is to develop a gun violence prevention education program for school nurses and assess its efficacy. The goal is to improve communication skills around gun safety among school nurses through improvements in nurse attitudes, self-efficacy, and strength/direction of safety recommendations. The sponsor of the research is Rutgers New Jersey Gun Violence Research Center.
We invited school nurses to participate in this research to provide insight into their experience relating to gun violence prevention in the scope of their practice. Individual interviews and focus groups with school nurses informed the creation of a training program including a didactic component and case-based scenarios. My hope is that we can provide on-site training for school nurses in an upcoming NASN conference. Hopefully, Chicago 2024 could be the place and time, keep an eye on this space for updates!
There is common ground to explore in student safety and well-being when it comes to gun violence prevention. We can immediately reduce the number of unintentional shootings and youth suicide by promoting safe storage education. School nurses have an important role in encouraging parents who have guns in the home to protect their children through responsible storage strategies.
I want to thank all of the participants who approached me after my presentation. The stories that you shared will fuel my continued commitment to this important work. I am especially appreciative to NASN for accepting my abstract as a general session presentation. I believe it is the first time the topic of gun violence prevention has been part of the offerings at a NASN conference.
Here are some scenes from NASN 2023, a gathering of 1000 school nurses from across the country and internationally too!
