Medical Student Knowledge of Firearm Violence EpidemiologyNCT06241937
Medical Student Firearm Safety Counseling Follow-Up Study
A study testing Expanded Clinical Firearm Safety Counseling Training in people with Medical Student Knowledge of Firearm Violence Epidemiology and Medical Student Knowledge About Firearm Safety Procedures, run by University of California, Los Angeles at 1 site in United States.
Trial summary
The preclinical curriculum related to firearm violence and safety counseling at the UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine (DGSOM) has been expanded for the Class of 2027, informed by the results and conclusions of an initial study of firearm safety counseling by medical students (ClinicalTrials.gov ID: NCT05242627)… Read more about this study
- Who is it for?
- Ages 18 years and olderHealthy volunteers can take part
- Conditions the study is for
- Medical Student Knowledge of Firearm Violence Epidemiology, Medical Student Knowledge About Firearm Safety Procedures, Medical Student-initiated Clinical Firearm Safety Counseling
- What is being tested?
- Expanded Clinical Firearm Safety Counseling Training
- Type of treatment
- Lifestyle or therapy programme
- Could I receive a placebo?
- No, everyone receives an active treatment
- How many people
- 176 participants
- Where
- 1 siteUnited States
- Study dates
- 15 Aug 2023to 1 Jun 2025
- Phase
- Interventional
- Are there results?
- None posted in the registry
Key requirements
Who can take part, as listed by the sponsor. Only the study team can confirm whether you are eligible, so take this list to your doctor.
- Ages 18 years and older
- All sexes
- Healthy volunteers accepted
- Adult, Older adult
Eligibility Criteria is limited to being a member of the DGSOM Class of 2027.
Trial locations and contacts
1 site in 1 country.
United States1 site
David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA
Los Angeles, California, 90095-7000
About this study
Official title: A Prospective, Longitudinal Study of a Revised Firearm Safety Curriculum for Pre-Clinical Medical Students
The preclinical curriculum related to firearm violence and safety counseling at the UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine (DGSOM) has been expanded for the Class of 2027, informed by the results and conclusions of an initial study of firearm safety counseling by medical students (ClinicalTrials.gov ID: NCT05242627), which was conducted by the present study team. The 1-hour firearm safety counseling training session used in that study will be taught again to first-year medical students in the Class of 2027, but training will be augmented with additional instruction; the Class will receive additional comprehensive instruction on suicide risk assessment and will participate in small group breakout sessions, to facilitate the opportunity for students to discuss issues related to firearm violence as a public health issue and to practice firearm safety counseling with standardized patient actors (SPs). Assessment of access to firearms and firearm safety counseling will be added as a standard component of the Social History that students are taught to obtain from patients during clinical examinations. The goal of the expanded training is to increase the prevalence of medical student counseling when they are conducting a history and physical examination in a simulated patient encounter with an SP 6 months after the initial training session, when compared to results from the initial study. The scenario provided to the SP will be identical to that used in the initial study and is a situation in which firearm safety counseling is warranted.
Students will participate in a survey to ascertain their knowledge of firearm violence and their attitudes about physician counseling about firearm safety, prior to formal instruction. Informed consent will be obtained from students to use their responses in educational research. Following the didactic and small group sessions, students will be asked to complete a post-training survey that is similar to the original survey, as a means of assessing knowledge gained and any change in attitudes about physician counseling. The simulated patient encounter will occur approximately 6 months later, after which students will complete another survey to determine retention of knowledge and their experience during the simulated patient encounter. Students will not be told before the encounter that they will be evaluated regarding firearm safety counseling. The SP will identify which students did and did not raise the issue of firearm safety. Videos recorded of each students' sessions (routinely obtained for grading purposes) will be viewed by investigators for those students who provide informed consent, to determine the quality of counseling, if it was conducted.
Results from this follow-up study will be compared to the results of the initial study as a historical control, to determine whether augmentation of firearm safety counseling training above a 1-hour didactic session increases firearm safety counseling by medical students in a clinical setting and whether it improves retention of knowledge about firearm violence.
- Conditions
- Medical Student Knowledge of Firearm Violence Epidemiology, Medical Student Knowledge About Firearm Safety Procedures, Medical Student-initiated Clinical Firearm Safety Counseling
- Being tested
- Expanded Clinical Firearm Safety Counseling Training
- Keywords
- Firearm, Firearm Safety Counseling, Suicide Prevention, Medical Education
- Medical subject headings
- Suicide Prevention
What participants receive
What participants receive. In a randomised study each person is assigned to one group by chance.
Expanded Clinical Firearm Safety Counseling TrainingBehavioural
Members of the DGSOM class of 2027 will participate in a mandatory 3.5 hour training session as a part of the regular curriculum that will include: (1) didactic information on firearm violence epidemiology; (2) suicide epidemiology and introduction to lethal means restriction; (3) firearm safety counseling techniques; (4) a panel of firearm violence survivors / trauma interventionists; and (5) a small group session with discussions of the aforementioned topics and a demonstration of a patient encounter using a standardized patient actor depicting a clinical scenario warranting firearm safety counseling. The training will be taught by faculty members, invited subject matter experts, senior medical students, and the DGSOM Standardized Patient Program.
| Study group | Role | What they receive |
|---|---|---|
| DGSOM Class of 2027 | Experimental | Not described Receives: Behavioral: Expanded Clinical Firearm Safety Counseling Training |
What is being measured
The primary outcome is the main question the study is designed to answer.
Prevalence of medical student screening for access to firearms and counselling about firearm safety.
The proportion of first-year medical students in the Class of 2027 who assess for access to firearms and counsel about firearm safety in a simulated patient encounter will be based on reporting by the simulated patient actor after the activity, for students who consent to use of data from the activity for educational research.
Measured: 1 Day
Medical Student Knowledge about Firearm violence and Attitudes about Physician Counseling.
Data will be collected from student surveys conducted prior to training, immediately after training, and 6 months after training, the latter administered immediately following the simulated patient encounter. Students will be invited to provide informed consent for use of survey data for educational research.
Measured: 6 months
Firearm Safety Counseling
For students who consent to use of data recorded from videos of their simulated patient encounter, investigators will score the quality of the counseling, if performed, based on prospectively defined criteria.
Measured: 1 Day
Timeline
From the start of the study to its completion; the mark is today. Estimated dates are the sponsor’s plan.
- First posted5 Feb 2024
- Study start15 Aug 2023
- Primary completion3 Sep 2024
- Study completion1 Jun 2025
Resources
- Official record on ClinicalTrials.govThe registry entry this page is built from, with its full change history.
- Other trials for Medical Student Knowledge of Firearm Violence EpidemiologyStudies of the same condition, open and under way.
- More trials run by University of California, Los AngelesThe sponsor's other registered studies.
- What the trial phases meanHow a treatment moves from first tests in people to approval.
More details
For doctors and researchers: how the study is designed, who runs it, and its registry IDs.
Study design
- Study type
- Interventional
- Phase
- Phase N/A
- Primary purpose
- Other
- Allocation
- Not applicable
- Intervention model
- Single group
- Model description
- Survey responses and student performances during the simulated patient encounter for members of the DGSOM Class of 2027 who consent to study participation will be compared with those of the students in the DGSOM Classes of 2023 and 2024 in the investigators' previous study of firearm safety counseling training, who consented to the future use of their study data (ClinicalTrials.Gov ID: NCT05242627). Surveys and simulated patient encounter scenario will be identical in both studies, to allow for optimal comparison to the historical controls.
- Masking
- None (open label)
- Enrolment
- 176 participants (actual)
Sponsor and investigators
- Lead sponsor
- University of California, Los Angeles
- Sponsor type
- University, hospital or other
- Collaborators
- University of California, Davis
- Responsible party
- Principal investigator, Gary Holland, MD, University of California, Los Angeles
IDs, dates and publications
- ClinicalTrials.gov ID
- NCT06241937
- Sponsor's protocol ID
- 20-000968A
- Status last verified
- Jul 2025
- First submitted
- 26 Jan 2024
- Last updated
- 10 Jul 2025
- Results posted
- No
- Data monitoring committee
- No
- FDA-regulated drug
- No
- FDA-regulated device
- No
Study at a glance
From the registry record, last updated by the sponsor on 10 Jul 2025. Recruitment status is as the sponsor reported it: confirm with the study team.
- Official title
- A Prospective, Longitudinal Study of a Revised Firearm Safety Curriculum for Pre-Clinical Medical Students
- ClinicalTrials.gov ID
- NCT06241937
- Acronym / sponsor ID
- 20-000968A
- Conditions
- Medical Student Knowledge of Firearm Violence Epidemiology, Medical Student Knowledge About Firearm Safety Procedures, Medical Student-initiated Clinical Firearm Safety Counseling
- Keywords
- Firearm, Firearm Safety Counseling, Suicide Prevention, Medical Education
- Study type
- Interventional
- Recruitment status
- Completed
- Enrolment
- 176 participants (actual)
- Lead sponsor
- University of California, Los AngelesUniversity, hospital or other
- Collaborators
- University of California, Davis
- Study start
- 15 Aug 2023 (actual)
- Primary completion
- 3 Sep 2024 (actual)
- Study completion
- 1 Jun 2025 (actual)
- First posted
- 5 Feb 2024 (actual)
- Results
- Not posted in the source record
Clinical summary
The research question as the sponsor registered it. This describes what the study plans to test, not what it found.
The preclinical curriculum related to firearm violence and safety counseling at the UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine (DGSOM) has been expanded for the Class of 2027, informed by the results and conclusions of an initial study of firearm safety counseling by medical students (ClinicalTrials.gov ID: NCT05242627), which was conducted by the present study team. The 1-hour firearm safety counseling training session used in that study will be taught again to first-year medical students in the Class of 2027, but training will be augmented with additional instruction; the Class will receive additional comprehensive instruction on suicide risk assessment and will participate in small group breakout sessions, to facilitate the opportunity for students to discuss issues related to firearm violence as a public health issue and to practice firearm safety counseling with standardized patient actors (SPs). Assessment of access to firearms and firearm safety counseling will be added as a standard component of the Social History that students are taught to obtain from patients during clinical examinations. The goal of the expanded training is to increase the prevalence of medical student counseling when they are conducting a history and physical examination in a simulated patient encounter with an SP 6 months after the initial training session, when compared to results from the initial study. The scenario provided to the SP will be identical to that used in the initial study and is a situation in which firearm safety counseling is warranted.
Students will participate in a survey to ascertain their knowledge of firearm violence and their attitudes about physician counseling about firearm safety, prior to formal instruction. Informed consent will be obtained from students to use their responses in educational research. Following the didactic and small group sessions, students will be asked to complete a post-training survey that is similar to the original survey, as a means of assessing knowledge gained and any change in attitudes about physician counseling. The simulated patient encounter will occur approximately 6 months later, after which students will complete another survey to determine retention of knowledge and their experience during the simulated patient encounter. Students will not be told before the encounter that they will be evaluated regarding firearm safety counseling. The SP will identify which students did and did not raise the issue of firearm safety. Videos recorded of each students' sessions (routinely obtained for grading purposes) will be viewed by investigators for those students who provide informed consent, to determine the quality of counseling, if it was conducted.
Results from this follow-up study will be compared to the results of the initial study as a historical control, to determine whether augmentation of firearm safety counseling training above a 1-hour didactic session increases firearm safety counseling by medical students in a clinical setting and whether it improves retention of knowledge about firearm violence.
Study design
- Primary purpose
- Other
- Allocation
- Not applicable
- Intervention model
- Single group
- Masking
- None (open label)
- Number of arms
- 1
- Model description
- Survey responses and student performances during the simulated patient encounter for members of the DGSOM Class of 2027 who consent to study participation will be compared with those of the students in the DGSOM Classes of 2023 and 2024 in the investigators' previous study of firearm safety counseling training, who consented to the future use of their study data (ClinicalTrials.Gov ID: NCT05242627). Surveys and simulated patient encounter scenario will be identical in both studies, to allow for optimal comparison to the historical controls.
| Arm | Type | Receives |
|---|---|---|
| DGSOM Class of 2027 | Experimental | Behavioral: Expanded Clinical Firearm Safety Counseling Training |
Who may qualify
- Ages
- 18 years and older
- Sex
- All
- Healthy volunteers
- Accepted
- Age groups
- Adult, Older adult
Eligibility is decided by the study team after screening; this overview does not establish that a patient qualifies. Full inclusion and exclusion criteria.
Interventions
| Intervention | Type | Arms |
|---|---|---|
| Expanded Clinical Firearm Safety Counseling TrainingMembers of the DGSOM class of 2027 will participate in a mandatory 3.5 hour training session as a part of the regular curriculum that will include: (1) didactic information on firearm violence epidemiology; (2) suicide epidemiology and introduction to lethal means restriction; (3) firearm safety counseling techniques; (4) a panel of firearm violence survivors / trauma interventionists; and (5) a small group session with discussions of the aforementioned topics and a demonstration of a patient encounter using a standardized patient actor depicting a clinical scenario warranting firearm safety counseling. The training will be taught by faculty members, invited subject matter experts, senior medical students, and the DGSOM Standardized Patient Program. | Behavioural | DGSOM Class of 2027 |
Primary outcome
Prevalence of medical student screening for access to firearms and counselling about firearm safety.
Time frame: 1 Day
The proportion of first-year medical students in the Class of 2027 who assess for access to firearms and counsel about firearm safety in a simulated patient encounter will be based on reporting by the simulated patient actor after the activity, for students who consent to use of data from the activity for educational research.
Medical Student Knowledge about Firearm violence and Attitudes about Physician Counseling.
Time frame: 6 months
Data will be collected from student surveys conducted prior to training, immediately after training, and 6 months after training, the latter administered immediately following the simulated patient encounter. Students will be invited to provide informed consent for use of survey data for educational research.
Firearm Safety Counseling
Time frame: 1 Day
For students who consent to use of data recorded from videos of their simulated patient encounter, investigators will score the quality of the counseling, if performed, based on prospectively defined criteria.
Results and safety
The study is completed, but results are not available in the source record. That does not mean the treatment did or did not work.
Research links
- Official record on ClinicalTrials.govLast updated by the sponsor 10 Jul 2025.
Referral and contact
AzTrials does not enrol participants or take referrals. Contact the study team or a site listed below; they decide who can take part. This study is not recruiting at the moment.
The record lists no contact. Use the official record to reach the sponsor.
1 site in 1 country: see every site and its status.
Questions about this trial
What is this clinical trial studying?
A study testing Expanded Clinical Firearm Safety Counseling Training in people with Medical Student Knowledge of Firearm Violence Epidemiology and Medical Student Knowledge About Firearm Safety Procedures, run by University of California, Los Angeles at 1 site in United States.
The full registered description is in the About this study section and the official record.
Who may be eligible to take part?
Eligibility is decided by the study team after screening, so read the full criteria and contact a listed site.
Is this clinical trial currently recruiting?
The record says: finished, as of the sponsor's last update on 10 Jul 2025. Status can change between updates, so confirm with the study contact before making plans.
Where is the study taking place?
The record lists 1 site in United States. Whether a site is taking part right now should be confirmed with that site. See every site.
What are the possible benefits and risks?
They depend on the study and the treatment, and no study can promise a benefit. The study team explains the known risks during informed consent, before anyone joins; the record itself does not list them.
Are results available for this study?
The study is completed, but results are not available in the source record. That does not mean the treatment did or did not work.
How can a doctor refer a patient or contact the research team?
The record lists no contact. The official record names the sponsor, who can be asked directly. AzTrials does not enrol participants or take referrals.
What does the primary outcome measure?
Prevalence of medical student screening for access to firearms and counselling about firearm safety. (time frame: 1 Day). The study lists 3 primary outcomes in all. It is what the study was designed to measure, not a finding.
Where can I read the original study information?
Does a listing mean the treatment is approved or proven to work?
No. A listing means the study is registered. It does not show that the treatment is safe, works, or is approved by a regulator.
How often is this information updated?
AzTrials copies changed records from ClinicalTrials.gov every night and reloads the whole registry every week. The sponsor last updated this record on 10 Jul 2025.