Store Safely: Rural Firearm Injury Prevention for Families

The researchers are testing a firearm safety prevention strategy tailored for families with children who reside in a rural area. Researchers hypothesize that the intervention will lead to improvements in household firearm storage.

Study Overview

• Status: Recruiting
• Conditions: Firearm Injury
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Store Safely

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Estimated): 600
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

• Study Contact: Name: Christina Magness; Phone Number: 734-252-6315; Email: cmagness@med.umich.edu
• Study Contact Backup: Name: Lauren Majlinger, BA; Phone Number: 7349312162; Email: lmajling@med.umich.edu

Study Locations

• United States
  • Michigan
    • Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States, 48109
      • Not yet recruiting
      • University of Michigan
      • Contact: Christina Magness; Phone Number: 734-252-6315; Email: cmagness@med.umich.edu
      • Principal Investigator: Cynthia Ewell Foster, Ph.D.
    • Negaunee, Michigan, United States, 49866
      • Recruiting
      • Marquette County Health Department
      • Contact: Sarah Derwin; Phone Number: 906-475-9977; Email: sderwin@mqtco.gov
      • Principal Investigator: Cynthia Ewell Foster

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Adult; Older Adult
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Provision of signed and dated informed consent form
• Age 18 or older
• English-speaking
• Have a child under 18 living at home
• Currently keep at least one firearm on their property
• Reside in Michigan's Upper Peninsula (U.P.)
• Access to a computer/mobile device and wifi
• Have sufficient information about household storage to complete surveys

Exclusion Criteria:

• Unable to be consented in English
• Under the age of 18
• Lack of firearm on their property
• No child in the home
• Residence outside the U.P.
• No access to technology
• Previously enrolled in 2020 pilot project
• Previously access the Store Safely website

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Prevention
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Store Safely; The Store Safely arm (consisting of a community sample) will receive the Store Safely intervention, usual community-based care, and 988 suicide and crisis lifeline number and a publicly available safe storage information resource numbers.	Behavioral: Store Safely; The Store Safely intervention occurs online and is self-administered. Once directed to the Store Safely website, participants are welcomed and instructed to complete each step of the online program. Upon clicking "Start," participants are taken to Step 1 of the intervention and instructed to review a brief video. Step 2 involves a review of a data infographics. Participants are then directed to the Decision Aid in Step 3. In Step 4, participants are instructed to complete the Family Firearm Storage Action Plan. In Step 5, participants will review another brief video. There will also be an optional step, consisting of a resource page that details local options for obtaining safe storage devices. At the end of each step, participants mark a checkbox to indicate they have completed the intervention activity which facilitates website analytics of participant engagement. Lastly, participants are thanked and provided with details about the final steps of the trial.
No Intervention: Waitlist control; The waitlist control group (consisting of a community sample) will not receive the intervention during the clinical trial but will be offered 988 suicide and crisis lifeline number and a publicly available safe storage information resource numbers. Following the clinical trial they will have access to the Store Safely intervention.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Number of firearms stored locked	Measured using a self-report item from the Family Firearm Storage Behaviors Survey (Ewell Foster et al., 2024) administered at 3 months. May range from 1-40 based on pilot data	Approximately 3 months
Parent Engagement in Harm Reduction Firearm Storage Behaviors Score	Measured using the Family Firearm Storage Behaviors Survey (Ewell Foster et al., 2024) administered at 3 months. The survey is 14 items, endorsed as Y/N. Score range is 0-14.	Approximately 3 months

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Parent Self-Efficacy for Firearm Safety Questionnaire		Baseline, Immediate/2-Week
Number of firearms unloaded	Measured using a self-report item from the Family Firearm Storage Behaviors Survey (Ewell Foster et al., 2024) administered at 3 months.	Approximately 3 months
Number of firearms unlocked and loaded	Measured using a self-report item from the Family Firearm Storage Behaviors Survey (Ewell Foster et al., 2024) administered at 3 months.	Approximately 3 months

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: University of Michigan
• Collaborators: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; Marquette County Health Department
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Cynthia Ewell Foster, Ph.D., University of Michigan

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): August 11, 2025
• Primary Completion (Estimated): May 1, 2027
• Study Completion (Estimated): May 1, 2027

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: December 3, 2024
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: December 3, 2024
• First Posted (Actual): December 6, 2024

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): May 14, 2026
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: May 13, 2026
• Last Verified: May 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: rural; injury prevention; suicide prevention; firearm safe storage; community education
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Behavioral Symptoms; Self-Injurious Behavior; Suicide; Behavior; Treatment Adherence and Compliance; Health Behavior; Patient Compliance; Patient Acceptance of Health Care; Adherence Interventions; Medication Adherence; Suicide Prevention; Health Education
• Other Study ID Numbers: HUM00250518; 1 R01CE003629-01-00 (Other Grant/Funding Number: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention); 1R01CE003629-01 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: YES
• IPD Plan Description: After the study is complete and data has been cleaned and de-identified, the archived data will be transmitted to and securely stored at the University of Michigan Institute for Firearm Injury Prevention Data Repository, for use by other researchers including those outside of the study.
• IPD Sharing Time Frame: After the study is completed and available according to Firearm Injury Prevention Data Repository policy.
• IPD Sharing Access Criteria: Researchers can request data from the study contacts listed in the study.
• IPD Sharing Supporting Information Type: STUDY_PROTOCOL; ICF

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No
• product manufactured in and exported from the U.S.: No