# Participatory Action Research to Inform a Social-Ecological Model of Gun-Related Attitudes, Behaviors, and Practices

> **NIH ALLCDC R01** · UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH ALABAMA · 2020 · $607,195

## Abstract

7. Project Summary/Abstract
Gun-related injuries and fatalities due to violence and suicide disproportionately impact two distinct groups: (1)
African American boys and young men and (2) White American men. Current approaches to prevent gun injury
are limited in their ability to reach those at highest risk, which may be due to the cultural disconnect between
gun injury prevention strategies and the populations at greatest risk for violence and suicide. Bridging the
cultural disconnect requires a deep understanding of social-ecological factors that underlie gun-related
attitudes, behaviors, and practices. The primary aim of this project is to harness participatory action research to
develop a cross-cutting, culturally grounded social-ecological model that describes factors underlying risky
gun-related attitudes, behaviors, and practices, and to identify the acceptability of specific approaches to
prevention. This mixed methods project has two specific aims. Aim 1 is to identify (a) methods of gun access
or acquisition, storage, and carrying; (b) motivations for gun access, ownership, storage practices, use, and
carrying; (c) attitudes about ownership, storage safety, use, and carrying; d) acceptability of gun-focused
prevention strategies, including factors that might influence engagement in those strategies; and (e) ideas for
novel prevention strategies. Aim 2 is to develop and validate a cross-cutting, social-ecological model in which
individual, microsystemic, macrosystemic, and cultural factors predict gun-related attitudes, behaviors, and
practices. This project consists of two phases. During Phase 1, we will conduct mixed methods research
through in-depth interviews with 210 members of distinct populations at increased risk of urban gun violence or
suicide. During Phase 2, we will quantitatively test the social-ecological model developed in Phase 1 by
surveying (a) a local sample of 1200 youth in urban and rural contexts; and (b) a nationally representative
sample of 2000 adults. The expected outcomes for this project are (1) a description of the scope of gun-
related attitudes, behaviors, and practices among populations at greater risk for gun-related injury; (2) the
identification of a range of novel risk and protective social-ecological factors associated with gun-related
behaviors; and (3) an empirically validated, cross-cutting social-ecological model that explains gun-related
attitudes, behaviors, and practices that place individuals at risk for gun-related injury. The proposed study is
innovative in that integrates violence and suicide prevention research and uses a mixed methods participatory
action research approach to bridge the divide between researchers and populations most at risk of intentional
gun injuries. The results of this work will advance prevention science by creating a culturally grounded, social-
ecological model that can guide research on risk and protective factors for intentional gun-related injuries and
that will ...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10162153
- **Project number:** 1R01CE003298-01
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH ALABAMA
- **Principal Investigator:** Krista Ruth Mehari
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** ALLCDC
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $607,195
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2020-09-30 → 2023-09-29

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10162153

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10162153, Participatory Action Research to Inform a Social-Ecological Model of Gun-Related Attitudes, Behaviors, and Practices (1R01CE003298-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10162153. Licensed CC0.

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