Study highlights gaps in firearm suicide prevention among women

Just under 4 in 10 women who died by firearm suicide had no documented history of mental or physical health problems in a new study, highlighting a need for prevention strategies tailored to at-risk women.

The findings come at a time when suicides have been on the rise, alongside a surge in gun ownership—especially among women, said lead author Laura Prater, an assistant professor in The Ohio State University College of Public Health.

In the last two decades, firearm deaths in the U.S., including those involving suicide, increased by almost 50%. Women historically made up 10–20% of new gun owners, a percentage that jumped to about 50% in 2020.

“The more guns that are in homes, the more suicides we see among everyone living in those homes,” Prater said.

“Traditionally, firearm suicide deaths have been highest among white men, including veterans, and that’s what most research and most interventions have focused on,” she said. “Now that we’re starting to see gun ownership and firearm suicide increase among women, it’s important to understand contributing factors that might help us on the prevention front.”

The research is published today in JAMA Network Open.

Less than one-third of the women in the study had documented evidence of mental health treatment, and only around one-fifth reported having a known physical health diagnoses. Together, this left a large group for whom there were likely limited prevention opportunities within health care.

Prater’s work has focused primarily on interventions in hospitals, medical practices and other health care settings, an area rich in opportunities to identify people at risk for self-harm and to connect them with appropriate care and services.

But this new data, which included an analysis of more than 8,300 suicides from 2014 to 2018, has her thinking about other options.

“We need to look more closely at women who may not be accessing the health care system, especially because we know intimate partner problems are still common in this group,” Prater said. “We need to look more broadly than the health care system and ask ourselves if at-risk women are seeking any kind of services outside of that system that we’re missing.”

Potential opportunities include reaching out to participants in programs for women who face violence, educating community health workers, and providing screenings and education at events and programs where women gather, Prater said.

And all health care settings, including federally qualified health centers, should be places where providers stress gun safety and open conversations that identify risk and present opportunities to prevent suicide, she said.

“With firearms in at least one-third of American homes, widespread efforts to educate Americans about gun safety and to prevent deaths by firearm suicide are needed,” Prater said.

Other Ohio State researchers who worked on the study are Jennifer Hefner and Pejmon Noghrehchi.