Children regularly lack prompt mental health care after a firearm injury, according to a new study

Most kids in the US who experience a nonfatal firearm injury don’t receive timely follow-up care with a mental health professional, a new study found.

Researchers at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago studied 2,613 kids ages 5 to 17 between 2010 and 2018. They found that 63% of children enrolled in Medicaid who experience a nonfatal firearm injury don’t receive any mental health services within six months following their injury. More than 11,000 kids in the US experienced a nonfatal firearm injury in 2020, according to the study.

Black children are less likely to have any mental health follow-up care compared to white children, the researchers found.

Jennifer Hoffmann, an emergency medicine doctor at Lurie Children’s who served as lead author of the study, said in a statement that the disparity could be traced back to stigma around mental health, costs related to accessing mental health care, a lack of diversity among mental health workers, and a shortage of mental health professionals in areas where Black children live.

“Attention is needed to address barriers at the individual, health system, and societal levels that may prevent Black youth from accessing mental health services,” Hoffmann said in the statement.

Kids who survive a firearm injury face a higher risk of trauma-related disorders, as well as substance use and disruptive disorders, according to the researchers. And the percentage of children diagnosed with bipolar disorder, schizophrenia spectrum disorders, suicidal ideation, and self-injury post-firearm injury nearly doubled, per the study.

But children who had accessed mental health services prior to their firearm injury tended to see a mental health professional sooner post-injury compared to those who hadn’t. Additionally, kids who had a new mental health diagnosis identified while in treatment for their firearm injury were more than twice as likely to be connected with a mental health provider in a timely manner.

“This shows that after a firearm injury, mental health screening and referral for youth at high risk are essential, as well as required by the 2022 American College of Surgeons standards for pediatric trauma centers,” Hoffman said in the statement. “This best practice still needs wider implementation.”