Research Projects

To characterize patterns of behavioral health orders and criminal legal system involvements in cases of extreme risk protection orders and examine their relationship with subsequent behavioral health and criminal legal system outcomes.

Identify factors influencing the decision-making processes for professionals (i.e., judges, law enforcement officers (LEOs), co-responders, and prosecutors) as they order a behavioral health evaluation (BHE), involuntarily transport or arrest individuals, conduct behavioral health assessments, or offer legal counsel as part of ERPO.

Develop, implement, and evaluate a training program and workplace based intervention for community behavioral health providers to conduct lethal means safety counseling.

To understand the mental health impacts of school shootings on those directly and indirectly involved and to inform future research, guide public health interventions, and support advocacy groups and policy makers working to reduce the frequency and impact of school shootings.

To refine and evaluate an innovative decision aid to promote safer firearm storage for older adults with early dementia or depression.

To understand how children and surviving caregivers experience parental loss to gun violence, identify protective factors that support healing, adaptation, resilience, and long-term well-being, and build evidence to inform upstream public health, policy, and systems-level supports that will reduce downstream harm for families over time.

To understand access and utilization of mental health services among firearm injury survivors and factors affecting patterns of utilization

To utilize multidisciplinary research expertise across the U.S., as well as stakeholder partner groups of gun owners, to catalyze the science of childhood firearm injury prevention.

To improve our knowledge of the culture, scope, and developmental patterns of handgun carrying, as well as its determinants and consequences, among youth living in rural communities, and provide actionable evidence for informing strategies that can prevent firearm-related injury and promote safety in this population.

To estimate the effects of Head Start, a large-scale, comprehensive early childhood education intervention, 1) inter-generationally on suicidal ideation and inter-personal violence perpetration, and 2) intra-generationally on handgun carrying and inter-personal violence perpetration, along with interactive effects of demographic, social, economic, and environmental factors.

To understand the mental health impacts of school shootings on those directly and indirectly involved and to inform future research, guide public health interventions, and support advocacy groups and policy makers working to reduce the frequency and impact of school shootings.

To examine the impact of community-based youth firearm violence intervention and prevention programs across Washington State.

To understand how children and surviving caregivers experience parental loss to gun violence, identify protective factors that support healing, adaptation, resilience, and long-term well-being, and build evidence to inform upstream public health, policy, and systems-level supports that will reduce downstream harm for families over time.

To assess the relationship between post-Dobbs state-specific abortion restrictions and two subtypes of violence: injuries due to intimate partner violence (IPV) and child maltreatment (CM) stratified by firearm-related status.

Focus on how community-based youth mentoring programs can prevent firearm violence in the communities they serve while promoting social justice among youth and families.

To examine the impact of community-based youth firearm violence intervention and prevention programs across Washington State.

Focus on how community-based youth mentoring programs can prevent firearm violence in the communities they serve while promoting social justice among youth and families.

To evaluate the implementation of statewide programs that distribute firearm locking mechanisms into community settings.

Develop, implement, and evaluate a training program and workplace based intervention for community behavioral health providers to conduct lethal means safety counseling.

To estimate the effects of Head Start, a large-scale, comprehensive early childhood education intervention, 1) inter-generationally on suicidal ideation and inter-personal violence perpetration, and 2) intra-generationally on handgun carrying and inter-personal violence perpetration, along with interactive effects of demographic, social, economic, and environmental factors.

To examine the perspectives of (1) suppliers (ranges, retailers, and LEAs in Colorado and Washington) and (2) users (firearm owners and family members in Colorado and Washington) about statewide voluntary firearm storage maps, and to then (3) develop an implementation toolkit for other states.

To identify ways to improve hospital billing data efficiently and substantially such that they can be used for surveillance of non-fatal firearm injury by intent.

To assess intent coding in trauma registry data and examine the extent to which rule-based intent designations jibe with standard practice among trauma registrars.

To describe patterns of DVPO case involvement leading up to homicide or suicide among people who have experienced domestic violence.

To understand the experiences of Black women who have left abusive relationships where their perpetrator threatened, harmed, or non-fatally injured them with a firearm.

To characterize the implementation of orders to surrender and prohibit weapons over time, to assess firearm threats and violence against children, to examine respondent behaviors (e.g., suicidal threats) and outcomes (e.g., crime, violent death).

To describe patterns of DVPO case involvement leading up to homicide or suicide among people who have experienced domestic violence.

To rigorously evaluate the effectiveness of implementation of domestic violence protection order firearm prohibitions in four Washington counties in reducing subsequent firearm-related crime, injury, and death among victim-survivors, protected minors, and respondents [CDC 1R01CE003623-01].

To examine why some suicidal male perpetrators of intimate partner violence kill their partner while others do not.

To assess the relationship between post-Dobbs state-specific abortion restrictions and two subtypes of violence: injuries due to intimate partner violence (IPV) and child maltreatment (CM) stratified by firearm-related status.

To examine the uptake and implementation of extreme risk protection order laws in six different states and evaluate its association with subsequent risk of injury and death.

To characterize patterns of behavioral health orders and criminal legal system involvements in cases of extreme risk protection orders and examine their relationship with subsequent behavioral health and criminal legal system outcomes.

Identify factors influencing the decision-making processes for professionals (i.e., judges, law enforcement officers (LEOs), co-responders, and prosecutors) as they order a behavioral health evaluation (BHE), involuntarily transport or arrest individuals, conduct behavioral health assessments, or offer legal counsel as part of ERPO.

To describe the current state of Washington’s Extreme Risk Protection Orders (ERPOs) and assess their impact on firearm-related arrests and convictions.

This study examines violence victimization risk among household members of ERPO respondents by tracking outcomes across time and by comparing risk between cases where the full ERPO was granted versus denied or dismissed. It also explores the lived experiences and support needs of household members affected by ERPOs, drawing on the perspectives of household members themselves, ERPO advocates, and practitioners such as judges, law enforcement officers, and attorneys.

To evaluate the access to rehabilitation services among firearm injury survivors compared to other injury survivors, including inpatient and outpatient services among various patient groups, and to explore the relationship with demographic, social, economic, and environmental factors

To understand the experiences of individuals with violence-related spinal cord injury in receiving rehabilitation services, adjusting to disability, and returning to the community after injury, including characterizing met and unmet needs and community priorities, based on qualitative injuries of survivors

To understand the role and impact of hospital-based violence intervention programs (HVIPs) on utilization of recovery and rehabilitation-focused health services after firearm injury and on post-injury complications, including repeat hospitalization and emergency department visits, based on analysis of an HVIP in Washington State

To understand how children and surviving caregivers experience parental loss to gun violence, identify protective factors that support healing, adaptation, resilience, and long-term well-being, and build evidence to inform upstream public health, policy, and systems-level supports that will reduce downstream harm for families over time.

To understand access and utilization of mental health services among firearm injury survivors and factors affecting patterns of utilization

To examine the uptake and implementation of extreme risk protection order laws in six different states and evaluate its association with subsequent risk of injury and death.

To characterize patterns of behavioral health orders and criminal legal system involvements in cases of extreme risk protection orders and examine their relationship with subsequent behavioral health and criminal legal system outcomes.

Identify factors influencing the decision-making processes for professionals (i.e., judges, law enforcement officers (LEOs), co-responders, and prosecutors) as they order a behavioral health evaluation (BHE), involuntarily transport or arrest individuals, conduct behavioral health assessments, or offer legal counsel as part of ERPO.

To describe the current state of Washington’s Extreme Risk Protection Orders (ERPOs) and assess their impact on firearm-related arrests and convictions.

To characterize the evolution of federal and state laws related to designating gun-free zones and identify how the incidence of firearm violence and crime has changed in government-designated gun-free vs. gun-allowing zones.

To identify research needs after the Supreme Court’s landmark decision, New York State Rifle & Pistol Association, Inc. v. Bruen.

To characterize firearm rights restorations and their association with subsequent violence in Washington State.

To evaluate the risk of arrest and conviction for firearm-related crime in relation to history of firearm and non-firearm-related misdemeanor crimes.

To characterize the implementation of orders to surrender and prohibit weapons over time, to assess firearm threats and violence against children, to examine respondent behaviors (e.g., suicidal threats) and outcomes (e.g., crime, violent death).

To evaluate the impact of state policies for suicide prevention training among healthcare professionals on suicide-related outcomes.

To improve our knowledge of the culture, scope, and developmental patterns of handgun carrying, as well as its determinants and consequences, among youth living in rural communities, and provide actionable evidence for informing strategies that can prevent firearm-related injury and promote safety in this population.

To understand firearm safety practices of rural families in Washington state.

To evaluate the implementation of statewide programs that distribute firearm locking mechanisms into community settings.

To examine the perspectives of (1) suppliers (ranges, retailers, and LEAs in Colorado and Washington) and (2) users (firearm owners and family members in Colorado and Washington) about statewide voluntary firearm storage maps, and to then (3) develop an implementation toolkit for other states.

To refine and evaluate an innovative decision aid to promote safer firearm storage for older adults with early dementia or depression.

To understand firearm safety practices of rural families in Washington state.

To evaluate the impact of state policies for suicide prevention training among healthcare professionals on suicide-related outcomes.

Develop, implement, and evaluate a training program and workplace based intervention for community behavioral health providers to conduct lethal means safety counseling.

To refine and evaluate an innovative decision aid to promote safer firearm storage for older adults with early dementia or depression.

To examine why some suicidal male perpetrators of intimate partner violence kill their partner while others do not.

To describe patterns of DVPO case involvement leading up to homicide or suicide among people who have experienced domestic violence.

To estimate the effects of Head Start, a large-scale, comprehensive early childhood education intervention, 1) inter-generationally on suicidal ideation and inter-personal violence perpetration, and 2) intra-generationally on handgun carrying and inter-personal violence perpetration, along with interactive effects of demographic, social, economic, and environmental factors.