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IntroductionA youth’s emergency department (ED) visit for suicidal behaviors or ideation provides an opportunity to counsel families about securing medications and firearms (i.e., lethal means counseling).MethodsIn this quality improvement project drawing on the Counseling on Access to Lethal Means (CALM) model, we trained 16 psychiatric emergency clinicians to provide lethal means counseling with parents of patients under age 18 receiving care for suicidality and discharged home from a large children’s hospital. Through chart reviews and follow-up interviews of parents who received the counseling, we examined what parents recalled, their reactions to the counseling session, and actions taken after discharge.ResultsBetween March and July 2014, staff counseled 209 of the 236 (89%) parents of eligible patients. We conducted follow-up interviews with 114 parents, or 55% of those receiving the intervention; 48% of those eligible. Parents had favorable impressions of the counseling and good recall of the main messages. Among the parents contacted at follow up, 76% reported all medications in the home were locked as compared to fewer than 10% at the time of the visit. All who had indicated there were guns in the home at the time of the visit reported at follow up that all were currently locked, compared to 67% reporting this at the time of the visit.ConclusionThough a small project in just one hospital, our findings demonstrate the feasibility of adding a counseling protocol to the discharge process within a pediatric psychiatric emergency service. Our positive findings suggest that further study, including a randomized control trial in more facilities, is warranted.

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Objectives The current study extends research on public opinion toward gay civil rights by considering the impact of marital and family status and views on the purpose of marriage on support for same‐sex marriage, legal unions, and gay and lesbian couples raising children. Methods Data from the 2007 Pew Research Center's Social Trends Report were analyzed using hierarchical ordinary least squares (OLS) regression. Models exploring both direct and interactive effects were constructed. Results The results suggest that marital and family status play a role in influencing issue attitudes and that views on the purpose of marriage moderate the influence of conservative ideological and religious value predispositions on support for same‐sex marriage, legal unions, and gay and lesbian couples raising children. Conclusions Implications of the findings and the changing demographics of marriage and family are discussed.

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The research examines politically entertaining media through a mass communication lens, applying the disposition theory of humor toward the study of political parody appreciation and the effects of exposure to varied humor types on political attitudes. The analyses rely on experimental data (N = 269) collected in 2013. The results of the first analysis suggest that the interaction of disposition and exposure to different types of humor significantly influences variation in political parody appreciation. The findings from the second analysis show that negative affect toward the opposing candidate, or the presumed victor of a humorous situation, can dampen attitudes toward the victim given exposure to critical humor. The strategic implications for campaigns looking to engage with humor are discussed.