A role for the primary care physician in counseling young African-American men about homicide prevention.

Homicide is the leading cause of death in African-American men aged 15-34 years, yet physicians rarely discuss homicide prevention with patients. The authors propose that physicians have a role in preventing homicide similar to their role in other preventive medicine issues. This study evaluated patients' responsiveness to a physician's counseling about firearms and homicide. While being treated for unrelated problems at a walk-in ambulatory clinic, 53 African-American men patients received brief counseling by the physician about six preventive medicine topics, including firearms. A postvisit interview demonstrated that the discussion of firearms was well received and recalled more than any other preventive medicine issue discussed.