HealthForumOnline updates online CE course for mental health providers on Evaluating Patient Homicide Risk and Promoting Firearm Safety.

PHILADELPHIA, PA, USA, October 27, 2017 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Philadelphia, PA (PRWEB) October 27, 2017 – HealthForumOnline (HFO), a nationally-approved (APA, ASWB, NBCC, NYSED) provider of convenient, cost-effective online continuing education (CE) for psychologists, counselors, social workers and allied healthcare providers is pleased to announce recent updates to our CE course entitled, Evaluating Homicide Risk and Promoting Firearm Safety for Patients. This timely and important online CE course guides mental health clinicians in the assessment of violence and homicide risk and provides strategies to promote firearm safety with patients, including understanding when it is clinically appropriate to advocate for removal of a firearm from a home.

While homicide rates have declined dramatically over the last few decades, in the U.S. homicide remains the second leading cause of death (tied with suicide) between the ages of 1-24 and the fifth leading cause of death between the ages of 25-44 (1, 2). The U.S. ranks first in homicide among high-income nations; with an overall homicide rate 6.9 times higher and firearm-related homicide rate 19.5 times higher than any other high-income nation (3).

According to a Bureau of Justice report reviewing U.S. homicides from 1992 to 2011 (4), men are consistently more likely than women to commit a homicide or to be a victim of a homicide. During the years reviewed, the homicide rate for blacks was 6.3 times higher than for whites. Available statistics for 2012 follow these trends, showing the murder victim was usually male (77.7%) and, when race was known, more likely to be black (50.6%) (5). Relevant to our updated online CE course, the data also show that most homicides involved the use of a gun (69.3%) aimed at friends, family, and acquaintances (6,7).

In light of these alarming statistics and the cultural zeitgeist, we must ask, “Can mental health providers contribute more to violence prevention efforts?” Although not the role of the clinician to police patients, the identification of potentially violent patients does fall within the mental health purview. To meet this obligation, clinicians need to understand the basics of homicide screening and the distinction between benign violent fantasy and dangerous homicide ideation; including some knowledge of “killer” typology.

HealthForumOnline’s recently updated online CE course for mental health professionals reviews structured assessments and screening measures to evaluate patients for potential violence and homicide risk and addresses how to differentiate between benign violent fantasy and potentially dangerous obsessions and delusions. Guidelines for identifying risk for intimate partner homicide and spree homicide are also provided. Moreover, as guns are the weapon of choice for homicide, the course illustrates how to discuss firearm safety with patients and advocate for removal of guns from the home of at-risk patients.

Psychologists, social workers, counselors, and other allied health professionals can chose from HFO’s over 20 categories of continuing education (CE) topics related to health, psychology and behavioral medicine containing over 100 online CE courses that are fast, convenient and cost-effective. For more information on this course or a complete listing of titles in our online CE resource library, visit [http://www.healthforumonline.com/Our-Courses/16/] HealthForumOnline.com.

About HealthForumOnline:

HealthForumOnline (HFO) a nationally-approved [https://www.healthforumonline.com/Accreditations/44/secure__true/] provider of CE courses by the American Psychological Association, the National Board of Certified Counselors, the Association of Social Work Boards, and the New York State Education Department’s State Board for Social Work. HFO’s [https://www.healthforumonline.com/About-HealthForumOnline-Psychologists-Social-Workers-Counselors-Nurses-Physicians-and-Allied-Health-Professionals/18/secure__true/] CE Program’s Advisory Committee and authors are comprised of over 60 nationally-recognized experts in psychology and behavioral medicine.

References

1. Miniño, A.M. (2013) Death in the United States, 2011. NCHS data brief, no 115. Hyattsville, MD: National Center for Health Statistics. 2013.

2. Grinshteyn, E., & Hemenway, D. (2016). Violent Death Rates: The US Compared with Other High-income OECD Countries, 2010. The American Journal of Medicine, 129(3), 255-273.

3. Richardson, E.G., & Hemenway D. (2011). Homicide, suicide, and unintentional firearm fatality: Comparing the United States with other high-income countries, 2003. Journal of Trauma, 70(1), 238-243.

4. Cooper, A., & Smith, E.L. (2013) Bureau of Justice Statistics, Office of Justice Programs. Homicide Trends in the United States Series. Homicide in the U.S. Known to Law Enforcement, 2011. December 30, 2013 NCJ 243035.

5. FBI - 2 (2012). U.S. Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigations, Criminal Justice Information Services Division. Crime in the United States 2012. Expanded Homicide Data Table 2. Murder Victims by Age, Race, and Sex, 2012.

6. FBI - 3 (2012). U.S. Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigations, Criminal Justice Information Services Division. Crime in the United States 2012. Expanded Homicide Data Table 7, Murder, Types of Weapons Used, 2012.

7. FBI - 4 (2012). U.S. Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigations, Criminal Justice Information Services Division. Crime in the United States 2012. Expanded Homicide Data Table 4. Murder by Victim/Offender Situations, 2012.

Michelle Rodoletz, Ph.D.
HealthForumOnline
215-887-6669
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