Project Details
Decreasing Adolescent Suicidality through a Multiple Component Suicide Prevention Program: Linking Adolescents at Risk to Mental Health Services
Description
In response to a severe national and local problems with adolescent suicidality, the Albuquerque Public Schools (APS) have developed a Multiple Component Suicide Prevention Program (MCSPP) in their high schools that includes gatekeeper training for school personnel, parents, and students and a multi-stage suicide risk screening process. APS has also formed strong partnerships with community mental health agencies to ensure that at risk youths are assessed and referred for treatment immediately upon being identified. The funds from this grant will be used to evaluate and refine the suicide prevention program at several high schools in the Albuquerque Public School System. One of the APS high schools successfully implemented all components of the program in the past year. Other high schools have previously implemented some of the components of the MCSPP. At least three more schools will be implementing the full MCSPP this fall. This grant will be an opportunity to evaluate the implementation and outcome of the MCSPP across several large urban schools with large Hispanic and Native American populations (two groups at very high risk of adolescent suicidality). There is some research evidence supporting the separate components that comprise the MCSPP. This research will allow us to evaluate what will be one of the most impressive multiple component suicide prevention programs in the country. Through this research, we hope to show that gatekeeper training procedures increase knowledge and peer identification abilities of students. We also hope to show that the various gatekeeper, screening, and referral procedures result in improved functioning, decreased symptoms, and decreased suicidality of at risk youths. In addition, there is very little research that has been done that tracks successful school referral for mental health and nothing is known about the processes (relationships between youths and referring professional, acceptability of referral to parents, etc.) involved in a successful referral. This study will give us the opportunity to study the referral process and the outcomes of referral. In the end, this grant should provide us with information to improve family involvement in school suicide prevention efforts, to increase success of referrals of high risk youths, and to decrease suicidality of adolescents attending APS schools.