|
| |
Suicide and Suicide Prevention Internet Resources
Web Resources [updates have been made to the
original list due to the ever-changing nature of the World Wide Web]
Appendix A - Risk and Protective Factors
Appendix B - Development of the Plan
Evaluation Information
Georgia Suicide Prevention
Plan
http://www.sprc.org/stateinformation/statepages/georgia.asp
Evaluation Handbook from the W. K. Kellogg Foundation for Community-Based
Projects
http://www.wkkf.org/pubs/Pub770.pdf
Primer on Evaluation from the U.S. Department of Justice
http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/BJA/evaluation/index.html
The Public Health Approach to Evaluation
http://www.cdc.gov/eval
University of Kansas Community Programs Evaluation
http://ctb.ku.edu/tools/en/section_1007.htm
National and International Organizations Working for Suicide Prevention
American Association of Suicidology
http://www.suicidology.org
American Foundation for Suicide Prevention
http://www.afsp.org
Faith in Action (the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation)
http://www.faithinaction.org
Georgia Suicide Prevention Plan
The Link: National Resource Center for Suicide Prevention and Aftercare
http://www.thelink.org
National Organization of People of Color Against Suicide
http://www.nopcas.com/
Suicide Awareness Voices of Education
http://www.save.org/
Suicide Prevention Advocacy Network USA
http://www.spanusa.org/
Centre for Suicide Prevention - Canada
http://www.suicideinfo.ca
Suicide Prevention Efforts in Norway
http://www.med.uio.no/ipsy/ssff/
Suicide Prevention Research Center
http://www.sprc.org/index.asp
World Health Organization Suicide Prevention Efforts
http://www.who.int/mental_health/prevention/
suicide/suicideprevent/en/
Youth Suicide Prevention in Australia
http://www.health.gov.au/hsdd/mentalhe/
resources/life/framework.htm
National Strategy for Suicide Prevention
Comprehensive National Strategy for Suicide Prevention Web Site
http://www.mentalhealth.org/suicideprevention
Suicide Prevention Advocacy Network, USA
http://www.spanusa.org
Surgeon General's Web site: Call to Action
http://www.mentalhealth.org/suicideprevention/
calltoaction.asp
State Suicide Prevention Efforts
Wisconsin Suicide Prevention Strategy
http://www.dhfs.state.wi.us/dph_emsip/
InjuryPrevention/SuicidePrevention.htm
http://www.hopes-wi.org/Strategy
State Planning for Suicide Prevention
http://www.wwu.edu/~hayden/spsp
State Resources for Child Injury and Violence Prevention
http://www.edc.org/HHD/csn/IPResources/resources.htm
Suicide Prevention Resources by State
http://www.edc.org/HHD/csn/Suicide0.pdf
Suicide Data
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention National Center for Injury Prevention
and Control Data
http://www.cdc.gov/ncipc/osp/data.htm
Costs of Completed and Medically Treated Suicide
http://www.edc.org/HHD/csn/sucost.pdf
Maternal and Child Health Bureau Block Grant Data
http://www.mchb.hrsa.gov/data/
Web Based Injury Statistics Query and Reporting System (WISQARS)
http://www.cdc.gov/ncipc/wisqars
Suicide and Suicide Prevention Information
Center for Mental Health Services Suicide the Five W's: Depression and Mood Disorders
Crisis Management in Schools Following a Suicide
http://www.ed.gov/databases/ERIC_Digests/
ed315700.html
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. A Message on Suicide Prevention
http://www.elca.org/dcs/suicide_prevention.html
National Institute on Mental Health Frequently Asked Questions about Suicide
http://www.nimh.nih.gov/research/suicidefaq.cfm
National Institute of Mental Health Selected Bibliography on Suicide
Research--1999
http://www.nimh.nih.gov/research/suibib99.cfm
National Institute Mental Health Suicide Fact Sheets
http://www.nimh.nih.gov/research/suifact.htm
Providing Immediate Support for Survivors of Suicide
http://www.ed.gov/databases/ERIC_Digests/
ed315708.html
Role of Maternal and Child Health Bureau in Youth Suicide Prevention
http://www.edc.org/HHD/csn/Suicidef.pdf
World Health Organization, United Nations. (WHO/UN2000). Preventing Suicide in six
groups.
return to index at top
References
ADAMHA -Alcohol, Drug Abuse, and Mental Health Administration (1989). Report of
It the Secretary's Task Force on Youth Suicide: Volumes 1-4. DHHS Pub.
No. ADM 89-1624. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.
Anderson, MA., Powell, K.E., Davidson, S.C. Suicide in Georgia: 2000. Georgia
Department of Human Resources, Division of Public Health, Epidemiology Section,
June 2000. Publication number DPH00 .34H.
Atwood,
K., Colditz, G.A., Kawachi, I. (1997). From Public Health Science to Prevention Policy: Placing Science in its Social and Political Contexts. American Journal of
Public Health 87:1603-1605.
CDC
National Mortality Statistics. Available at
http://www.cdc.gov/ncipc/osp/data.htm
Commonwealth Department of Health and Aged Care. Promotion, Prevention and
Early Intervention for Mental Health--A Monograph. Mental Health and Special
Programs Branch, Commonwealth Department of Health and Aged Care, Canberra,
Australia, 2000.
Durkheim, E. Suicide: A Study in Sociology. Translated by J.A. Spaulding
& G. Simpson. New York: Free Press, (1987/1951).
Goodman, R.M., Speers, M.A., McLeroy, K., Fawcett, S., Kegler, M., Parker, E.,
Smith, S., Sterling, T. and Wallerstein, N. An Initial Attempt to Identify
and Define the Dimensions of Community Capacity to Provide a Basis for
Measurement. Health Education and Behavior, vol.25 (3), 1998.
Jamison, K.R. Night Falls Fast--Understanding Suicide. Alfred A. Knopf,
New York, 1999.
McCraig,
L.F., Strussman, B.J.
National Hospital Ambulatory
Care Survey: 1996.
In: CDC. Emergency
Department Summary: Advance Data from Vital and Health Statistics, no. 293.
Hyattsville, Maryland: National Center for Health Statistics, 1997.
MMWR-Morbidity
and Mortality Weekly Report. Vol.43 No. RR-6, Apri1 22, 1994.
National Strategy for Suicide Prevention: Goals and Objectives for Action. Rockville, MD:
U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, 2001.
Ramsey,
R. United Nations Impact on the United States National
Suicide Prevention Strategy. Paper presented at the 34th
conference of the American Association of Suicidology, Atlanta, GA, 2001.
Raphael, B. Promoting the Mental Health and Wellbeing of Children and Young
People. Discussion Paper: Key Principles and Directions. National Mental
Health Working Group, Department of Health and Aged Care, Canberra, Australia,
2000.
Shneidman, E.S. and Farberow, N.L. The LA SPC: A Demonstration of Public
Health Feasibilities. American Journal of Public Health 55:21-26.
Silverman, M.M., Davidson L., Potter L., Eds. Background Papers from the
National Suicide Prevention Conference October 1998
Reno, Nevada.
Suicide and Life-Threatening
Behavior, 31 Supplement, Spring 2001.
Suicide in Georgia:2000, Georgia Department of Human Resources, Division
of Public Health. Atlanta, 2001.
United Nations World Health Organization. Prevention of Suicide: Guidelines for the
formation and implementation of national strategies. ST /ESA/245 .Geneva:
World Health Organization, 1996.
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Healthy People 2010. 2nd ed.
Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, November, 2000.
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Mental Health: A Report of the
Surgeon General. Rockville, MD: U.S. Department of Health and Human
Services, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, Center for
Mental Health Services, National Institutes of Health, National Institute of
Mental Health, 1999.
U.S. Public Health Service, The Surgeon General's Call to Action to Prevent
Suicide. Washington, DC, 1999.
return to index at top
Appendix A: Risk and Protective Factors for Suicide
The base for suicide prevention comes from identifying suicide risk factors, suicide
protective factors, and their interactions. Suicide risk factors are things that increase the potential for a person's suicide or suicidal behavior. A
person's age, gender, or ethnicity can increase the impact of certain risk
factors or combinations of risk factors for them. Understanding risk factors can
help counteract the myth that suicide is a random act or results from stress
alone. Suicide protective factors are things that reduce the potential
for a person's suicide or suicidal behavior. Protective factors include
attitudes and behaviors.
Some risk factors cannot be changed, such as a previous suicide attempt, but
even these may have a purpose as reminders of the heightened risk of suicide
when the individual is ill or encountering adversity. To prevent suicide,
enhancing resilience and protective factors is as important as reducing risk.
Unfortunately, resilience against suicide is not permanent. This means that
activities to support and maintain protection against suicide need to be
repeated and ongoing.
The following Risk Factors and Protective Factors for Suicide are identified in the National Strategy for Suicide Prevention: Goals and Objectives for Action.
Risk Factors for Suicide
Biological, Psychological and Social Risk Factors
-
Previous
suicide attempt
-
Mental
disorders, particularly mood disorders such as depression and bipolar
disorder, anxiety disorders, schizophrenia, and certain personality disorder
diagnoses
-
Alcohol
and substance abuse disorders
-
Family
history of suicide
-
History of
trauma or abuse
-
Hopelessness
-
Impulsive
and/or aggressive tendencies
-
Some major
physical illnesses
-
Environmental Risk Factors
-
Job or financial loss
-
Relational
or social loss
-
Easy
access to lethal means
-
Local clusters of suicide
that have a contagious influence
Socio-cultural Risk Factors
-
Lack of
social support and sense of isolation
-
Stigma
associated with help-seeking behavior
-
Barriers
to obtaining access to health care, especially mental health and substance
abuse treatment
-
Certain
cultural and religious beliefs, for instance the belief that suicide is a
noble resolution of a personal dilemma
-
Exposure to the influence of
others who have died by suicide, including media exposure
Protective Factors in Preventing Suicide
-
Effective clinical care for mental, physical, and substance use disorders
-
Easy
access to a variety of clinical interventions and support for help-seeking
-
Restricted access to highly lethal methods of suicide
-
Strong connections to family and community support
-
Support through ongoing medical and mental health care relationships
-
Learned skills in problem solving, conflict resolution, and nonviolent handling of
disputes
-
Cultural and religious beliefs that discourage suicide and support self-preservation
return to index at top
Appendix B: Development of the Wisconsin Suicide Prevention Strategy
Only
recently has knowledge become available to help us approach suicide as a
preventable problem with realistic opportunities to save many lives. The
Wisconsin Suicide Prevention Strategy is framed upon these advances in science
and public health. It is connected with national efforts to develop strategies
for suicide prevention that can be carried out by public and private partners in
communities across the country.
There
has been international interest in suicide prevention for many years. In 1993,
the United Nations/World Health Organization, in collaboration with a Canadian
partnership led hosted an international conference in Calgary, Canada. The
results of that meeting were documented in a publication called Prevention of
Suicide: Guidelines for the Formulation and Implementation of National
Strategies (United Nations 1996). The UN Guidelines were
developed as a way to facilitate the development of national strategies for the
prevention of suicidal behaviors within the socio-economic and cultural context
of any interested country (Ramsey 2001).
SPAN
USA was founded by Elsie and Jerry Weyrauch in January, 1996, to create and
implement a national suicide prevention strategy based on the UN Guidelines. SPAN USA members include suicide survivors (persons close to someone who
completed suicide), suicide attempters, persons providing support for survivors
and advocates of suicide prevention. SPAN USA' s efforts to mobilize political
action for suicide prevention generated United States Congressional resolutions
recognizing suicide as a national problem and suicide prevention as a national
priority. As part of a 1998 National Suicide Prevention Conference in Reno,
Nevada, SPAN USA and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention commissioned
briefing papers to summarize the evidence base for suicide prevention strategies
among at-risk populations and to make recommendations for public health action (Silverman,
Davidson, and Potter, 2001). Conference participants included researchers,
health, mental health and substance abuse clinicians, policy makers, suicide
survivors, consumers of mental health services, and community activists and
leaders. Five delegates represented Wisconsin.
Following the work of the Reno Conference, Surgeon General David Satcher issued
his Call to Action to Prevent Suicide in July, 1999, emphasizing suicide
as a serious public health problem (USPHS, 1999). The Surgeon General's Call introduced a blueprint for addressing suicide prevention through
Awareness, Intervention, and Methodology (AIM). AIM describes 15 broad
recommendations containing goal statements, general objectives and
recommendations for implementation that are consistent with a public health
approach to suicide prevention. The recommendations were selected according to
their scientific evidence, feasibility and degree of community support.
The
recommendations of the SPAN USA Reno meeting, the Call to Action and
subsequent critical examination by scientific, clinical and government
leaders, other professionals and the general public resulted in a comprehensive
plan outlining national goals and objectives that would stimulate the
development of defined activities for local, state and federal partners. SPAN
USA has worked to build its own state plan, the Georgia Plan, in concert with
the National Strategy while incorporating specific state needs and interests.
In
2000, a Wisconsin work group was formed through an informal collaborative
partnership to address the need for a Wisconsin state strategy. Following
participation in a teleconference call with the Surgeon General and ten other
states that have suicide prevention plans, this Wisconsin work group adapted
goals and objectives from the National Strategy and from the Georgia Plan for
the Wisconsin Strategy.
return to index at top
Appendix C: Glossary of Terms Used in the Wisconsin Strategy
Assessment - The ongoing process of information gathering, examination, and
evaluation to a) determine risk, b) identify contributing factors which may be
modified, c) diagnose, if applicable, d) choose optimal interventions or
treatments, and e) track the impact of interventions or treatments.
Attempters - See suicide attempt.
Community capacity - The characteristics of communities that affect their
ability to identify , mobilize, and address social and health problems and the
cultivation and use of transferable knowledge, skills, systems and resources
that affect community and individual level changes consistent with population
health-related goals and objectives. (Goodman et. al., 1998)
Connectedness - A person's sense of belonging with others. A sense of
connectedness can be with family, school, workplace, and community.
Effectiveness - Effectiveness studies test the real world impact of
interventions that have been shown to be efficacious under controlled
conditions. These studies are needed to determine whether results from studies
carried out under very controlled situations may be generalized to other
settings.
Efficacy - Efficacy studies are used to develop and refine interventions under
experimental conditions. These settings are usually controlled to represent
ideal conditions.
Epidemiology - The study of statistics and trends in health as applied to the
whole community or population.
Evidence-based programs - Those programs that have some research showing that
the program was associated with the intended beneficial outcome(s).
Follow-back study - A study carried out after a death to provide information
from persons or from existing records that will add to the information sources
used by the coroner or medical examiner in determining the cause of death.
Example: the collection of the same categories of information about persons who
had died by suicide and persons who had died from heart disease in order to
compare the two groups and help understand their risk and protective factors.
Gatekeeper training - Training for community members who have face-to-face
contact with many others as part of their usual routine. Training usually
includes recognition of persons at risk of suicide and information on how to
refer for treatment or supporting services, as appropriate.
Interventions - Actions or programs that can reduce the effect of risk factors
and/or increase protective factors. An example of an intervention would be
providing effective treatment for depressive illness.
Mental
Health Screening - Surveys done by health care professionals, schools, and
others to identify people who have a mental illness and to refer them to mental
health professionals.
Outcome
- A measurable change that can be attributed to an intervention or a program.
Outreach programs - Programs with staff that go into communities to deliver
services or recruit participants.
Population - based interventions -Interventions targeting populations or
communities rather than individuals.
Primary
care - The care system that provides the first point of contact for those in the
community seeking general assistance; for example, family practitioners or
pediatric nurse clinicians.
Program evaluation - The process used to measure the outcomes of a program or service.
Providers - Professionals who offer health, mental health, treatment, or social
services.
Protective factors - Those characteristics and circumstances that reduce the
likelihood of suicide or suicidal behaviors.
Resilience - Capacities within a person that promote positive outcomes, such as
mental health and well-being, and provide protection from factors that might
otherwise place that person at risk for adverse health outcomes.
Risk factors - Those characteristics and circumstances that make it more likely for
suicide or suicidal behaviors to occur.
Stakeholders - The groups and individuals that care about or are affected by
suicide prevention decisions and policies.
Substance use disorders - Disorders in which drugs, including alcohol, are used
to such an extent that social and occupational functioning is impaired and
control or abstinence becomes impossible.
Suicide
attempt - (Also Attempters) Nonfatal behavior that is intended to end one's own
life, and which may produce self-injury.
Suicidal behavior - Suicidal behavior includes a range of activities related to
suicide and self-harm, including suicidal thinking, self-harming behaviors
without thoughts of death, and suicide attempts.
Suicide - Intentional, self-inflicted death.
Suicide attempt survivors - Individuals who have previously attempted suicide.
Suicide survivors - Family members, significant others, or acquaintances who have
experienced the loss of a loved one due to suicide. In other publications this
term may be used to refer to suicide attempt survivors.
Surveillance - The regular monitoring of health conditions in the population
through the systematic collection, evaluation, and reporting of measurable
information. Surveillance can be used to understand trends.
EDITOR'S NOTE: Many entries in this Glossary quote or adapt usage from
National Strategy for Suicide Prevention:
Goals and Objectives for Action; Mental Health: The Surgeon General’s Report;
and the Wisconsin Blue Ribbon Commission on Mental Health Final Report.
|
