The goal of the National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention is to reduce suicide and suicide attempts in the U.S. by 40% in the next decade. In this paper, a public health approach is applied to suicide prevention to illustrate how reductions in youth suicide and suicidal behavior might be achieved by prioritizing research in two areas: (1) increasing access to primary care-based behavioral...

In 2000 the Department of Mental Health of the World Health Organization (WHO) published a guide named Preventing Suicide. A Resource for Prison Officers as part of the WHO worldwide initiative for the prevention of suicide. In 2007 there are new epidemiological data on prison suicide, a more detailed discussion of risk factors accounting for the generally higher rate of suicide in correctional...

CONTEXT The interpersonal-psychological theory of suicide identifies perceived burdensomeness as a primary component of suicidal desire and a possible point of intervention for suicide prevention. A growing literature has explored the relationship between perceived burdensomeness and suicide-related behaviors. OBJECTIVE The aim of this review is to integrate the evidence, identify critical ga...

CONTEXT The Research Prioritization Task Force of the National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention conducted a comprehensive literature review of suicide prevention/intervention trials to assess the quality of the scientific evidence. EVIDENCE ACQUISITION A literature "review of reviews" was conducted by searching the most widely used databases for mental health and public health research....

BACKGROUND General practitioners (GPs) have a key role to play in suicide prevention, but the rates at which they question patients with depression about suicidal thoughts and plans are rather low. Little is known about GPs' characteristics associated with such inquiries. Our objectives were to describe GPs' attitudes, perceived barriers, and self-reported practices in this questioning of these...

OBJECTIVE To review the research on the epidemiology, risk and resiliency, assessment, treatment, and prevention of late-life suicide. METHOD I reviewed mortality statistics. I searched MEDLINE and PsycINFO databases for research on suicide risk and resiliency and for randomized controlled trials with suicidal outcomes. I also reviewed mental health outreach and suicide prevention initiatives...

The federal government, largely through the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), sponsors an array of science-based suicide prevention initiatives. This article details the prevention-related agendas and collaborative efforts of five operating divisions within the Department of Health and Human Services: the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, National Inst...

BACKGROUND Lithuania currently has the highest suicide rate in Europe and the fifth highest worldwide. AIMS To identify the factors that influence the suicide intervention skills of emergency medical services (EMS) providers (doctors, nurses, paramedics). METHOD Two hundred and sixty-eight EMS providers participated in the research. The EMS providers were surveyed both prior to their traini...