Preventing suicide by young people

Introduction In 2013, 2,522 people died by suicide in Australia. Twenty-two of these were children aged 5- 14 years, 148 were adolescents aged 15-19 years, and a further 200 were young people aged 20-24 years. Although the suicide rate for children and adolescents is lower than that for some older age groups, suicide is the leading cause of death in children and young people. Suicide has immense effects on the families, friends, and communities of people who die by suicide, causing long lasting grief and guilt. Arguably, these effects are even greater when the person who died by suicide is young. It is estimated that suicide costs the Australian economy more than $17 billion per year. Researchers and policy makers recognise that suicide is preventable, yet suicide rates have changed little in the past 10 years. This discussion paper aims to focus a spotlight on the unique experience of young people. It does this by providing a critical analysis of existing policy and evidence based responses relevant to young people

Suicide Prevention & Response: A Comprehensive Resource Guide for Indiana Schools 2018

Document created for the Indiana Department of Education for Suicide Prevention and Response

Detecting suicidality on Twitter

Twitter is increasingly investigated as a means of detecting mental health status, including depression and suicidality, in the population. However, validated and reliable methods are not yet fully established. This study aimed to examine whether the level of concern for a suicide-related post on Twitter could be determined based solely on the content of the post, as judged by human coders and then replicated by machine learning. From 18th February 2014 to 23rd April 2014, Twitter was monitored for a series of suicide-related phrases and terms using the public Application Program Interface (API). Matching tweets were stored in a data annotation tool developed by the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO). During this time, 14,701 suicide-related tweets were collected: 14% were randomly (n = 2000) selected and divided into two equal sets (Set A and B) for coding by human researchers. Overall, 14% of suicide-related tweets were classified as ‘strongly concerning’, with the majority coded as ‘possibly concerning’ (56%) and the remainder (29%) considered ‘safe to ignore’. The overall agreement rate among the human coders was 76% (average κ = 0.55). Machine learning processes were subsequently applied to assess whether a ‘strongly concerning’ tweet could be identified automatically. The computer classifier correctly identified 80% of ‘strongly concerning’ tweets and showed increasing gains in accuracy; however, future improvements are necessary as a plateau was not reached as the amount of data increased. The current study demonstrated that it is possible to distinguish the level of concern among suicide-related tweets, using both human coders and an automatic machine classifier. Importantly, the machine classifier replicated the accuracy of the human coders. The findings confirmed that Twitter is used by individuals to express suicidality and that such posts evoked a level of concern that warranted further investigation. However, the predictive power for actual suicidal behaviour is not yet known and the findings do not directly identify targets for intervention.This project was supported in part by funding from the NSW Mental Health Commission and the NHMRC John Cade Fellowship 1056964. PJB and ALC are supported by the NHMRC Early Career Fellowships 1035262 and 1013199

A framework for applying natural language processing in digital health interventions

BACKGROUND: Digital health interventions (DHIs) are poised to reduce target symptoms in a scalable, affordable, and empirically supported way. DHIs that involve coaching or clinical support often collect text data from 2 sources: (1) open correspondence between users and the trained practitioners supporting them through a messaging system and (2) text data recorded during the intervention by users, such as diary entries. Natural language processing (NLP) offers methods for analyzing text, augmenting the understanding of intervention effects, and informing therapeutic decision making. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to present a technical framework that supports the automated analysis of both types of text data often present in DHIs. This framework generates text features and helps to build statistical models to predict target variables, including user engagement, symptom change, and therapeutic outcomes. METHODS: We first discussed various NLP techniques and demonstrated how they are implemented in the presented framework. We then applied the framework in a case study of the Healthy Body Image Program, a Web-based intervention trial for eating disorders (EDs). A total of 372 participants who screened positive for an ED received a DHI aimed at reducing ED psychopathology (including binge eating and purging behaviors) and improving body image. These users generated 37,228 intervention text snippets and exchanged 4285 user-coach messages, which were analyzed using the proposed model. RESULTS: We applied the framework to predict binge eating behavior, resulting in an area under the curve between 0.57 (when applied to new users) and 0.72 (when applied to new symptom reports of known users). In addition, initial evidence indicated that specific text features predicted the therapeutic outcome of reducing ED symptoms. CONCLUSIONS: The case study demonstrates the usefulness of a structured approach to text data analytics. NLP techniques improve the prediction of symptom changes in DHIs. We present a technical framework that can be easily applied in other clinical trials and clinical presentations and encourage other groups to apply the framework in similar contexts

Evaluation of the Choose Life North Lanarkshire Awareness Programme: Final Report

The Centre for Men’s Health at Leeds Metropolitan University, with consultants from MRC Social and Public Health Sciences Unit, Glasgow, and Men’s Health Forum, Scotland (MHFS), were appointed to conduct the Choose Life (North Lanarkshire) evaluation, beginning in March 2011. The key evaluation questions are: 1. How has the social marketing approach to increase awareness of crisis service numbers and de-stigmatise understandings and attitudes about suicide worked? 2. Has the programme as implemented been effective? Which aspects of the programme have been particularly effective? 3. Has this programme been of benefit to the community, in particular young men aged 16-35? 4. What contribution has the community made to the effectiveness of the programme

Suicide and suicide risk

Although recent years have seen large decreases in the overall global rate of suicide fatalities, this trend is not reflected everywhere. Suicide and suicidal behaviour continue to present key challenges for public policy and health services, with increasing suicide deaths in some countries such as the USA. The development of suicide risk is complex, involving contributions from biological (including genetics), psychological (such as certain personality traits), clinical (such as comorbid psychiatric illness), social and environmental factors. The involvement of multiple risk factors in conveying risk of suicide means that determining an individual’s risk of suicide is challenging. Improving risk assessment, for example, by using computer testing and genetic screening, is an area of ongoing research. Prevention is key to reduce the number of suicide deaths and prevention efforts include universal, selective and indicated interventions, although these interventions are often delivered in combination. These interventions, combined with psychological (such as cognitive behavioural therapy, caring contacts and safety planning) and pharmacological treatments (for example, clozapine and ketamine) along with coordinated social and public health initiatives, should continue to improve the management of individuals who are suicidal and decrease suicide-associated morbidity

Working With the Client Who is Suicidal: A Tool for Adult Mental Health and Addiction Services

Working With the Client Who is Suicidal: A Tool for Adult Mental Health and Addiction Services provides an overview of recommended practices in assessing and treating suicidal behaviour in adults. This document is consistent with the goals identified in the Blueprint for a Canadian National Suicide Prevention Strategy, developed by the Canadian Association for Suicide Prevention (CASP) in 2004. Specifically, this document responds to the following goals as identified by CASP: to increase training for key gatekeepers, volunteers, and professionals regarding recognition of risk factors, warning signs and at-risk behaviours; to provide effective interventions; and to develop and promote effective clinical and professional practice to support clients, families and communities

Subst Use Misuse

JITAI: Just-in-time adaptive intervention; ROC: receiver operating characteristic; AUC: area under the curve; MRT: micro-randomized trial.R49CE003085/ACL/ACL HHSUnited States/R01 DA039901/DA/NIDA NIH HHSUnited States/R49 CE002099/CE/NCIPC CDC HHSUnited States/T32 AA007477/AA/NIAAA NIH HHSUnited States/K23 AA028232/AA/NIAAA NIH HHSUnited States/P50 DA039838/DA/NIDA NIH HHSUnited States/R49 CE003085/CE/NCIPC CDC HHSUnited States/2022-09-09T00:00:00Z34499570PMC87852561187

Youth Suicide Prevention and Intervention

This open access book focuses on the public health crisis of youth suicide and provides a review of current research and prevention practices. It addresses important topics, including suicide epidemiology, suicide risk detection in school and medical settings, critical cultural considerations, and approaches to lethal means safety. This book offers cutting-edge research on emerging discoveries in the neurobiology of suicide, psychopharmacology, and machine learning. It focuses on upstream suicide prevention research methods and details how cost-effective approaches can mitigate youth suicide risk when implemented at a universal level. Chapters discuss critical areas for future research, including how to evaluate the effectiveness of suicide prevention and intervention efforts, increase access to mental health care, and overcome systemic barriers that undermine generalizability of prevention strategies. Finally, this book highlights what is currently working well in youth suicide prevention and, just as important, which areas require more attention and support. Key topics include: The neurobiology of suicide in at-risk children and adolescents. The role of machine learning in youth suicide prevention. Suicide prevention, intervention, and postvention in schools. Suicide risk screening and assessment in medical settings. Culturally informed risk assessment and suicide prevention efforts with minority youth. School mental health partnerships and telehealth models of care in rural communities. Suicide and self-harm prevention and interventions for LGBTQ+ youth. Risk factors associated with suicidal behavior in Black youth. Preventing suicide in youth with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and intellectual disability (ID). Youth Suicide Prevention and Intervention is a must-have resource for policy makers and related professionals, graduate students, and researchers in child and school psychology, family studies, public health, social work, law/criminal justice, sociology, and all related disciplines

Natural Born Copycat Killers and the Law of Shock Torts

This Article explores the legal ramifications inherent in the putative links between violent deaths—both homicides and suicides—and various entertainment industry products, including motion pictures, television programs, video games, and musical recordings. We briefly review some examples in which popular entertainment-media allegedly played a significant role in spurring individuals to commit acts of violence against themselves or others. While some of these violent events have been widely reported, others are less well known. In any event, we provide some factual predicate in order to establish the context for one of the most controversial legal issues of modern times. Then we examine the possibility of redress for the survivors of such tragedies through the legal system. Plaintiffs in these cases be the persons or their survivors (e.g., their parents) who absorb these shockingly violent entertainment-media messages and act them out by injuring or killing themselves. Plaintiffs can also be victims (or their survivors) injured or killed by violence acted out by others who have been exposed to shockingly violent forms of entertainment-media. We propose survivors of media-related tragedies seek redress with a new cause of action we have termed “shock torts.” We will discuss in detail multiple legal theories that potentially offer redress for harms caused by shock torts. We also analyze the primary obstacles to successful shock tort litigation, with emphasis on First Amendment concerns that stand as the main barrier to recovery. In the course of parsing the traditional modes of analysis, we propose a new test for evaluating the extent of First Amendment protection appropriate for defendants in these complex and difficult cases