Education Commons^™

Implementation Of A Standardized Suicide Screening Process In A University Student Health Clinic: A Quality Improvement Project, Addie Grace Strong, Kathryn Dambrino, R. David Phillippi, Linda Wofford

DNP Scholarly Projects

Background: Suicide is a leading cause of death among college age students, prompting the need for evidence-based screening tools like the Columbia Suicide Severity Rating Scale (C-SSRS) to enable early detection and timely intervention. Inconsistencies in suicide screening may pose a risk of missed intervention opportunities. This Doctor of Nursing Practice project specifically aimed to improve the quality and consistency of suicide screening in a university student health clinic by implementing the C-SSRS tool into the clinic workflow during mental health appointments. Methods: Employing a quality improvement framework, this scholarly project followed the Institute for Healthcare Improvement Model for Improvement …

Breaking Point: An Exploration Of The Mental Health Crisis On Campus, Melissa Wood

Inquiry: The Journal of the Virginia Community Colleges

In the past several decades, the number of college students who experience mental health concerns has increased astronomically. During that time, acts of campus violence have increased as well. Unfortunately, many colleges have been unable to effectively meet the needs of students with mental disorders. This article explores the challenges surrounding the mental health and wellness of college students. It also analyzes the impact of such challenges on students and the institution. Additionally, this paper examines best practices that colleges may implement to assist students in distress and discusses implications for higher education leaders.

Technology-Based Training With Social Work Students To Enhance Suicide Risk Assessment Skills During Covid-19, Warren L. Miller Jr, Aswood Bousseau, Jesse Capece, Jayashree Nimmagadda

Journal of Human Services: Training, Research, and Practice

The global COVID-19 pandemic has touched every aspect of human life. It has exacerbated how students continue to learn during a global health crisis. Specifically, training students to address mental health challenges (i.e., suicide assessments) during and post-COVID-19 is of the utmost importance. Previous research shows higher education institutions' responses to adjusting to previous world health crises, yet little is known about social work programs pivoting to technology-based training to educate BSW and MSW students to continue serving vulnerable populations in their field practicum during COVID-19. In this study, using the competencies attainment survey, the researchers at an east coast …

Traditional Culture And Knowledge As Suicide Prevention Among Indigenous People, Nigel Lawrence

M.Ed. Literature Reviews

American Indians and Alaska Native (AIAN) people possess the resilience and fortitude to survive attempted genocide, colonization, and assimilation. Still, the resulting intergenerational trauma has left AIANs with suicide rates disproportionately higher than any other race. This study reviews the research on the effectiveness of teaching traditional cultural knowledge and practices as suicide prevention measures. Alcohol and drug abuse have been shown to increase the likelihood of death by suicide; therefore, drug and alcohol use prevention measures will be included. As part of colonization and assimilation, much of the traditional cultural knowledge and practices were suppressed. If drug and alcohol …

A Longitudinal Look: How Sleep Impacts Suicidal Thoughts And Behaviors In Autism And Social Anxiety, Lindsay Jacalyn Regehr

Theses and Dissertations

Crucial research about suicidal thoughts and behaviors is often done in a cross-sectional manner that only considers limited risk factors. This research is limited in scope and rarely produces meaningful results to inform treatment. This study uses a longitudinal design to follow 93 participants over approximately 6 months. Participants are individuals with autism and social anxiety who were part of high-risk groups for suicidality, sleep problems, and social isolation. Participants recorded their sleep patterns and suicidal thoughts daily via the phone app MetricWire and continuously wore a GENEActiv actigraphy device to tract their objective sleep patterns. The Columbia Suicide Severity …

School Division Policies Related To Suicide Prevention And Response, David Naff, Fatemah A. Khawaji, Morgan Meadowes, Jill Flynn, Meg Sheriff, Lauren Powell, Lisa Gwyn, Tameka Burroughs, Jean Samuel

MERC Publications

Suicide is one of the leading causes of death among youth age 10-19, and is an increasing concern in the wake of COVID-19. K-12 schools are crucial spaces for offering mental health support to students, and can implement policies to help prevent suicidal thoughts and behaviors. This MERC research and policy brief focuses on education policy related to suicide prevention and response. It is structured to answer five questions: 1) What are recent trends in youth suicide? 2) What does research show about school division policies that are effective in suicide prevention and response? 3) What policies in Virginia and …

An Examination Of Strategies For Reintegration Of K-12 Students Into Public School Post-Hospitalization, Jacinda Gittens

Education Theses

The reintegration process has been a challenging topic in schools, and most schools do not have policies to accommodate students' needs. Therefore, educators should develop policies to achieve a better outcome for reintegration. The aim of this paper is to investigate how the process of reintegration affects school-aged youths with chronic illness and mental health challenges who are experiencing academic difficulties. The implications are significant, including the amount of schoolwork required to pass the year after reintegration, the need for school nurses to be in contact with hospitals that students attended, and the importance of administrative involvement in the reintegration …

Law Enforcement Training On Suicide By Cop: Implications Of Mental Health Crisis And Encounters With Those Individuals Who Want To Die, Juan C. Garcia

Theses and Dissertations

There is a high prevalence of suicide in people who engage in Suicide by Cop (SbC), a method of suicide that involves provoking law enforcement into fatal use of force. This research study aimed to examine the changes in knowledge about SbC, self-efficacy when dealing with SbC offenders, and empathy toward SbC offenders in response to law enforcement officers’ (LEO) participation in a 30-minute SbC intervention training. This dissertation first introduced information about defining features and prevalence of suicide as a whole and SbC in particular. SbC factors include SbC intent, mental health history, noncompliance with LEO commands, and multiple …

The Pain Of Helping: Crisis Response Teams Experiences With College Student Suicide, Audra E. Dowling

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Capstones

This qualitative multicase study explores the lived experiences of seven higher education professionals who serve or have served on a crisis response team at the time of a college student suicide. It asks the following research question: How has a college student suicide impacted the individual psychological needs (safety, trust, esteem, intimacy, control) of those serving on a crisis response team? Using constructivist self-development theory (McCann & Pearlman, 1990) as a lens, psychological needs have been analyzed as fulfilled needs or distorted needs across two interviews and three journaling prompts to assess the impact on seven participants in this qualitative …

Mtss For Suicide Prevention And Intervention: Considerations For School Counseling Preparation, Emily Goodman-Scott, Jennifer Betters-Bubon, Rebecca Pianta

Teaching and Supervision in Counseling

Youth mental health concerns have reached crisis-level with the American Academy of Pediatrics (2021) reporting a 51% increase for reported suicide attempts for 12-17 year old youth. School counselors play a pivotal role within the conversation on mental health and suicide specifically (ASCA, 2016; ASCA, 2020). In this article we outline how school counselors can organize their suicide prevention and intervention efforts with Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS), grounded in a model by Dr. Rebecca Pianta, as well as prioritizing culturally sustaining, antiracist practices, data, prevention, and screening in all tiers. Specifically, at Tier 1, school counselors educate stakeholders, including …

Introduction To The Special Section: Suicide Risk Assessment And Intervention In School Counselor Training, Lucy L. Purgason, Christian D. Chan, Bradley Mckibben

Teaching and Supervision in Counseling

This special section on school counselor preparation in assessing for crisis and suicide risk considers the impact of the perception of school counselor training and expertise related to suicide assessment and intervention. The collection of six articles focuses on considerations and best practices in assessing and intervening with PK-12 students experiencing suicidality, the unique considerations within a school setting, and corresponding implications for school counselor training.

Suicide Prevention Training For The Davis County Workforce In Utah, Emma Parkhurst

Outcomes and Impact Quarterly

Suicide prevention and mental health have been prioritized in Utah at both the local and state levels. In response, Utah State University (USU) Extension and partners provided an evidence-based training, VitalCog, to organizations to proactively address suicide in the workplace to the Davis County workforce.

Real Time Call-Flagging System To Respond To Suicidal Ideation In Call Centers, Vishnu Menon, Joseph Carrigan, Charles Floeder, Thomas Walton, Devin Mcguire

Honors Theses

The 2021-2022 Signature Performance Design Studio team developed a live audio call-flagging system that enables faster responses and new response pathways to veteran crises by call service representatives and their management team. Using a custom made deep learning model, live audio streaming server, and Teams broadcasting add-on, the system empowers Signature Performance call service representatives to make quicker and more well informed decisions to provide veteran’s the best care possible.

Religious Sexual Minorities, Belongingness, And Suicide Risk: Does It Matter Where Belongingness Comes From?, Samuel J. Skidmore, G. Tyler Lefevor, Rachel M. Golightly, Eric R. Larsen

Psychology Faculty Publications

Sexual minorities (SMs) experience a unique set of stressors as a result of their minority status that can lead to adverse mental health outcomes, including increased suicidal ideation (SI). A sense of belongingness—particularly in sexual minority communities—has been shown to buffer these outcomes. It is less clear, however, how belongingness in communities that hold heteronormative values may relate to SI. The present study fills this gap through an analysis of data from 602 SM members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (CJCLDS; “Mormon” church). We examine how minority stressors and religiousness are related to SI for SMs …

Examining The Correlation Between Childhood Trauma And Suicidal Ideation Among Air Force Airmen, Jennifer L. Thomas

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

For decades, the United States military has been concerned about high suicide rates. Due to the increasing suicide rate within the armed forces, the need to better understand suicide-associated factors such as childhood trauma exposure is imperative. It is important to identify the research gaps that exist for promoting understanding of suicide and suicidal behavior and to enhance identification of those at risk for suicide. While there have been many published studies on the topic, conspicuously absent are studies that have included U.S. Air Force personnel. This research will examine the correlation between childhood trauma and suicidal ideation among Air …

Do Veterans Seek Mental Health Counseling?, Jonathan D. Williams

Journal of Graduate Education Research

The purpose of this non-experimental study was to determine if there is a difference in attitudes towards seeking mental health services between veterans and civilians. Participants were a convenience sample of 54 veterans and civilians from around the United States. The participants completed a survey, that was introduced through social media, to determine their attitude towards seeking mental health services. An analysis of the results revealed that there is not a significant difference between veterans’ and civilians’ attitudes towards seeking mental health services.

Already Too Late, Abigail Logan

Honors College

Already Too Late (Dec. 2021), in its beginning stages, is a novel that explores the intricacies of trauma response within the context of creative writing that appeals to both older and younger readers alike. This thesis consists of a complete story outline, four well-established chapters, and a disquisition that examines my motivations, methodology, and the research related to the content of this project. The novel is a dual-perspective narrative that interweaves 17-year-old Avery Landon’s traumatic experiences with sexual assault with her father Marty’s overwhelming grief and his coming to terms with his failed parenting. When Avery is raped at a …

Action Research: A Culturally Specific Case Study On Organizational Capacity-Building To Battle Addiction In The Oneida Native-American Community, Anita F. Barber, Mark Gordon

Journal of Sustainable Social Change

The Healing Society (coded to mask) is a new and developing organization operated by a volunteer board created by Oneida Nation community members. Leaders were seeking strategic direction to build organizational capacity and sustainability for this new organization. They sought to make positive social change after a well-known community member died from an overdose. The purpose of this post-positivist, constructionist qualitative case study was to gather empirical data from the perspectives of internal and external stakeholders through a SWOT analysis. Their answers addressed: (a) the organizational strengths and weaknesses of The Healing Society to ensure short-term strength and long-term growth, …

Medical Schools Ignore The Nature Of Consciousness At Great Cost, Anoop Kumar

Journal of Wellness

The essential question of the relationship between consciousness and matter is ignored in medical school curricula, leading to a machine-like view of the human being that contributes to physician burnout and intellectual dissatisfaction. The evidence suggesting that the brain may not be the seat of consciousness is generally ignored to preserve the worldview of the primacy of matter. By investigating new frameworks detailing the nature of consciousness at different levels of hierarchy, we can bring intellectual rigor to a once opaque subject that supports a fundamental reality about our experience: We are human beings, not only human bodies.

Coping And Suicide Among At-Risk Community College Students, Laura E. Martin, Lynn Bohecker

Inquiry: The Journal of the Virginia Community Colleges

The authors investigated the complex relationships of coping associated with suicide risk among community college students. Survey responses were obtained from 733 participants. A multiple linear regression demonstrated that maladaptive coping such as self-distraction, substance use, and denial were predictive factors of suicide among students in the 18–29 age group. Self-distraction and denial were significant coping protective factors of suicide risk for students aged 29–67. Implications for increasing suicide awareness and prevention in education are discussed.

Keywords: suicide, coping, community college, mental health

Best Practices In Suicide Pedagogy: A Quantitative Content Analysis, Erin Binkley, Gregory Elliott

Teaching and Supervision in Counseling

The authors used a quantitative content analysis methodology to explore the available literature on pedagogical practices for teaching counselors how to work with suicidal clients. From an initial pool of 71 potentially applicable articles found in Counseling, Psychiatry, general mental health, Psychology, and Social Work journals, 26 articles were found to meet inclusion criteria by specifically exploring the impact or efficacy of different pedagogical practices relevant to suicide response in counselor training. These 26 articles were coded using quantitative content analysis procedures. Results indicated that more research is necessary to determine best practices for teaching suicide response to counselors in …

Nursing Majors’ Attitudes Toward Suicide And Mental Health Training, Beverly Arleen Burton

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

AbstractThe mental health training of nursing majors may play a role in their levels of confidence in attending to suicide patients as working professionals. The purpose of this quantitative study was to explore what impact, if any, attitudes toward suicide had on nursing majors’ levels of confidence in their mental health training. Pender’s health promotion theory was the theoretical framework. A descriptive correlational survey was used to explore individuals majoring in nursing confidence and perceived skills in mental health training. The 4 research questions asked the relationship between the level of confidence in helping someone with a mental health problem …

Risk Factors And Precursors To Police Suicide, Matthew J. Carpenter

Theses and Dissertations

Police suicide has consistently remained a more likely cause of death for police officers than being killed in the line of duty for the past several years. Understanding the risk factors and precursors associated with suicide is crucial to changing this anomalousness. Prevention, early intervention, treatment, support, and reducing stigma, may help lower the number of police officers committing suicide.

Several research studies have found the rate of suicide for police officers to be double that of the general population (Chopko, Palmieri & Facemire, 2013; Violanti, 2010; Lewis, 2014; Charbonneau, 2000). The day-to-day job of policing may be stressful and …

Rethinking The Study Of College Student Suicide: Critical Suicidology And Higher Education, Lisa S. Kaler

Journal of Critical Scholarship on Higher Education and Student Affairs

This paper introduces Critical Suicidology to higher education, exploring how this perspective can help understand and prevent college student suicide. Critical Suicidology critiques the creation of truth and knowledge in the study of suicide and demonstrates that suicide has been socially constructed. Assumptions within extant literature limit our understanding of suicide and preclude critical examination into the role of higher education on suicidal thoughts among college students, particularly those from marginalized populations. This paper argues that higher education scholars’ contextual knowledge of the student experience can engender critical studies that explore college student suicide within the context of higher education, …

Conflicts - As A Causing Factor Of Adolescent Suicide Behavior And Their Prevention, D.E. Mirzabdullaeva, Z.J. Alieva

Central Asian Problems of Modern Science and Education

This article highlights the intrapersonal conflicts of personality as factors that provoke the emergence of suicidal behavior of adolescents and ways to prevent them.

Suicide And Nepantla: Writing In In-Between Space To Crave Policy Change, Ethan Trinh

Middle and Secondary Education Faculty Publications

This autohistoria, or “a personal essay that theorizes,” is a special piece to me.[1] It is spiritual, poetic, political, and dialogic. This essay thus delves deeper into the mourning, the fear, the tears, the pain, the loneliness, the strength of a Vietnamese queer immigrant in a state of Nepantla in order to relate with other queers of color in the dark (i.e., in suicidal process). “Living in Nepantla, the overlapping space between different perceptions and belief systems, you are aware of the changeability of racial, gender, sexual, and other categories rendering the conventional labelling obsolete.”[2] In this space, …

An Exploration Of Attitudes Among Veterans And Military Personnel Regarding Care And Reintegration, Mavis Jean Christopher

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Reintegration is a complicated process and becomes more difficult due to stigma toward care seeking. Stigma can act as an influence to avoid treatment or terminate treatment early. The problem is that the attitudes of veterans and military personnel toward care seeking prior to discharge are unknown, particularly with respect to the lack of anonymity or privacy. Also unknown is what these populations desire to be included in reintegration treatment/training. The purpose of this study was to discover and interpret the attitudes of this population toward care seeking. The conceptual framework included military culture, masculine ideology, and stigma. The research …

Preservice Teachers Knowledge Of Adolescent Suicide, Annette N. Johnson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Teacher preparation programs have a responsibility to prepare future teachers to teach

and mentor students through their academic years. With the rise of suicide in school age children, responsibility has fallen to teachers to better recognize and understand students who may be suicidal. This study sought to answer the question: to what degree does teaching certification, teaching experience, and suicide awareness embedded coursework predict preservice teachers’ knowledge of suicide awareness and prevention? Data from the Adolescent Suicide Behavior Questionnaire and a demographic survey which asked about participants’ preservice training was sent to universities and colleges in Texas with an undergraduate …

Creating A Culture Of Courage: A Behavioral Health Study Of Resilience And Response To Traumatic Events For Firefighters, Brett Ellis

CUP Ed.D. Dissertations

Firefighters experience a variety of challenging situations and traumatic events while performing necessary job duties as public servants, which can create behavioral health concerns and even suicide ideation. The purpose of this study is to recognize how individual resilience relates to lived experiences for firefighters who may need next-level behavioral healthcare, which in turn, will identify higher “at risk” firefighters with suicide ideation who need increased mental and emotional care outside of peer interventions. The fundamental question centers on what role does individual resilience, as well as formal and informal resources of behavioral health support, play in mitigating the impact …

Millennial Generation Law Enforcement Academy Recruits And Their Perception Of Mental Health, Jeffrey M. Mcgill

School of Criminal Justice Theses and Dissertations

The traumatic and cumulative stresses associated with a law enforcement career are well documented both empirically and anecdotally. While previous generations have acknowledged and coped with these stressors with varying levels of success, research shows that the millennial generation has reported more mental health issues than any generation in history. Since suicide is the single leading cause of death for United States law enforcement officers in recent years, addressing mental health should be a priority of all agencies. The introduction of millennial generation law enforcement officers creates the potential for increased mental health needs within the field. 25 millennial-aged Florida …