Evaluating School Profiles to Determine Risk for Teen Suicide

An Open Access article published in the Health Behavior and Policy Review Journal.
The full article is available as a PDF download.

Authors:

Nancy Eigel-Miller, MS
Lisa M. Vaughn, PhD
Michael Topmiller, PhD
Olga Semanova, MS
Jonelle Prideaux, BA
Kamali Bouvay, MD
Cheryl Hilvert, MA, LPCC
Erica Page, PhD

Objective:

In this study, we examined characteristics and school contexts to identify profiles of schools at highest risk for suicide in Cincinnati, Ohio and the surrounding geographic area.

Methods:

We conducted a retrospective cohort study supplemented by context analysis. Adolescent data included total psychiatric-related pediatric emergency department encounters, psychiatric-related inpatient admissions, and suicide encounters/admissions aggregated to school level. School factors included type, size, geographic location, academic rigor, existence of a mental health partner, and culture of suicide prevention efforts at the school.

Results:

Using a k-means cluster analysis, 173 schools were sorted into 4 distinct clusters based on based on patient data linked to schools. A context analysis of the 25 highest risk schools revealed general patterns of low academic achievement measures, limited mental health partnership, and poor suicide prevention ratings.

Conclusions:

These findings suggest that schools which already reflect limited access to resources are the same ones disparately at higher risk for suicide in our geographic area. The variation of at- risk suicidality factors across schools suggests the need for tailored suicide prevention interventions specific to school characteristics and context.

Source: Health Behavior and Policy Review, Volume 9, Number 2, March 2022, pp. 738-750(13)
Publisher: Paris Scholar Publishing Ltd.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.14485/HBPR.9.2.2

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