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Connect: An Effective Community‐Based Youth Suicide Prevention Program
Author(s) -
Bean Gretchen,
Baber Kristine M.
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
suicide and life‐threatening behavior
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.544
H-Index - 90
eISSN - 1943-278X
pISSN - 0363-0234
DOI - 10.1111/j.1943-278x.2010.00006.x
Subject(s) - stigma (botany) , suicide prevention , mental health , psychology , preparedness , drug prevention , poison control , injury prevention , human factors and ergonomics , medicine , psychiatry , substance abuse , environmental health , political science , law
Youth suicide prevention is an important public health issue. However, few prevention programs are theory driven or systematically evaluated. This study evaluated Connect, a community‐based youth suicide prevention program. Analysis of pre and posttraining questionnaires from 648 adults and 204 high school students revealed significant changes in knowledge and attitudes about suicide, increased belief in the usefulness of mental health care, and reduction of stigma associated with seeking help. Adults’ preparedness to help also increased significantly as did the likelihood that youth participants would seek adult assistance if they were concerned about a peer. Implications of findings are discussed.