ERIC Number: EJ1208379
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2019-Jan
Pages: 10
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1532-8759
EISSN: N/A
Available Date: N/A
Suicide Concern Reporting among Utah Youths Served by a School-Based Peer-to-Peer Prevention Program
Wright-Berryman, Jennifer; Hudnall, Greg; Bledsoe, Cathy; Lloyd, Mary
Children & Schools, v41 n1 p35-44 Jan 2019
To date, no suicide behavior data related to school-based peer suicide prevention programs have been published. The Hope Squad program uses trained students to intentionally facilitate help-seeking with distressed peers. Suicide concern contact data (SCCD) from school counseling centers were collected from 2013 to 2017 as part of routine outcome-based program evaluation. Hope Squad school SCCD were organized by student gender, grade, and Hope Squad referral and were cross-tabulated with types of suicide concerns and hospitalizations. Over 1,100 contacts (N = 1,174) across 65 schools in 41 school districts were included in the analysis. The highest rates of all suicide-related contacts were among girls and students in the eighth and ninth grades. Reported attempts peaked in the ninth and tenth grades, then reduced through the 12th grade. Nearly a quarter of all contacts were Hope Squad referrals. These descriptive data provide a general overview of the types and frequencies of Hope Squad school suicide concerns that present in school counseling centers and are not indicative of program effectiveness. Next steps will include a research study comparing outcomes between Hope Squad schools and non-Hope Squad schools, and a study examining implementation adherence using fidelity measures.
Descriptors: Suicide, Help Seeking, Peer Influence, Gender Differences, Age Differences, School Counseling, Prevention, Intervention, Student Behavior, Referral, Program Effectiveness
Oxford University Press. Great Clarendon Street, Oxford, OX2 6DP, UK. Tel: +44-1865-353907; Fax: +44-1865-353485; e-mail: jnls.cust.serv@oxfordjournals.org; Web site: http://cs.oxfordjournals.org
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Utah
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A