[YSPNetwork] article: Service Use by at-risk youth after school-based suicide screening

[Donna NOONAN]

Dear YSPNetworkers,
I want to let you know about a new article that examined follow-up services by youth who were identified at risk for suicide after screening in a school-based program. Most students identified during in-school screening were not receiving any mental health services at the time. Two years after the screening, 70% of students had followed referral recommendations from the screening. Barriers for parents and youth who did not seek services after getting a referral included perceptions about mental health problems: thinking the problem was not serious enough, the problem would get better on its own, wanting to solve the problems alone or within the family, and not believing any real problem existed. The article suggests that efforts by NAMI and other family support organizations to educate and support parents of children with mental health issues could be an important adjunct to school-based screening programs.
 
Service Use by At-Risk Youths After School-Based Suicide Screening.
OBJECTIVE: We sought to examine follow-up service use by students identified at risk for suicidal behavior in a school-based screening program and assess barriers to seeking services as perceived by youths and parents. 
 
METHOD:: We conducted a longitudinal study of 317 at-risk youths identified by a school-based suicide screening in six high schools in New York State. The at-risk teenagers and their parents were interviewed approximately 2 years after the initial screen to assess service use during the intervening period and identify barriers that may have interfered with seeking treatment. 
 
RESULTS:: At the time of the screening, 72% of the at-risk students were not receiving any type of mental health service. Of these students, 51% were deemed in need of services and subsequently referred by us to a mental health professional. Nearly 70% followed through with the screening's referral recommendations. The youths and their parents reported perceptions about mental health problems, specifically relating to the need for treatment, as the primary reasons for not seeking service. 
 
CONCLUSIONS:: Screening seems to be effective in enhancing the likelihood that students at risk for suicidal behavior will get into treatment. Well-developed and systematic planning is needed to ensure that screening and referral services are coordinated so as to facilitate access for youths into timely treatment.
 
Gould MS, Marrocco FA, Hoagwood K, Kleinman M, Amakawa L, Altschuler E. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry ( http://www.safetylit.org/week/journalpage.php?jid=3622 ) 2009; ePub(ePub): ePub.
 
With best regards, 
Donna
 
Donna G. Noonan, MPH, CHES
Youth Suicide Prevention Coordinator
Injury Prevention & Epidemiology Program
Oregon Public Health Division
800 NE Oregon, Ste 772
Portland, OR 97232
Phone: 971-673-1023 
Fax 971-673-0990
donna.noonan at state.or.us 
www.oregon.gov/dhs/ph/ipe/ysp/ 

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