New Report Offers Blueprint for Suicide Prevention on Campuses

HHD's Suicide Prevention Resource Center (SPRC) has issued a white paper, called "Promoting Mental Health and Preventing Suicide in College and University Settings," that proposes a blueprint for planning a comprehensive suicide prevention program on college campuses.

The White paper summarizes the latest research about suicidal behavior among college students -- including factors that contribute to suicidal behavior -- and recommends strategies for developing evidenced-based programs to promote mental health and prevent suicide on campuses. The writing reflects the views of experts in the field with suggested approaches for suicide prevention, including leadership roles, screening, crisis management, mental health services, means restriction, social marketing and education.

“A multi-faceted and comprehensive approach to suicide prevention is our best hope of making significant progress in preventing suicide on college campuses," said to Dr. Lloyd Potter, director of SPRC.

There are an estimated 1,088 suicides that occur on college campuses each year, according to the National Mental Health Association and The Jed Foundation, a nonprofit organization committed to reducing the youth suicide rate and improving the mental health of college students nationwide. EDC, HHD’s parent organization, formed a partnership with The Jed Foundation in 2003 to lead a nationwide effort to prevent suicide attempts and completions among college and university students, and to build effective on-campus mental health support systems.

The Jed Foundation is developing a National College Suicide Registry, which may provide the most accurate information available on both the number of completed and attempted suicides on campuses. With proper resources for implementation and coordination, the Registry could become a sound surveillance system for suicide and suicidal behavior on college campuses.

But experts believe that suicide and attempted suicide are just the tip of the iceberg of a larger mental health and substance abuse problem among college students. A national survey of college counselors found that 84 percent perceived an increase in students with more serious psychological problems over the past five years.

The SPRC white paper offers strategies to support the efforts of colleges and universities to prevent suicide and respond to other health issues using evidence-based programs.

The white paper concludes that the U.S. government will likely spend nearly $70 billion on student financial aid in 2004. But unaddressed mental health and behavioral problems among college students may mean that the government's investment is not producing the best results possible.

Creating mental health programs and suicide prevention programs on campuses can boost academic results and help ensure that federal funding of postsecondary education is returned to taxpayers in the form of successful and emotionally sound college graduates ready to contribute to the community and to the job market.

"Meeting the needs of students with mental health problems will help them succeed academically, as well as in the workforce, and most importantly, save lives,” Dr. Potter said.

"Promoting Mental Health and Preventing Suicide in College and University Settings" is available for reading and downloading at http://www.sprc.org/library/college_sp_whitepaper.pdf.

Research also shows that graduate students may feel more stress than undergraduates. Some specific stressors to post-grads include:

• Mounting financial burdens
• Worries about taking time away from the workforce
• Uncertainties about the job market, especially for those in research or academic careers.

The Big Ten Suicide Study, conducted from 1980 to 1990 on Big Ten campuses, was the most comprehensive report on the incidence of suicides among graduate and undergraduate students by age, gender and race. That study suggested that female graduate students are at the greatest risk. Older students returning to school after many years have the highest suicide rates overall, and many women fall into this category.

"Promoting Mental Health and Preventing Suicide in College and University Settings" is available for reading and downloading at http://www.sprc.org/library/college_sp_whitepaper.pdf

The SPRC white paper emphasizes that colleges and universities need an operating structure in which to develop, implement, and coordinate services that target suicide prevention and intervention and a conceptual framework to help these activities work as effectively as possible.

The following are some of the requirements included in the white paper to create a structure and a framework to support suicide prevention on campuses:

• Engage a broad and diverse group of participants representing relevant campus and off-campus partners, including students and their families.
• Define appropriate activities for administrators, faculty, staff, students, families, clinicians, and other participants that can be evaluated.
• Develop a data collection and evaluation system to track information on suicide prevention and benchmarks for strategy progress.
• Integrate suicide prevention into existing health, mental health, substance abuse, education, and student services activities.
• Emphasize early interventions to reduce risk factors for suicide and promote protective factors. As important as it is to recognize and help suicidal individuals, progress depends on measures that address problems early and promote strengths so that fewer people become suicidal.

"Promoting Mental Health and Preventing Suicide in College and University Settings" is available for reading and downloading at http://www.sprc.org/library/college_sp_whitepaper.pdf

October, 2004