Projects / Programmes
New approaches to recognizing and preventing suicidal behaviour and other risk factors in the field of mental health of adolescents
| Code |
Science |
Field |
Subfield |
| 3.09.00 |
Medical sciences |
Psychiatry |
|
| Code |
Science |
Field |
| B650 |
Biomedical sciences |
Psychiatry, clinical psychology, psychosomatics |
| Code |
Science |
Field |
| 3.02 |
Medical and Health Sciences |
Clinical medicine |
adolescents, suicidal behaviour, screening, assessment, treatment
Researchers (18)
Organisations (3)
Abstract
Suicide is a third most common cause of death for youth. Between 2000 and 2015 156 young people died due to sucicide (111 boys, 45 girls) (NIJZ, 2017). Besides deaths due to suicide, a large public-health problem are also suicide attempts among adolescents. Adolescents are a vulnerable group because of developmental characteristics, their stressful situations, in cases of limited social support, poorly developed social skills, low self-esteem, difficulties in expressing and managing emotions, and resolving conflicts.
The project focuses on the development of more effective ways of identifying and assessing the risk of suicide in adolescents and exploring their treatment paths. The aim of the project is to investigate screening and assessment procedures and ways of dealing with at-risk adolescents, and through the identification and application of more effective strategies and interventions, contribute to improving the mental health of adolescents and reducing suicidal behavior among young people.
The project includes four related sets of activities: (i) screening; (ii) clinical assessment, (iii) dealing with high-suicidal-risk adolescents, and (iv) developing professional guidelines and recommendations for the systems. Screening will take place in primary and secondary schools (participats within the general population of adolescents will fill out a battery of questionnaires). In the clinical assessment of suicidal risk we will further include those who will be identified on the basis of the screening (or will come in contact with mental health professionals in a different way). With these we will conduct an individual clinical interview, in which we will use a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods. In the third part of the study we will include experts working in the area of mental health of adolescents (eg pedopsychiatrists, clinical psychologists, psychotherapists), from whom we will obtain information on the characteristics of their treatment experiences when dealing with adolescents with high suicidal risk. We will perform this part of the study through questionnaires and in-depth interviews. The data collected in all three parts of the study together will serve to better understand the whole system of and to the develop effective strategies (part four), expert guidelines and system recommendations.
The common goal of the project is to optimise the support systems that play a role in treatment of suicidally in youth (from primary schools to psychiatric clinics) and to prevent suicidal behavior in this vulnerable population. An effective way of screening and early recognition of at-risk individuals enables early interventions, which can be more (cost-)effective than taking action in crisis situations such as suicidal attempt. The assessment methods are an important source of information when deciding on the interventions and treatment methods and thus the adequacy of the assessment methods makes an important contribution to effective assistance. Besides, in the process of treatment, we wish to know more about what mental health professionals are feeling, experiencing and what problems they are dealing with when working with suicidally endangered adolescents.
The researchers of proposed consortium have experience in successfully implementing similar projects. The project will be run in cooperation of the Slovenian Center for Suicide Research, which will lead and manage the project and also perform the screening phase. In the other phases of the project, UKC Maribor and the University Psychiatric Clinic Ljubljana will also participate within their relevant units responsible for providing clinical help to adolescents in need. This consortium will also serve as the basis for the future dissemination and implementation of the proposed changes of action.
Significance for science
The project will be incorporated into activities of Slovene Centre for Suicide Research, among which are the project Do you understand (yourself)?!? - Integrated approach of mental health promotion and primary prevention of suicidal behaviour for adolescents; website for understanding suicidal behaviour Živ? Živ! (Eng. Alive? Alive!); the yearly international conference on suicide Triple i, etc. The study will help to further mobilise dedicated research team and to provide a sustainability of research in the field of mental health and suicide prevention. We plan to develop new systematic screening, risk assessment and treatment procedures, and in cooperation with other institutions (e.g. elementary and high schools, pedopsychiatric departments) a system of integrated services and ways for adolescents to use the resources in the field of mental health. The results will thus have a direct and indirect impact on mental health of specific groups, as well as society and will hopefully contribute to lower suicide rate.
The study will be an opportunity to gain original results and insights, which will be an important contribution in the field of suicidology in Slovenia and internationally. We will narrow the research focus to adolescents, especially those, who are at-risk for suicidal behaviour, and study the procedures for this specific population in detail, which was not done in this way prior to this study.
We will use an innovative combination of qualitative and quantitative research methods, which is rare in suicidology despite the intense need for such approaches. A complex phenomenon, such as suicide, can not be understood with a single paradigm of research, and the use of mixed methods provides a deep insight into the problem and the triangulation of data, which significantly contributes to the reliability and validity of the findings.
The originality of expected research outcomes will serve as the starting point for the development of professional guidelines and system recommendations for prevention of suicidal behaviour among adolescents and treatment of suicidal adolescents with complex clinical conditions and long-term psychiatric disorders. This is a very original and important part of the project, as it has a possible important impact on adolescents as a vulnerable group and the society as a whole.
Significance for the country
The project will be incorporated into activities of Slovene Centre for Suicide Research, among which are the project Do you understand (yourself)?!? - Integrated approach of mental health promotion and primary prevention of suicidal behaviour for adolescents; website for understanding suicidal behaviour Živ? Živ! (Eng. Alive? Alive!); the yearly international conference on suicide Triple i, etc. The study will help to further mobilise dedicated research team and to provide a sustainability of research in the field of mental health and suicide prevention. We plan to develop new systematic screening, risk assessment and treatment procedures, and in cooperation with other institutions (e.g. elementary and high schools, pedopsychiatric departments) a system of integrated services and ways for adolescents to use the resources in the field of mental health. The results will thus have a direct and indirect impact on mental health of specific groups, as well as society and will hopefully contribute to lower suicide rate.
The study will be an opportunity to gain original results and insights, which will be an important contribution in the field of suicidology in Slovenia and internationally. We will narrow the research focus to adolescents, especially those, who are at-risk for suicidal behaviour, and study the procedures for this specific population in detail, which was not done in this way prior to this study.
We will use an innovative combination of qualitative and quantitative research methods, which is rare in suicidology despite the intense need for such approaches. A complex phenomenon, such as suicide, can not be understood with a single paradigm of research, and the use of mixed methods provides a deep insight into the problem and the triangulation of data, which significantly contributes to the reliability and validity of the findings.
The originality of expected research outcomes will serve as the starting point for the development of professional guidelines and system recommendations for prevention of suicidal behaviour among adolescents and treatment of suicidal adolescents with complex clinical conditions and long-term psychiatric disorders. This is a very original and important part of the project, as it has a possible important impact on adolescents as a vulnerable group and the society as a whole.
Most important scientific results
Interim report
Most important socioeconomically and culturally relevant results
