"Breaking the silence" suicide Prevention media campaign in Oregon: Evaluation of impact on help-seeking and suicide mortality.

INTRODUCTION: Research has established that suicide-related media can impact suicide rates both positively and negatively, supporting efforts to engage the media in the service of suicide prevention. The goal of the current study is to evaluate the impact of a suicide prevention media campaign implemented April 7-14, 2019 in Oregon. METHODS: Several indices of help-seeking behavior and suicide risk were employed: suicide-related Google Health API searches, National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (Lifeline) (currently known as the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline) call volume, and state suicide mortality data from April 7, 2016-May 6, 2019. Eight states with similar 2016-2018 average suicide rates were compared with Oregon. Bayesian structural time-series modeling in R was used to test intervention effects. RESULTS: During the 30 days following the start of the campaign, there was a significant increase in Lifeline calls from Oregon area codes (2488 observed vs. 2283 expected calls, p = 0.03). There were no significant changes in suicide mortality or suicide-related Google searches in Oregon. CONCLUSIONS: The campaign appeared to increase help-seeking behavior in the form of Lifeline calls, without any indication of an iatrogenic suicide contagion effect. However, the campaign's potential to reduce suicide mortality was unmet.

Associations of suicide-related media reporting characteristics with help-seeking and suicide in Oregon and Washington.

OBJECTIVE: Specific content characteristics of suicide media reporting might differentially impact suicides in the population, but studies have not considered the overarching theme of the respective media stories and other relevant outcomes besides suicide, such as help-seeking behaviours. METHODS: We obtained 5652 media reports related to suicide from 6 print, 44 broadcast and 251 online sources in Oregon and Washington states, published between April 2019 and March 2020. We conducted a content analysis of stories regarding their overarching focus and specific content characteristics based on media recommendations for suicide reporting. We applied logistic regression analyses to assess how focus and content characteristics were associated with subsequent calls to the US National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (Lifeline) and suicides in these two states in the week after publication compared to a control time period. RESULTS: Compared to a focus on suicide death, a focus on suicidal ideation, suicide prevention, healing stories, community suicide crises/suicide clusters and homicide suicide was associated with more calls. As compared to a focus on suicide death, stories on suicide prevention and stories on community suicide crises/suicide clusters were also associated with no increase in suicides. Regarding specific content characteristics, there were associations that were largely consistent with previous work in the area, for example, an association of celebrity suicide reporting with increases in suicide. CONCLUSION: The overall focus of a media story may influence help-seeking and suicides, and several story characteristics appear to be related to both outcomes. More research is needed to investigate possible causal effects and pathways.

Perceived Impact of COVID-19 Among Callers to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline.

Background: Research indicates that the COVID-19 pandemic caused increases in psychological distress and suicidal ideation. Aims: To describe the ways suicidal callers to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (Lifeline) perceived COVID-19 to have impacted them and assess whether these callers perceived COVID-19-related stress as contributing to their suicidal thoughts. Method: Telephone interviews were conducted with 412 suicidal callers to 12 Lifeline centers. Logistic regression analyses were used to examine the associations between demographic factors and individual COVID-19 stressors and to determine whether callers who endorsed COVID-19-related stress as contributing to their suicidal thoughts differed from those who did not regarding demographics, current suicide risk, history of suicidality, Lifeline use, or individual COVID-19 stressors. Results: Over half of callers reported that COVID-19-related stress contributed to their suicidal ideation (CRSSI). Callers who endorsed CRSSI had higher odds than those who did not of mentioning financial difficulties when asked how COVID-19 impacted them. The two groups of callers did not differ on the other factors examined. Limitations: Interviewed callers may not be representative of all Lifeline callers. Conclusion: Despite the subjective burden of COVID-19-related stress on suicidal Lifeline callers, this was not associated with new suicidality or heightened suicide risk.

Treatment of Patients Presenting With Suicidal Behavior in North American Pediatric Emergency Departments.

OBJECTIVE: This study sought to identify current practices for the treatment of patients presenting with suicidal ideation or a recent suicide attempt in pediatric emergency departments (EDs) in North America. METHODS: From October 10, 2018, to January 19, 2020, the authors conducted a cross-sectional online survey on current practices of pediatric emergency medicine chiefs practicing in the United States and Canada. RESULTS: Forty-six (34%) of 136 chiefs of pediatric emergency medicine responded to the survey. The three most frequent improvements chiefs reported they would like to see in the care of young patients with suicidal ideation or suicide attempt were easier access to mental health personnel for evaluations, having mental health personnel take primary responsibility for patient evaluation and treatment, and better access to mental health personnel for dispositional planning. CONCLUSIONS: The findings highlight the need for better mental health care in pediatric EDs to serve patients at increased risk for suicide.

Lifeline Crisis Chat: Coding form development and findings on chatters' risk status and counselor behaviors.

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to develop a reliable tool for the abstraction of data from crisis chat transcripts; to describe chatters' suicide risk status and selected counselor behaviors; and to examine the relationship of chatters' self-reported pre-chat suicidal thoughts to counselor behaviors and to chatters' disclosures of suicide risk during the chat conversation. METHODS: Coders used an instrument developed for this study to abstract data from 1034 crisis chats handled by the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline Crisis Chat network in 2015. The relationship of transcript coding data to data from an automated pre-chat survey (PCS) was examined. RESULTS: Lifeline Crisis Chat serves a young (median age = 21), high-risk population: 84.0% of chats (869/1034) came from chatters endorsing current or recent suicidal thoughts on the PCS. Counselors engaged in rapport-building on 93.3%, problem-solving on 70.1%, and suicide risk assessment on 67.7% of these 869 chats. Counselor risk assessment behavior, and the availability of information on suicide risk in the chat transcript, varied significantly by the chatter's PCS response. CONCLUSION: Crisis counselors are able to implement keystones of Lifeline's crisis intervention model over the medium of online chat. Additional efforts are needed to ensure that suicide risk is assessed on every chat.

Third-party callers to the national suicide prevention lifeline: Seeking assistance on behalf of people at imminent risk of suicide.

OBJECTIVE: To assist suicidal individuals, people in their social network are often directed to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (Lifeline). The study's objective was to provide information on third-party calls made out of concern for another person. METHOD: Reports on 172 third-party calls concerning individuals deemed to be at imminent suicide risk were completed by 30 crisis counselors at six Lifeline crisis centers. RESULTS: Third-party callers were most likely to be calling about a family member or friend and were significantly more likely than persons at risk to be female and middle-aged or older. Counselors were able to collect information about suicide risk, and counselors and third-parties were nearly always able to identify at least one intervention to aid the person at risk. Emergency services were contacted on 58.1 percent of the calls, which represents a somewhat higher rate of emergency services involvement than previously reported on imminent risk calls placed by the person at risk. Characteristics of third-parties and persons-at-risk each predicted emergency service involvement, but counselor characteristics did not. Non-emergency interventions were implemented on 68.6 percent of calls. CONCLUSIONS: Individuals calling the Lifeline when they are worried about someone are provided a range of interventions which can supplement, and at times replace, calling 911.

National Suicide Prevention Lifeline crisis chat interventions: Evaluation of chatters' perceptions of effectiveness.

OBJECTIVE: As part of the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline's crisis response system, the Lifeline Crisis Chat Network (LCC) answers chats from hundreds of thousands of at-risk individuals yearly. The study's objective was to assess the effectiveness of these online crisis interventions. METHOD: Data from 39,911 pre-chat surveys and 13,130 linked pre- and post-chat surveys completed by LCC chatters from October 2017-June 2018 were analyzed. The relationship of several effectiveness measures with chatter demographics, pre-chat distress, suicidal ideation, and chatters' perceptions of engagement with their counselors was examined using a series of logistic regression analyses. RESULTS: Chatters were significantly and substantially less distressed at the end of the chat intervention than at the beginning. By the end of the chat, two-thirds of suicidal chatters reported that the chat had been helpful, while just under half reported being less suicidal. CONCLUSIONS: Our study offers empirical evidence for the Lifeline's online crisis chat services' effectiveness, but also highlights areas for improvement. This is of critical import in light of the recent designation of 988 as the nationwide number for the Lifeline beginning in 2022, which will increase the Lifeline's prominence in providing suicide prevention and mental health crisis interventions in the United States.

Google searches for suicide and suicide risk factors in the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic.

A novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2), which causes the COVID-19 respiratory illness, emerged in December of 2019 and has since spread globally. The dramatic lifestyle changes and stressors associated with this pandemic pose a threat to mental health and have the potential to exacerbate risk factors for suicide. We used autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) models to assess Google Trends data representing searches in the United States for 18 terms related to suicide and known suicide risk factors following the emergence of COVID-19. Although the relative proportion of Google searches for suicide-related queries was lower than predicted during the early pandemic period, searches for the following queries representative of financial difficulty were dramatically elevated: "I lost my job" (226%; 95%CI, 120%-333%), "laid off" (1164%; 95%CI, 395%-1932%), "unemployment" (1238%; 95%CI, 560%-1915%), and "furlough" (5717%; 95%CI, 2769%-8665%). Searches for the Disaster Distress Helpline, which was promoted as a source of help for those impacted by COVID-19, were also remarkably elevated (3021%; 95%CI, 873%-5169%). Google searches for other queries representative of help-seeking and general mental health concerns were moderately elevated. It appears that some indices of suicidality have fallen in the United States in this early stage of the pandemic, but that COVID-19 may have caused an increase in suicide risk factors that could yield long-term increases in suicidality and suicide rates.

Safety Planning on Crisis Lines: Feasibility, Acceptability, and Perceived Helpfulness of a Brief Intervention to Mitigate Future Suicide Risk.

BACKGROUND: The role of crisis hotlines traditionally was limited to de-escalation and service linkage. However, hotlines are increasingly recruited to provide outreach and follow-up to suicidal individuals. Hotlines have the opportunity to not just defuse current crises but also provide brief interventions to mitigate future risk. The Safety Planning Intervention (SPI) is a brief intervention designed to help manage suicidal crises, but its feasibility and effectiveness on hotlines are not established. AIMS: This study examined feasibility and perceived effectiveness of SPI, as reported by 271 crisis counselors at five centers in the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline network. METHOD: Counselors were trained to use SPI. Self-report surveys were completed immediately after training (time 1) and at the end of the study, approximately 9 months later (time 2). RESULTS: Counselors reported that SPI was feasible and helpful, and was used on both incoming and follow-up calls. Utilization and perceived effectiveness at time 2 were predicted by self-efficacy, feasibility, and helpfulness at time 1. LIMITATIONS: Results are preliminary and limited to counselors' perceptions. Future RCTs should establish efficacy of SPI for crisis callers. CONCLUSION: The Safety Planning Intervention is a promising approach to reduce crisis callers' future suicide risk that hotline counselors report is both feasible and helpful.

The Relation between Descriptive Norms, Suicide Ideation, and Suicide Attempts among Adolescents.

This study examined the relationship between adolescents' beliefs about the prevalence of youth suicide ideation (ideation descriptive norms) and suicide attempts (attempt descriptive norms) with self-reported suicide ideation and attempts. Descriptive norms, suicide ideation, and suicide attempts as well as gender, race/ethnicity, and exposure to family, peer, and others' suicide were assessed in 2,109 students at six suburban New York State high schools. After controlling for demographic variables and exposure to suicide, elevated ideation descriptive norms and attempt descriptive norms were associated with higher rates of suicide ideation and lifetime suicide attempts among adolescents. Adolescents who believed suicide ideation and attempts to be more widespread among peers (i.e., elevated ideation and attempt descriptive norms) were more likely to endorse suicide ideation and attempts. Correcting these descriptive norms may be a worthwhile goal for school-based suicide prevention programs.

Exposure to Suicide in High Schools: Impact on Serious Suicidal Ideation/Behavior, Depression, Maladaptive Coping Strategies, and Attitudes toward Help-Seeking.

Adolescents' exposure to a peer's suicide has been found to be associated with, as well as to predict, suicidal ideation and behavior. Although postvention efforts tend to be school-based, little is known about the impact of a schoolmate's suicide on the school's student population overall. The present study seeks to determine whether there is excess psychological morbidity among students in a school where a schoolmate has died by suicide, and whether students' attitudes about coping and help-seeking strategies are more or less problematic in such schools. Students in twelve high schools in Suffolk and Westchester counties in New York State-2865 students at six schools where a student had died by suicide within the past six months, and 2419 students at six schools where no suicide had occurred within the current students' tenure-completed an assessment of their suicidal ideation and behavior, depressive symptoms, coping and help-seeking attitudes, stressful life events, and friendship with suicide decedent (if applicable). No excess morbidity (i.e., serious suicidal ideation/behavior and depression) was evident among the general student population after a schoolmate's death by suicide; however, the risk of serious suicidal ideation/behavior was elevated among students at exposed schools who had concomitant negative life events. There was a significant relationship between friendship with the decedent and morbidity, in that students who were friends, but not close friends, of the decedents had the greatest odds of serious suicidal ideation/behavior. Overall, students in exposed schools had more adaptive attitudes toward help-seeking; but this was not true of the decedents' friends or students with concomitant negative life events. The implications of the findings for postvention strategies are discussed.

Follow-up with Callers to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: Evaluation of Callers' Perceptions of Care.

Continuity of care for suicidal individuals engaged with a variety of health and mental health care systems has become a national priority, and crisis hotlines are increasingly playing a part in the risk management and continuum of care for these individuals. The current study evaluated a national initiative to have crisis centers in the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline network provide follow-up care to suicidal callers. Data were obtained from 550 callers followed by 41 crisis counselors from 6 centers. Two main data sources provided the information for the current study: a self-report counselor questionnaire on the follow-up activities completed on each clinical follow-up call and a telephone interview with follow-up clients, providing data on their perceptions of the follow-up intervention's effectiveness. The majority of interviewed follow-up clients reported that the intervention stopped them from killing themselves (79.6%) and kept them safe (90.6%). Counselor activities, such as discussing distractors, social contacts to call for help, and reasons for dying, and individual factors, such as baseline suicide risk, were associated with callers' perceptions of the impact of the intervention on their suicide risk. Our findings provide evidence that follow-up calls to suicidal individuals can reduce the perceived risk of future suicidal behavior.

Helping Callers to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline Who Are at Imminent Risk of Suicide: Evaluation of Caller Risk Profiles and Interventions Implemented.

Crisis lines are settings where identifying individuals at imminent risk of suicidal behavior and intervening to keep them safe are critical activities. We examined clinical characteristics of crisis callers assessed by telephone crisis helpers as being at imminent risk of suicide, and the interventions implemented with these callers. Data were derived from 491 call reports completed by 132 helpers at eight crisis centers in the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline network. Helpers actively engaged the callers in collaborating to keep themselves safe on 76.4% of calls and sent emergency services without the callers' collaboration on 24.6% of calls. Four different profiles of imminent risk calls emerged. Caller profiles and some helper characteristics were associated with intervention type. Our findings provide a first step toward an empirical formulation of imminent risk warning signs and recommended interventions.

Newspaper coverage of suicide and initiation of suicide clusters in teenagers in the USA, 1988-96: a retrospective, population-based, case-control study.

BACKGROUND: Public health and clinical efforts to prevent suicide clusters are seriously hampered by the unanswered question of why such outbreaks occur. We aimed to establish whether an environmental factor-newspaper reports of suicide-has a role in the emergence of suicide clusters. METHODS: In this retrospective, population-based, case-control study, we identified suicide clusters in young people aged 13-20 years in the USA from 1988 to 1996 (preceding the advent of social media) using the time-space Scan statistic. For each cluster community, we selected two matched non-cluster control communities in which suicides of similarly aged youth occurred, from non-contiguous counties within the same state as the cluster. We examined newspapers within each cluster community for stories about suicide published in the days between the first and second suicides in the cluster. In non-cluster communities, we examined a matched length of time after the matched control suicide. We used a content-analysis procedure to code the characteristics of each story and compared newspaper stories about suicide published in case and control communities with mixed-effect regression analyses. FINDINGS: We identified 53 suicide clusters, of which 48 were included in the media review. For one cluster we could identify only one appropriate control; therefore, 95 matched control communities were included. The mean number of news stories about suicidal individuals published after an index cluster suicide (7·42 [SD 10·02]) was significantly greater than the mean number of suicide stories published after a non-cluster suicide (5·14 [6.00]; p<0·0001). Several story characteristics, including front-page placement, headlines containing the word suicide or a description of the method used, and detailed descriptions of the suicidal individual and act, appeared more often in stories published after the index cluster suicides than after non-cluster suicides. INTERPRETATION: Our identification of an association between newspaper reports about suicide (including specific story characteristics) and the initiation of teenage suicide clusters should provide an empirical basis to support efforts by mental health professionals, community officials, and the media to work together to identify and prevent the onset of suicide clusters. FUNDING: US National Institute of Mental Health and American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.

Adolescents' attitudes about the role of mental illness in suicide, and their association with suicide risk.

We examined teenagers' attitudes about the role of mental illness in suicidal behavior and the relationship between these attitudes and suicide risk. Serious suicidal ideation or behavior and associated risk factors (gender, depression, substance problems, and first-hand experience with a suicidal peer) were assessed in 2,419 students at six New York high schools. Less than one fifth of students thought that mental illness was a major contributor to suicide. Suicidal adolescents and those at risk were less likely than their nonsuicidal and low-risk counterparts to associate suicide with mental illness. Our findings contribute to the debate over whether accepting attitudes toward suicide increase suicide risk.

Sensation seeking as risk factor for suicidal ideation and suicide attempts in adolescence.

BACKGROUND: High sensation seeking in adolescence is associated with engagement in risk-taking behaviors, especially substance use. Although depressed adolescents are prone to increased risk-taking, and suicidal behavior can be considered within the spectrum of risk-taking behaviors, the relationships between sensation seeking, depression, and suicidal behavior have not been explored. METHODS: A self-report questionnaire assessing sensation seeking, depression, substance use problems, and suicidal ideation and suicide attempts was completed by 9th- through 12th-grade students (n=2189) in six New York State high-schools from 2002 through 2004. Logistic regression analyses were conducted to examine main and interaction effects between sensation seeking and the four clinical variables. RESULTS: High sensation seeking was positively associated with depressive symptoms and substance use problems. The main effects of sensation seeking on suicidal ideation and suicide attempts remained significant after controlling for depression and substance use. The association between sensation seeking and suicide attempts was moderated by substance use problems. LIMITATIONS: The schools were suburban and predominantly white, limiting the generalizability of the results. Other mental disorders with potential implications for sensation seeking and for suicidal behavior, such as bipolar disorders, were not assessed. CONCLUSIONS: The finding that sensation seeking makes an independent contribution to the risk of suicidal ideation and attempts is consistent with findings in literature on novelty seeking and impulsivity. The associations between sensation seeking, depressive symptoms and suicidal behavior may be compatible with the presence of an underlying temperamental dysregulation. Screening for sensation seeking may contribute to the reduction of adolescent suicide risk.

National suicide prevention lifeline: enhancing mental health care for suicidal individuals and other people in crisis.

Linking at-risk callers to ongoing mental health care is a key goal of crisis hotline interventions that has not often been addressed in evaluations of hotlines' effectiveness. We conducted telephone interviews with 376 suicidal and 278 nonsuicidal crisis callers to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (Lifeline) to assess rates of mental health care utilization following Lifeline calls and to assess attitudinal and structural barriers to service utilization. Postcall utilization rates were approximately 50% for suicidal and crisis callers who received mental health care referrals. Lack of health insurance and callers' perceptions about mental health problems emerged as significant barriers to accessing continued help.

Focal positive surgical margins decrease disease-free survival after radical prostatectomy even in organ-confined disease.

OBJECTIVES: To investigate the significance of focal positive margins (FPM) in prostatectomy patients. The significance of FPM after radical prostatectomy is unclear. The implication is that FPM are surgically induced, may not represent true tumor extension beyond the prostate, and thus would not affect disease-free survival (DFS). METHODS: Data were retrospectively reviewed from 2468 patients undergoing radical prostatectomy between January 1996 and October 2008. The DFS probabilities were compared among different margin statuses (negative [NM], FPM, and extensively positive [EPM]) with the log-rank test. FPM was defined as less than/equal to 3 mm. EPM was greater than 3 mm. A multivariate Cox analysis was performed to evaluate the significance of FPM in patients with prostate cancer. RESULTS: Of all patients, 2022 (82%) had NM, 344 (14%) had FPM, and 99 (4%) had EPM. Of the 1997 patients with pT2 disease, 1716 (86%) had NM, 229 (11.5%) had FPM, and 52 (2.6%) had EPM. The 10-year DFS for all patients was 84%, 64%, 38% for NM, FPM, and EPM, respectively (P < .0001). The 10-year DFS for organ-confined disease was 90%, 76%, and 53% for NM, FPM, and EPM, respectively (P < .0001). The risk of biochemical recurrence for all patients increases with worsening margin status. Margin status affects biochemical recurrence and depends on the Gleason grade on surgical pathology for all patients (P = .0005) and patients with pT2 disease (P = .0233). CONCLUSIONS: FPM and EPM after radical prostatectomy confer a decreased DFS even in patients with otherwise organ-confined disease.

Histotripsy: minimally invasive technology for prostatic tissue ablation in an in vivo canine model.

OBJECTIVES: Symptoms of benign prostatic hyperplasia affect men increasingly as they age. Minimally invasive therapies for the treatment of benign prostatic hyperplasia continue to evolve. We describe histotripsy, a noninvasive, nonthermal, focused ultrasound technology for precise tissue ablation, and report the initial results of using histotripsy for prostatic tissue ablation in an in vivo canine model. METHODS: An annular 18-element, 750-kHz, phased-array ultrasound system delivered high-intensity (22 kW/cm(2)), ultrasound pulses (15 cycles in 20 ms) at pulse repetition frequencies of 100 to 500 Hz to canine prostates. Eight lateral lobe and nine periurethral treatments were performed in 11 anesthetized dogs. Diagnostic ultrasound transducers provided in-line and transrectal imaging. Retrograde urethrography was performed before and after the periurethral treatments. After treatment, the prostates were grossly examined, sectioned, and submitted for histologic examination. RESULTS: In the lateral lobe treatments, a well-demarcated cavity containing liquefied material was present at the ablation site. Microscopically, the targeted volume was characterized by the presence of histotripsy paste (debris, absent cellular structures). A narrow margin of cellular injury was noted, beyond which no tissue damage was apparent. The periurethral treatments resulted in total urethral ablation or significant urethral wall damage, with visible prostatic urethral defects on retrograde urethrography. Real-time ultrasound imaging demonstrated a dynamic hyperechoic zone at the focus, indicative of cavitation and suggesting effective tissue ablation. CONCLUSIONS: The results of our study have shown that histotripsy is capable of precise prostatic tissue destruction and results in subcellular fractionation of prostate parenchyma. Histotripsy can also produce prostatic urethral damage and thereby facilitate drainage of finely fractionated material per urethra, producing immediate debulking.