Suicide Prevention from a Public Health Perspective

The public health approach to health problems provides a strong framework and rationale for developing and implementing suicide prevention programs. This approach consists of health‐event surveillance to describe the problem, epidemiologic analysis to identify risk factors, the design and evaluation...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Suicide & life-threatening behavior 1995, Vol.25 (1), p.82-91
Main Authors: Potter, Lloyd B., Powell, Kenneth E., Kachur, S. Patrick
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Accident Prevention
Adolescent
Adult
Aged
Aged, 80 and over
At Risk Persons
Attrition (Research Studies)
Child
Community Characteristics
Community Health Services
Community Services
Crisis Intervention
Cross-Sectional Studies
Data Collection
Death
Disease Control
Environmental Influences
Epidemiology
Examiners
Female
Health Programs
Health Promotion
Higher Education
Hospitals
Humans
Incidence
Individual Characteristics
Injuries
Intention
Intervention
Male
Marital Status
Medical Services
Mental Disorders
Mental Health Services
Middle Aged
Population Surveillance
Population Trends
Prevention
Program Development
Public Health
Public Health - trends
Records (Forms)
Risk Assessment
Risk Factors
Risk Reduction
Social research
Suicide
Suicide - prevention & control
Suicide - psychology
Suicide - statistics & numerical data
Suicide Prevention
Suicides & suicide attempts
United States - epidemiology
Weapons
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Description
Summary:The public health approach to health problems provides a strong framework and rationale for developing and implementing suicide prevention programs. This approach consists of health‐event surveillance to describe the problem, epidemiologic analysis to identify risk factors, the design and evaluation of interventions, and the implementation of prevention programs. The application of each of these components to suicide prevention is reviewed. Suggestions for improving surveillance include encouraging the use of appropriate coding, reviewing suicide statistics at the local level, collecting more etiologically useful information, and placing greater emphasis on analysis of morbidity data. For epidemiologic analysis, greater use could be made of observational studies, and uniform definitions and measures should be developed and adopted. Efforts to develop interventions must include evaluating both the process and the outcome. Finally, community suicide prevention programs should include more than one strategy and, where appropriate, should be strongly linked with the community's mental health resources. With adequate planning, coordination, and resources, and the public health approach can help reduce the emotional and economic costs imposed on society by suicide and suicidal behavior.
ISSN:0363-0234
1943-278X
DOI:10.1111/j.1943-278X.1995.tb00394.x