Reducing Suicide-Related Stigma through Peer-to-Peer School-Based Suicide Prevention Programming. Issue 4 (18th August 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Wright-Berryman, Jennifer L; Thompson, Devyn; Cramer, Robert J
• Is Part Of: Children & schools. Volume 44:Issue 4(2022)
• Page Start: 216
• Page End: 223
• Publication Date: 2022-08-18
• Subjects: peer-to-peer program -- school mental health -- school-based social work -- suicide prevention; School social work -- Periodicals; School social work -- United States -- Periodicals; Social work with children -- Periodicals; Social work with teenagers -- Periodicals; 371.7
• DOI: 10.1093/cs/cdac015
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1532-8759

Abstract

Abstract: Youth suicide rates have consistently risen over the past decade, and stigma related to mental health may create a barrier to young people seeking help. Schools are a common intercept point for mental health and suicide prevention programming. Hope Squad, a school-based, peer-to-peer, suicide prevention program, uses trained and mentored students nominated by their peers to perform intentional outreach with fellow students. When a Hope Squad member detects a mental health or suicide crisis in a peer, they alert a trusted adult. We employed a cohort, wait-list–control, cross-sectional survey design. We recruited more than 3, 400 students from nine schools—five with Hope Squads and four without—to observe differences in student-body suicide-related stigma. At the end of the academic year, there was significantly lower stigma in Hope Squad schools versus those without the program. Findings suggest that a peer-to-peer, school-based, suicide prevention program may reduce stigmatizing attitudes related to suicide. Next steps include a randomized controlled trial to identify changes in help-seeking and similar protective factors.