Research Highlights from July Office Hours

Lethal Means Restrictions in Pediatric Primary Care

• • Article: Use of lethal means restriction counseling for suicide prevention in pediatric primary care (Bandealy, Herrera, Weissman, & Scheidt, 2020)
  • Takeaway: Counseling on lethal means restriction is a must, but used infrequently in primary care pediatric settings. Only 19.4% of respondents reported using lethal means restriction counseling.
  • Want to learn more? You may find this online training on lethal means restriction counseling from SPRC helpful: CALM Online training.

Teachable Moments Brief Intervention

• • Article: Pilot randomized clinical trial of the Teachable Moment Brief Intervention for hospitalized suicide attmept survivors (O’Connor et al., 2020)
  • Takeaway: People hosptialized for a suicide attempt that received this single, 45-minute intervention demonstrated increased motivation and engagement in mental health services at 3-months.
  • Want to learn more? TMBI is informed by CAMS and DBT (O’Connor et al., 2015) and seeks to keep motivation and reasons for living often present immediately after an attempt active longer to increase motivation and engagement at discharge. This includes incorporating an understandable model of suicidal thinking, like we cover in the mini-interventions demonstrated in the Respond Module of the SafeSide InPlace Workshop.

Suicide Prevention for Youth in Foster Care

• • Article: Suicide in foster care: A high-priority safety concern (Brown, 2020)
  • Takeaway: Youth in foster care are significantly more likely to die by suicide than peer in the general population. Universal suicide-risk assessments for youth in foster care, and several approaches are discussed.
  • Want to learn more? Check out this fact sheet on preventing suicide for youth in foster care from the National Center for the Prevention of Youth Suicide. If you’re interested in learning more about approaches to universal screening for suicide with youth, the Children’s Safety Network has a webinar walking through youth screening approaches, implementation and outcomes in a pediatric primary care and schools that’s informative.