Injury Prevention

YOUTH SUICIDE 1

Youth Suicide: A Rising Problem

Maryann Dadis

COH 412: Injury Prevention

National University

Submitted to: Rowena Cadacio

Submitted on: October 27, 2017

YOUTH SUICIDE 2

Introduction

Despite the tremendous efforts and clinical approaches of public health to reduce the

incidences, youth suicide is still a growing health concern globally. According to the U.S. Center

for Disease Control and Prevention, “more teenagers and young adults die from suicide than

from AIDS, heart disease, cancer, flu, stroke and chronic lung disease, combined”. It is one of

the leading cause of death among young people ages 15-24 (CDC, 2017). In the United States

alone, it is estimated that there are over 3,000 suicide attempts by youth people daily (Journal of

Adolescent Health, 2014). The Canadian Association for Suicide Prevention (2016) suggested

that suicide is a way to “deal with unmeasurable mental anguish, pain, fear and guilt which

overwhelms the individual’s purpose and value of life”. To be able to curve the serious problem

of youth suicide, it is important to understand as its magnitude, predisposing elements and

associated risk factors. The purpose of this paper is to provide a viewpoint on the growing

concern of youth suicides and its significance on public health.

Burden of the Problem

The burden of suicide has shifted increasingly towards younger people (WHO, 2017).

From year 1999 through 2014, the adjusted suicide rate in adolescents and young adults aged 15

to 24 was 12.5 (CDC, 2017). An estimated 600 or more young people in the US between the

ages of 5 and 11 committed suicide, 84% of whom were male (Achilles, Gray & Moskos, 2004).

Comparatively, among young adults ages 10 to 24, there were more than 5,000 (approximately

88 per 100,000) hospitalizations due to self-inflicted injuries. Suicides and suicide attempts take

a substantial toll on the families and friends of those who died and those who survived. In like

manner, suicide and suicide attempts also have a huge economic cost for communities, states,

YOUTH SUICIDE 3

and the nation as a whole (Shepard, Gurewich, Lwin, Reed and Silverman, 2015). Accordingly,

the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (2017), stated that the average suicide

costs $1,287,534. Consequently, suicide costs society over $56.9 billion a year in combined

medical and work loss cost. The cost of suicides and suicide attempts totaled to $93.5 billion. In

spite of suicide prevention efforts, the number of deaths by suicide exceeded the deaths by motor

vehicle accidents (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2012). In fact, approximately

90 people commit suicide each day, which amounts to one death every 16 minutes. Under those

circumstances, teen suicide is a major public health issue.

Stakeholders

Being that youth suicide is recognized as an increasing public health problem, prevention

has been the main focus of the National Strategy for Suicide Prevention. However, despite the

increased number of prevention programs, there is only very little evidence to suggest youth

suicides are declining. Expansion of the prevention programs to incorporate interventions can

potentially improve suicide prevention significantly. To achieve this goal, collaboration and

strengthened partnerships are needed among various health sectors, policy makers and suicide

prevention advocates to identify promising interventions and create an approach that encourages

a wider population implementation of effective programs (Florence, Simon, Haegerich, Luo &

Zhou, 2015). In the same way, the role of the education sector is paramount to a successful

suicide intervention. The Community Health Network should work with schools in providing

more extensive suicide prevention and assessment trainings. Equally important in coordinating

suicide prevention efforts are the roles of state agencies such as Department of Mental Health,

Social Services and State Department of Health. Youth suicide is a very complex issue that

YOUTH SUICIDE 4

requires collaboration of organizations that have expertise authorities to implement changes in

the current policies.

Interventions

The most common prevention strategies are directed towards the education sector, which

include counseling and screening (Gould, Greenberg, Velting, Shaffer, 2003). To address the

growing needs of suicide awareness and prevention programs, the Garrett Lee Smith Memorial

Act was signed into law (Beautrais, 2005). This act provided funding for the first time to states,

tribes and colleges across the country to implement youth suicide prevention programs (Goldston

et al., 2011). Furthermore, the program focuses on developing and implementing early

prevention strategies (Beautrais, 2005). Comparatively, the Zero Suicide framework has been

widely used by health care systems. It is both a practice and a concept as it “represents a

commitment to patient safety and also to the safety and support of clinical staff, who do the

demanding work of treating and supporting suicidal patients” (Education Development Center,

2015).

.

Summary

Deaths by suicide and suicide attempts are an alarming public health problem as they fo

not only affect the individual, they also greatly affect the nation. At the same time, youth

suicides and attempts are also preventable. At present, minimal evidence suggest that the current

prevention efforts are effective in preventing or reducing youth suicides. With this is mind,

suicide prevention programs require coordination among multiple sectors of society, both public

YOUTH SUICIDE 5

and private, including both health and non-health sectors. There is no single approach to address

issues as complicated and teen and suicide, thus, it is of vital importance for the prevention

efforts to be expanded, cohesive and all-inclusive.

YOUTH SUICIDE 6

References: Achilles, J., Gray, D., Moskos, M. (2004). Adolescent suicide myths in the United States. Crisis: The Journal of Crisis Intervention and Suicide Prevention. 25(4):176-182 Beautrais, A. (2005). National strategies for the reduction and prevention of suicide. Crisis: The Journal of Crisis Intervention and Suicide Prevention.26(1). Education Development Center. (2015). What is zero suicide in health and behavioral health

care. Retrieved from http://zerosuicide.sprc.org/sites/zerosuicide.org/

Florence, C., Simon, T., Haegerich, T. Luo, F., & Zhou, C. (2015). Estimated lifetime medical

and work-loss costs of fatal injuries – United States, 2013. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, 64(38), 1074–1077. Retrieved from http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/

Gould, M., Greenberg, T., Velting, D., Shaffer, D. (2003). Youth suicide risk and

preventive interventions: A review of the past 10 years. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry. 42(4):386-405.

Journal of Adolescent Health. (2014). The relationship between youth and suicide. Retrieved from http://www.jahonline.org/issue/S10513. Mortality and Morbidity Report. (2017). QuickStats: Suicide Rates for Teens Aged 15-19 Years,

By Sex-United States, 1975-2015. Retrieved from http://www.cdc.gov. Shepard, D. S., Gurewich, D., Lwin, A. K., Reed, G. A., Jr., & Silverman, M. M. (2015). Suicide

and suicidal attempts in the United States: Costs and policy implications. Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior.

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (2012). Adolescent Mental Health Disorder.

World Health Organization. (2017). Suicide Data. Retrieved from http://www.who.int/mental_health/prevention/suicide/suicideprevent/en/