Check-in With You: The Older Adult Hopelessness Screening Program (OAHS), developed by Tulare County Health and Human Services Agency, assesses levels of hopelessness in older adults and provides early intervention services to reduce suicide risk, improve quality of care, and prevent the onset of serious mental illness. All adults 55+ receiving primary health care services […]
Mental health
Emergency Department Utilization among American Indian Adolescents who Made a Suicide Attempt: A Screening Opportunity
A study of White Mountain Apache adolescents who had attempted suicide found that 82 percent had visited an emergency department (ED) within a year before the attempt. Only a minority of these young people had visited the ED because of suicidal thoughts or self-harm (7 percent) or psychiatric problems (26 percent). The authors suggest that […]
Suicide Trends Among Elementary School–Aged Children in the United States From 1993 to 2012
The overall suicide rate among children between the ages of five and 11 was stable during the 20 years from 1993 to 2012, but that stability obscured racial differences that show an increase in suicide among black children and a decrease among white children. For a study published by JAMA Pediatrics, researchers led by Jeffrey […]
Building the Evaluation Capacity of Local Programs Serving American Indian/Alaska Native Populations
This report describes the activities of 34 tribal communities served by the Center for the Application of Prevention Technologies (CAPT) under SAMHSA’s Science to Service Initiative conducted between 2010 and 2014. The locally-developed programs addressed substance abuse and associated factors both causal (primarily historical trauma) and consequential (primarily suicide). The report discusses evaluation processes, results, challenges […]
Prognostic Significance of Depression in African Americans With Heart Failure
Depression seems to increase the risk of hospitalization and death in black heart failure patients, a new study finds. Researchers assessed depression symptoms — such as difficulty with concentration, a lack of energy and feelings of hopelessness or helplessness — in nearly 750 black patients with heart failure. About one-third of them had symptoms of […]
Feasibility and Perception of Using Text Messages as an Adjunct Therapy for Low-Income, Minority Mothers With Postpartum Depression
The objective of the study was to evaluate the feasibility of sending supportive text messages to low-income mothers of racial and ethnic minority backgrounds with postpartum depression and gauge the perception of receiving such message for depression. Mothers found to be at risk received supportive text messages four times a week for six months, in […]