摘要 :
The primary goals of this report are to discuss measures to prevent suicides on commuter and metro rail systems, and to outline an approach for suicide prevention on rail systems. Based on existing literature and analysis of data ...
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The primary goals of this report are to discuss measures to prevent suicides on commuter and metro rail systems, and to outline an approach for suicide prevention on rail systems. Based on existing literature and analysis of data obtained from the Metrolink system in Southern California, it was found that most suicides occur near station platforms and near access points to the track. Suicides occurred most frequently when relatively more trains were in operation and in areas of high population density. There do not appear to be suicide hot spots (e.g., linked to mental hospitals in the proximity, etc.), based on data analyzed for U.S. systems. The suicide prevention measures range from relatively inexpensive signs posting call-for-help suicide hotline information to costly platform barriers that physically prevent people from jumping onto tracks in front of trains. Other prevention measures fall within this range, such as hotlines available at high frequency suicide locations, or surveillance systems that can report possible suicide attempts and provide the opportunity for intervention tactics. Because of the relatively low number of suicides on rail systems, as compared to the overall number of suicides in general, a cost-effective strategy for preventing suicides on rail systems should be approached in a very focused manner. The prevention measures executed by the rail authorities should be focused on the suicides occurring on the rail systems themselves, while the broader problem of suicides should be left to community-based prevention efforts. Moreover, prevention measures, such as surveillance and response, could piggyback on surveillance and response systems used for other purposes on the rail systems to make such projects economically feasible.
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摘要 :
Suicide is a serious public health problem. In 1996, the year for which the most recent statistics are available, suicide was the ninth leading cause of mortality in the United States, responsible for nearly 31,000 deaths. This nu...
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Suicide is a serious public health problem. In 1996, the year for which the most recent statistics are available, suicide was the ninth leading cause of mortality in the United States, responsible for nearly 31,000 deaths. This number is more than 50% higher than the number of homicides in the United States in the same year (around 20,000 homicides in 1996). Many fail to realize that far more Americans die from suicide than from homicide. Each year in the United States, approximately 500,000 people require emergency room treatment as a result of attempted suicide. Suicidal behavior typically occurs in the presence of mental or substance abuse disorders - illnesses that impose their own direct suffering. Suicide is an enormous trauma for millions of Americans who experience the loss of someone close to them. The nation must address suicide as a significant public health problem and put into place national strategies to prevent the loss of life and the suffering suicide causes. In 1996, the World Health Organization (WHO), recognizing the growing problem of suicide worldwide, urged member nations to address suicide. Its document, Prevention ofSuicide: Guidelines for the Formulation and Implementation of National Strategies7, motivated the creation of an innovative public/private partnership to seek a national strategy for the United States. This public/private partnership included agencies in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, encompassing the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), the Indian Health Service (IRS), the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), the Office of the Surgeon General, and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) and the Suicide Prevention Advocacy Network (SPAN), a public grassroots advocacy organization made up of suicide survivors (persons close to someone who completed suicide), attempters of suicide, community activists, and health and mental health clinicians.
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Suicide rates have been increasing in military personnel in the last several years (Lorge, 2008), and it is a vital goal that suicide screening and risk assessment techniques for members of the military be improved. The current pr...
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Suicide rates have been increasing in military personnel in the last several years (Lorge, 2008), and it is a vital goal that suicide screening and risk assessment techniques for members of the military be improved. The current project is an effort to accomplish this goal, by using a parsimonious yet fruitful research design to compare several highly promising risk assessment approaches to one another in the prediction of future suicide-related outcomes. The design has been implemented in a large military sample that has been documented to be at high risk for suicidal behavior, namely, army recruiters. Full access to the sample has been arranged. This project will deliver more efficient, economical, and effective suicide screening measures and risk assessment procedures that can be adapted to any area of the military.
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The purpose of this multi-site study is to conduct a randomized controlled trial of the Caring Letters intervention to determine if the intervention is effective in preventing suicide and suicidal behaviors among Service Members a...
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The purpose of this multi-site study is to conduct a randomized controlled trial of the Caring Letters intervention to determine if the intervention is effective in preventing suicide and suicidal behaviors among Service Members and Veterans. The caring letters concept was originally developed and evaluated by Jerome Motto and colleagues in the 1970 s (1). In Motto s trial, civilian psychiatric inpatients were sent caring letters following discharge (initially monthly, decreasing to quarterly) for five years. Compared to a control group (usual care) with no further contact, the Caring Letters group had a significantly lower suicide rate for the first two years of the trial. These caring letters are one of the only suicide prevention interventions to reduce suicide mortality in a randomized controlled trial (2). Despite the initial promising results of the original Caring Letters RCT, there have been no published replications of the original intervention or tests of the intervention among military personnel or veterans. This study will fill an important gap in the evidence base for the Caring Letter intervention and is timely given the steady increase of military suicide in recent years.
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