Symposia
Vulnerable Populations
Rania Awaad, M.D.
Stanford University
Stanford, California
Suicide is one of the leading causes of death and has steadily increased throughout the past two decades. Religious affiliation may be associated with a lower risk for both suicide attempts and death through multiple mechanisms, including the promotion of social support, personal empowerment, healthy lifestyle, and commitment to religious life-preserving morals. In the US, Muslim individuals represent a religious minority group who are vulnerable to religious discrimination but may access mental health services more infrequently than other groups. Our recent study published in JAMA Psychiatry compares the prevalence of suicide attempts among Muslim adults compared with adults of other faith communities in the US. Despite the stigma associated with suicide among Muslim individuals, nearly 8% of US Muslim adults reported a lifetime suicide attempt rate and were two times more likely to report a history of suicide attempts compared with respondents from other faith traditions, including atheists and agnostics. In this presentation we discuss the factors that may be contributing to this unexpected finding and the development of custom-tailored suicide response materials and trainings for Muslim communities. These include a Muslim-specific suicide response manual, training modules, community and religious leaders training campaign developed by the MASKED Muslim Mental Health and Islamic Psychology Lab and disseminated by our community partner, Maristan.