Category: Suicide and Self-Injury
Raymond Tucker, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Louisiana State University
Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Brooke Ammerman, Ph.D.
University of Notre Dame
Notre Dame, Indiana
Raymond Tucker, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Louisiana State University
Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Melanie Hom, Ph.D.
Clinical Assistant Professor
Stanford University
San Jose, California
Dan Capron, PhD
Associate Professor
University of Southern Mississippi
Hattiesburg, Mississippi
Brian Bauer, M.S.
Graduate Student
University of Illinois at Chicago
Chicago, Illinois
Each year in the US, over 50,000 individuals die by suicide and over 1.4 million adults make a nonfatal suicide attempt (CDC, 2022; SAMHSA, 2021). Several public health and clinical interventions exist that reliably reduce incidence of suicidal behavior (Bryan, 2021). However, connecting at-risk individuals to these services remains an ongoing challenge. For example, fewer than 50% of adults experiencing suicidal ideation seek professional services (Piscopo et al., 2016). Moreover, of the suicides that occur on college campuses, 86% of suicide decedents have no known history of professional help-seeking (Gallagher, 2014). Common barriers to professional help-seeking include low perceived need for treatment, time constraints, and self and other stigma-related concerns (Cyz et al., 2013). Given these barriers to care, research and public messaging initiatives are needed to increase engagement with effective behavioral health and online supportive services.
This symposium presents results of three experimental investigations aimed at improving suicide-specific help-seeking behavior. The first study depicts the use of culturally-tailored messaging and behavioral economics principles to help increase behavioral health treatment initiation in National Guard members. The second study uses suicide attempt recovery storytelling as a means to increase immediate engagement with online suicide prevention resources. The third study examines personalized messaging based on various personality and demographic characteristics delivered via Facebook ads to increase online engagement with crisis services and safety plan creation. Given this budding line of research, the final presentation provides key recommendation for improving the methodological rigor of suicide-specific help-seeking investigations.
Presenter: Raymond P. Tucker, Ph.D. – Louisiana State University
Presenter: Melanie Hom, Ph.D. – Stanford University
Co-author: Ian Stanley, PhD – Boston University School of Medicine & National Center for PTSD, VA Boston Healthcare System
Presenter: Dan Capron, PhD – University of Southern Mississippi
Co-author: Brian Bauer, M.S. – University of Illinois at Chicago
Co-author: Mike Anestis, PhD – New Jersey Gun Violence Research Center
Presenter: Brian Bauer, M.S. – University of Illinois at Chicago
Co-author: Raymond P. Tucker, Ph.D. – Louisiana State University
Co-author: Shawn Gilroy, PhD – Louisiana State university
Co-author: Dan Capron, PhD – University of Southern Mississippi