Coping with youth suicide and overdose: One community's efforts to investigate, intervene, and prevent suicide contagion

Crisis

Volumn 29, Issue 2, 2008, Pages 86-95

  Hacker, Karen ^a   Collins, Jessica ^b   Gross Young, Leni ^c   Almeida, Stephanie ^d   Burke, Noreen ^e  

^a Institute for Community Health   (United States)

^b Somerville Community Health Agenda   (United States)

^c Somerville Health Department   (United States)

^d Somerville Health Department   (United States)

^e Somerville High School   (United States)

Author keywords

Community coalition; Overdoses; Suicide contagion; Youth suicide

Indexed keywords

NARCOTIC ANALGESIC AGENT;

ADAPTIVE BEHAVIOR; ADDICTION; ADOLESCENT; ADULT; ARTICLE; CHILD; DEATH CERTIFICATE; HUMAN; IMITATION; INCIDENCE; INTOXICATION; PREVALENCE; SOCIAL SUPPORT; SUICIDE; UNITED STATES;

ADAPTATION, PSYCHOLOGICAL; ADOLESCENT; ADULT; ANALGESICS, OPIOID; CHILD; DEATH CERTIFICATES; HUMANS; IMITATIVE BEHAVIOR; INCIDENCE; MASSACHUSETTS; OVERDOSE; PREVALENCE; SOCIAL SUPPORT; SUBSTANCE-RELATED DISORDERS; SUICIDE;

EID: 46749124420     PISSN: 02275910     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1027/0227-5910.29.2.86     Document Type: Article

References (40)

1. About Somerville. (2007). City of Somerville Massachusetts. Retrieved July 28, 2007 from http://www.ci.somerville.ma.us/About.cfm?page=35.
2. Boston Globe Legacy Pages Guest Book for Matthew J. O'Brien. (2007). Retrieved July 7, 2007 from http://www.legacy.com/BostonGlobe/GB/ GuestbookView.aspx?PersonId=1 26199&PageNo=1.
3. Brener, N.C., Collins, J.L., Kann, L., Warren, C.W., & Williams, B.L. (1995). Reliability youth risk behavior survey questionnaire. American Journal of Epidemiology, 141, 575-580.
4. CDC. (1998). Cluster of suicides and suicide attempts. New Jersey. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly, 37, 213-216.
5. CDC. (1994). Suicide contagion and the reporting of suicide: Recommendations from a national workshop. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly, 43, 9-18.
6. CDC. (1988). CDC recommendations for a community plan for the prevention and containment of suicide clusters. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly, 37(S-6), 1-12.
7. CDC. (2003). YRBSS, Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System, 2003. State and Local Standard High School Questionnaire. Retrieved July 1, 2007, from www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/dash/yrbs/2003/questionnaire.htm
8. Center for Teen Empowerment. (2004). Youth services in the city of Somerville, Massachusetts: Assessment and recommendations, Somerville, MA. Somerville, MA: Center for Teen Empowerment.
9. Community Action Agency of Somerville. (2006). Somerville community profile, Somerville, MA. Somerville, MA: City Action Agency of Somerville.
10. Curtatone, J. (2003). Mayor's inaugural address. Somerville, MA: Mayor's Office.
11. ESRI. ArcGIS 9.1 (software). Redlands, CA: Author.
12. Gall, G., Lowe, J., Hacker, K., Baker, D., Fried, L., Doherty-Watt, L. et al. (2002). A resource mapping project of substance abuse and mental health needs and resources of Somerville high school students. Cambridge, MA: Institute for Community Health.
13. Garland, A.F, & Zigler, E. (1993). Adolescent suicide prevention. American Psychologist, 48, 169-182.
14. Gould, M. (2004). Suicide contagion (clusters), suicide, and mental health. Suicide and Mental Health Association International. Retrieved January 5, 2007 from http://suicideandmental-healthassociationinternational.org/ suiconclust.html.
15. Gould, M.S., Greenberg, T., Velting, D.M., & Shaffer, D. (2003). Youth suicide risk and preventive interventions: A review of the past 10 years. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 42, 386-405.
16. Gould, M.S., Wallenstein, S., & Davidson, L. (1989). Suicide clusters: A critical review. Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior, 19, 17-29.
17. Gould, M., Wallenstein, S., Kleinman, M, O'Carroll, P., & Mercy, J. (1990). Suicide clusters: An examination of age-specific effects. American Journal of Public Health, 80, 211-212.
18. Hacker, K.A, Suglia, S.F., Fried, L., Rappaport, N., & Cabrai, H. (2006). Developmental differences in risk factors for suicide attempts between 9th and 11th graders. Suicide and Life-Threatening Behaviors, 36, 154-166.
19. Kelly, T.M., Cornelius, J.R., & Clark, D.B. (2003), Psychiatric disorders and attempted suicide among adolescents with substance use disorders. Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 73, 87-97.
20. McLaughlin, M. (2007). The graduation speech you'll never hear. The Boston Globe. May 27. http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2007/05/27/ the_graduation_speech_youll_never _hear/accessed 7/27/2007.
21. Massachusetts Department of Public Health. Bureau of Substance Abuse. (2006). Updated hospital discharge data. Boston, MA: Author.
22. Massachusetts Department of Public Health. (2007). Massachusetts community health information profile (MassCHIP). Retrieved January 2007 from http://masschip.state.ma.us/
23. Mercy, J.A., Kresnow, M., O'Carroll, P., Lee, R., Powell, K., Potter, L. et al. (2001). Is suicide contagious? A study of the relation between exposure to the suicidal behavior of others and nearly lethal suicide attempts. American Journal of Epidemiology, 154, 120-7.
24. Moulton, Dana. (2005). Massachusetts organization for addiction recovery, "How do you battle teen drug abuse?" Somerville Journal, May 5.
25. O'Carroll, P., & Mercy, J. (1990). Responding to community-identified suicide clusters: Statistical verification of the cluster is not the primary issue. American Journal of Epidemiology, 132(Suppl. 1), S196-S202.
26. O'Carroll, P., Crosby, A., Mercy, J., Lee, R., & Simon, T. (2001). Interviewing suicide "decedents." A fourth strategy for risk factor assessment. Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior, 32, 3-6.
27. Parker, B. (2005). Teens say "Save Our Somerville," not attack yuppies. Somerville Journal, October 20.
28. Paulozzi, L.J. (2006). Opioid analgesic involvement in drug abuse deaths in American metropolitan areas. American Journal of Public Health, 96, 1755-1757
29. Pirkis, J., Blood, W., Beautrais, A., Burgess, P., & Skehan, J. (2006). Media guidelines on the reporting of suicide. Crisis, 27, 82-87.
30. Save our Somerville http://profile.myspace.com/indexfuseaction.cfm? fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=8 9827625 7/27/07
31. Shaffer, D. (1988). The epidemiology of teen suicide: An examination of risk factors. Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, 49(Suppl.), 36-41.
32. Somerville Health Department. (2002). Somerville youth risk survey report 2002. Somerville, MA: Author.
33. Somerville's Lost Souls. Retrieved 1/12/2007 from http://groups.myspace. com/Somervilleslostsouls.
34. Somerville Mayor's Office of Strategic Planning and Community Development. (2005). Somerville housing needs assessment. Somerville, MA: Author.
35. Suicide Prevention Resource Center. (2007). Suicide prevention: The public health approach. Retrieved January 1, 2007 from http://www.sprc.org/ library/phasp.pdf
36. United States Bureau Census. (2000). Population finder. Retrieved September 16, 2007 from http://factfinder. census.gov/servlet/SAFFPopulation?
37. U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service. (2001). National strategy for suicide prevention: Goals and objectives for action. Rockville, MD: Author.
38. Whitlock, J., Powers, J.L., & Eckenrode, J. (2006). The virtual cutting edge: The Internet and adolescent self-injury. Developmental Psychology, 42, 407-417.
39. Wu, P., Hoven, C.W., Liu, X., Cohen, P., Fuller, C.J., & Shaffer, D. (2004). Substance use, suicidal ideation and attempts in children and adolescents. Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior, 34, 408-420.
40. YouTube. (2007). Save our Somerville. Speech at peace conference. Retrieved on July 27, 2007, from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6c6VN2pOLWU