Citation

Cwik MF, Barlow A, Goklish N, Larzelere-Hinton F, Tingey L, Craig M, Lupe R, Walkup J. Am. J. Public Health 2014; 104(Suppl 3): e18-23.

Affiliation

Mary F. Cwik, Allison Barlow, Novalene Goklish, Francene Larzelere-Hinton, and Lauren Tingey are with the Department of International Health, Center for American Indian Health, Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD. Mariddie Craig is with the White Mountain Apache Tribe's Native American Research Centers in Health, Whiteriver, AZ. Ronnie Lupe is with the White Mountain Apache Tribal Council, Whiteriver. John Walkup is with the Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, NY.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2014, American Public Health Association)

DOI

10.2105/AJPH.2014.301872

PMID

24754618

Abstract

The National Strategy for Suicide Prevention highlights the importance of improving the timeliness, usefulness, and quality of national suicide surveillance systems, and expanding local capacity to collect relevant data. This article describes the background, methods, process data, and implications from the first-of-its-kind community-based surveillance system for suicidal and self-injurious behavior developed by the White Mountain Apache Tribe with assistance from Johns Hopkins University. The system enables local, detailed, and real-time data collection beyond clinical settings, with in-person follow-up to facilitate connections to care. Total reporting and the proportion of individuals seeking treatment have increased over time, suggesting that this innovative surveillance system is feasible, useful, and serves as a model for other communities and the field of suicide prevention. (Am J Public Health. Published online ahead of print April 22, 2014: e1-e6. doi:10.2105/AJPH.2014.301872).

Language: en