Diversity Supplement to Expand Southwest Hub for Suicide Prevention Research to Fort Peck Indian Reservation

Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore MD

Investigators

Linked publications & trials

Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT This Diversity Supplement will build on prior research of Indigenous scholar, Teresa Brockie, PhD (White Clay Nation, MT), that identified culturally-informed risk and protective factors for youth suicide on the Fort Peck Indian Reservation, home to the Assiniboine and Sioux tribes. It will allow Dr. Brockie to gain didactic and applied skills in implementation science, while working with the experienced multi-disciplinary study team of the Parent Grant to extend the Hub research to Fort Peck. The overall goal of the Parent Grant, the NIMH-funded U19MH113136 Southwest Hub for American Indian Youth Suicide Prevention Research, is to identify effective, feasible and sustainable interventions to prevent suicide and promote resilience among Native American youth. The core research builds on 20+ years of behavioral and mental health research between the Johns Hopkins Center for American Indian Health and the White Mountain Apache Tribe (WMAT). Parent Grant primary aims include: 1) identification and case management of youth 10-24 years old with a recent suicide attempt, ideation, or binge substance use through the evidence-based WMAT Celebrating Life Surveillance and Case-Management system, and 2) to study two brief interventions delivered by indigenous community mental health workers to a) improve linkages to care after a suicide-related event, and b) promote resilience through traditional teachings by Elders. A Sequential Multiple Assignment Randomized Trial design will dismantle how to sequence and tailor the brief interventions to address individuals? immediate needs and characteristics. A secondary aim is to work with other Southwest Hub partners (Navajo, San Carlos Apache, Hualapai, and Cherokee Nations) to adapt the Celebrating Life system, incorporating local culturally- based knowledge of risk and protective factors, as well as facilitators and barriers to implementation and sustainability. This Diversity Supplement will support Dr. Brockie in extending this work to Fort Peck, a Northern Plains reservation in Montana, with high rates of youth suicide. Her aims are to: 1) adapt existing Celebrating Life Surveillance and Case-Management forms for the Fort Peck community and cultural context, 2) utilize two methods: a) community asset mapping and b) the Program Sustainability Assessment Tool to design an implementation and sustainability plan for Fort Peck, and, 3) to develop implementation science and mixed methods research skills for future suicide research.