Suicide Research and Prevention MHREG

University Of Rochester, Rochester NY

Investigators

Linked publications & trials

Abstract

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Suicide and the morbidity associated with attempted suicide are major public health problems, as recognized by the U.S. Surgeon General and the U.S. Congress. Currently there are few researchers who devote their efforts to investigating risk factors associated with suicide, to developing new approaches to prevention or to clinical interventions with higher risk populations, and to rigorously evaluating efforts that are being made to reduce the burdens of illness and death that arise from suicide attempts and suicide deaths. The University of Rochester Center for the Study and Prevention of Suicide (CSPS) proposes to develop the Suicide Research and Prevention MBREG (SRP/MHREG) to meet the challenge of training a multidisciplinary array of investigators to develop a suicide research and prevention infrastructure. Each program component is intended to meet specific recruiting, intellectual, or career development needs; all are aimed to facilitate the emergence of a cadre of independent, highly collaborative researchers who can develop theoretically grounded, hypothesis-oriented research applications. 1) We will annually conduct a Suicide Research Institute (SRI), providing an intensive week of suicide research training and career development support. The SRI will blend "content" and "process" elements in its program, and focus on two important trainee groups, those with emerging but yet-fully-formed interests in research and suicide, and those who are more differentiated, being on the verge of developing a NIH K-award or initial grant application. 2) The Visiting Fellowship Program will be available to highly selected individuals, those who have grants and want to add suicide-related components to their work, those with demonstrated commitment to suicide research who need further skill development in important aspects of their work or need instruction/support with grant preparation, and those who, in the process of developing a suicide focused K-award or other similar applications, will benefit from the intensive, collaborative peer input that is uniquely available in the CSPS and the Department of Psychiatry. 3) We will offer a newly developed course on suicide and prevention science as it relates to mental disorders, "Preventing Suicide: Theoretical and Methodological Challenges for the Prevention of Mental Disorders," to clinical trainees, post-doctoral fellows, and junior faculty. Once fully refined, we will widely disseminate this curriculum. The CSPS has an outstanding record of post-doctoral training and K-award support for fellows and junior faculty. The SPR/MHREG provides a mechanism for efficient sharing and broader dissemination of the mentoring and research expertise that we have developed.