Group Intervention for Suicidal Black Females Final rept

摘要

Healthy People 2010 have as one of its objectives the reduction of the suicide rate. Suicide is the 11th leading cause of death and is responsible for over 29,000 deaths per year. Rates of suicide completions are higher in Georgia. Recognizing that suicide has profound public health significance, the United States (U.S.) Former Surgeon General, David Satcher, M.D., Ph.D., issued a Call to Action to Prevent Suicide and a National Strategy for Suicide Prevention was published. According to the National Strategy for Suicide Prevention, one strategy for preventing suicide completions is to develop and promote effective interventions that reduce risk factors and increase protective factors for people at risk suicide, such as female suicide attempters. Historically, the problem of suicide among Caucasians has dominated the national public health agenda, and with few exceptions, relatively limited empirical attention has been paid to understanding suicidal behavior among African Americans. Thus, it is imperative that more researchers examine the role that psychological and social factors play in the onset of suicidal behavior among African Americans. Further, there are very few good treatment studies for suicide attempters, and none of these target African Americans. This is concerning given the need for culturally competent interventions that target specific ethnic/racial groups and the fact that African Americans are less likely than their Caucasian counterparts to receive appropriate mental health services. Thus, this research is designed to fill a gap in the empirical literature by focusing on culturally informed assessments and empowerment based interventions for low-income African American women with a recent suicide attempt.