Panel Discussion 22 - Employing Community-based Approaches to Inform Suicide Prevention Research

Suicide is a major public health concern, with nearly 47,000 deaths per year attributable to death by suicide in the United States alone. Moreover, many individuals experience suicidal thoughts and behaviors (STBs) annually. Despite decades of research seeking to better understand STB risk, we still know remarkably little about prediction of suicide and effective treatments. Furthermore, for many groups, including American Indian/Alaska Native communities, Black Americans, Latino/a/x Americans, LGBTQ+ people, and neurodivergent people, rates of STBs increased during the pandemic. Yet, these populations remain understudied in STB research. With this context in mind, we propose a panel focused on applying community-based approaches (including community-based participatory research) to research on STBs. Community-based approaches involve engaging people in the community, including those with lived experiences, to increase our understanding of STBs and improve interventions by working alongside those they are designed to impact directly
excluded the voices of people with lived experience from our research and clinical care. This has led to an over-reliance on research findings, including those with small and inconsistent effect sizes, and under-utilization of the priorities, knowledge, and experiences of people who experience suicidality. This is especially important when considering minoritized populations that have been excluded from much of STB research to date. In this panel presentation, we will hear from scientists who employ community-based approaches in STB research across a range of populations. We will discuss the rationale for using a community-based approach in STB research, as well as considerations for engaging community members, including successes and challenges in building community partnerships. We will highlight the benefits of engaging communities through a strengths-based lens. Finally, the panel will address considerations for research design and grant funding when engaging in community partnerships. This panel aims to provide insight into the value of using community-based approaches to enhance clinical science and promote wellbeing in communities at risk for suicide.