1 / 10

Prevention is possible

A Public Health Approach to Suicide Prevention Alex Kelter, M.D. Epidemiology & Prevention for Injury Control (EPIC) Branch California Dep’t of Health Services Phone: 916-323-3480 E-mail: Akelter@dhs.ca.gov. Prevention is possible. The Timing of Prevention long before the event ( primary )

kenneth-mooney
Download Presentation

Prevention is possible

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. A Public Health Approach to Suicide PreventionAlex Kelter, M.D.Epidemiology & Prevention for Injury Control (EPIC) BranchCalifornia Dep’t of Health ServicesPhone: 916-323-3480E-mail: Akelter@dhs.ca.gov

  2. Prevention is possible • The Timing of Prevention • long before the event (primary) • screening, Rx, no suicide attempt • within the event (secondary) • call to crisis line • selection of method, lethality • after the event (tertiary) • lifesaving response, therapy, rehab

  3. Spectrum of Prevention • The Spectrum of Prevention1 • Strengthening Individuals’ knowledge & skills • Community Education • Educating Providers • Coalitions & Networks • Organizational Practice Change • Policy & Legislation 1Cohen & Swift (1993)

  4. Epidemiological aspects • Risk is not uniform in the population • Patterns can be found • Risk factors can be found • Their potency can be estimated • Clues to prevention can be found • Interventions can be tested

  5. Policy Aspects • According to surveys, people want prevention • When given risks and benefits, they will choose based on their perceptions and values • Government codifies reality, it does not determine it. • Everything starts somewhere

  6. How does it work? • Define the problem (Who?) • Define outcomes (Who?) • Identify interventions (Who?) • Decide on a plan (Who?) • Implement and Evaluate (Who?)

  7. Policy options • Passive • Alter the physical and social environment, removing choice or altering the context in which choices are made. • restrict access to lethal means • make self-destructive behavior “un-cool” • improve access to mental health services

  8. Policy options • Active • Education (for behavior change) • Enforcement (legislation, regulations to coerce behavior change) • Economics (incentives for behavior change)

  9. Conclusions • Public Health methods that have reduced poisonings, fire and burn injuries, drowning, cancer deaths, etc. can be applied to preventing suicide. • The Surgeon General’s Call to Action to Prevent Suicide can be used as a paradigm.

  10. Conclusions • No sector, by itself, can prevent suicide. • Cooperation is needed to make research, clinical practice, prevention practice, public policy, and individual behavior come together to focus on this problem.

More Related