Community Suicide Prevention Group

The Community Suicide Prevention Group, directed by Madelyn S. Gould, PhD, MPH, conducts research that targets priorities of the U.S. National Strategy for Suicide Prevention, including: 

• Evaluation of suicide-prevention strategies, including telephone, chat, and text crisis services
• Continuity-of-care enhancements, post-discharge from hospitals and emergency departments (EDs) 
• Youth suicide screening programs
• Suicide risk related to contagion and modeling, particularly cluster suicides and the effect of a peer’s suicide on fellow students

We primarily use epidemiological research methods in our studies. Data collection procedures include school-based surveys of general populations of high school students; self-report questionnaires completed by crisis counselors; telephone interviews with suicidal individuals; and abstraction of data from crisis chat transcripts, medical records, and national and state mortality records.

Our research findings have had a major impact on the evolution of suicide prevention strategies in both clinical and public health settings. 

Research Focus

Our research studies focus on:

• Crisis intervention and suicide prevention strategies
• Suicide contagion/clusters
• Screening and assessment of suicide risk
• Crisis Intervention/Suicide Prevention 

Our work evaluating the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (NSPL) has vastly changed the landscape of prevention efforts in the United States. As a national “safety net,” the NSPL now plays a vital role in suicide prevention, largely due to our research, funded by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). In contrast to the 2001 U.S. National Strategy for Suicide Prevention in which crisis hotlines were not mentioned at all, the 2010 National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention prominently references NSPL and telephone crisis services as an integral part of the national strategy.  Moreover, the findings from Dr. Gould’s research have been used by SAMHSA and the Lifeline to support the recent passage of the National Suicide Hotline Designation Act of 2020.  This legislation establishes a new three-digit number (988) for a national suicide prevention and mental health crisis hotline.  Now that crisis hotlines are recognized as a critical component of suicide prevention and mental health services, the current work that Dr. Gould is conducting  is timelier and more relevant than ever.  Given the essential role of NSPL and its goals, our SAMHSA-funded evaluations of its effectiveness in 1) preventing at-risk individuals from engaging in suicidal behavior, and 2) enhancing the continuity of care for suicidal individuals, continues to be of the utmost clinical and public health relevance.

Suicide Contagion/Clusters

Our identification of an association between newspaper reports about suicide and the initiation of teenage suicide clusters, published in The Lancet Psychiatry, provided empirical support for collaboration between mental health professionals, community officials, and the media to identify and prevent the onset of suicide clusters.

Screening and Assessment of Suicide Risk

Our evaluation of the safety of school-based suicide screening programs is considered a landmark study. We devised innovative strategies for this work, employing a randomized, controlled study within the context of a two-day screening protocol. The findings—that no iatrogenic effects of suicide screening emerged and that such programs were safe— were published in The Journal of the American Medical Association and have had a significant influence on the promulgation of suicide-screening programs in schools, both nationally and internationally. Moreover, numerous suicide researchers worldwide have reported that our findings were essential in addressing the concerns of their Institutional Review Boards and obtaining approval of their research applications.