Resource Tag: POLICIES AND PROCEDURES

Over the last 20 years, as researchers, police administrations & psychologists have focused on police stress, much effort has dealt with its negative manifestations: heart attacks, cardiovascular disease, premature death, digestive disturbances, ulcers, divorce, & substance abuse. By its nature, police suicide has been the subject of particular interest. That police suicide is a concern […]

This article provides information about suicide in the African American community, suicide & families, & suicide interventions, particularly those with a family focus. A culturally informed postvention model, Healing and Understanding Grieving Suicide Survivors (HUGSS), is presented. The article provides a discussion of the rationale for a culturally informed postvention program for African American suicide […]

This chapter examines the relationship between posttraumatic stress disorder & police suicide. It examines the predisposing factors, time-of-incident variables, & long-term effects that can individually or in unison contribute to suicide. A multifaceted approach is offered to preventing suicide among officers suffering posttraumatic stress disorder, including training of officers, training of managers, policy & procedure […]

A question is posed about how to care for a 35-year-old homeless man with end-stage AIDS who has expressed suicide ideation. The respondent provides suggestions such as referrals to support services, assessment of the patient for depression & level of suicide risk, interventions such as a safety screening of his room, & further psychological assessment. […]

The published literature on police suicide contains serious measurement problems that undermine understanding, including: unreliability of small samples, lack of statistical significance testing, comparison of different time periods, use of different data sources, use of different summary measures, comparison to inappropriate norms, & misclassification of suicides as accidents. The authors suggest solutions for these problem […]

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File copy includes an appendix with the items included in the Delphi survey & another appendix with first aid guidelines for India.

The authors, a forensic psychiatrist & an assistant city attorney, present findings from their work in suicide-by-cop cases. The following areas are discussed: incident nomenclature & definition; decedent profiles & incident characteristics; psychological sequelae experienced by officers & law enforcement agencies; law enforcement training; & issues arising in subsequent litigation. JA

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This study identified predictors of a high level of quality of care for suicide attempters at general hospital emergency departments in Norway. Structured interviews with key informants covering the quality of care of patients admitted following attempted suicide were conducted in 1999 & 2006 at 87% of all general hospitals. Hospitals having implemented a chain […]

Regardless of the amount of crisis-intervention training, certain strategies can be applied by police officers & crisis negotiators responding to a suicide-by-cop incident. The primary goals of establishing a rapport with the subject, assessing the violence & suicidal potential, & instilling hope within the subject always should be pursued. Directing the subject away from suicide-by-cop […]

Suicide is a common & preventable event often reported by the media when there are sensational elements or if the suicide involves a celebrity. Media reports can induce a copycat or Werther effect. There is increasing evidence that sensational reporting of suicide has a direct effect on increasing suicide rates. Responsible reporting guidelines drawn up […]

This study examined predictors for readmission in patients admitted to a general hospital emergency ward for suicide attempts before & after organizational changes potentially affecting the chain of care. Data from periods before & after 2004 – when the hospital changed its catchment area – were compared. A substantial increase in readmission rates in the […]

This article focusses on a group that appears to be a significantly higher risk of suicide than members of the general population: sex defendants on pretrial supervision at the federal level (there are no national data sources on the number of suicide attempts or suicides among pretrial defendants or other groups under community correctional supervision). […]

This article outlines the work helplines do to provide emotional support to people in distress &, thereby, potentially preventing suicide. The author asserts that helplines also have a crucial role in reducing the number of people who develop mental health problems & in eliminating stigma associated with mental or emotional problems. The selection & training […]

Each of the authors experienced the suicide of one patient during their residencies at Columbia & discovered several deficiencies in their methods of dealing with them. In this article, they describe the interventions developed at Columbia University, including curricular changes, development of a crisis support team, & a formal review of the event. Other constructive […]

Implementing harm reduction is among the administrative tasks used for maintaining a safe unit for psychiatric inpatients. Included in nursing procedures for observing suicidal patients is the practice of 15-minute checks. In reviewing the standard forms used in several major hospitals across the United States, the authors noticed a wide variation in the format & […]

A 3-stage paradigm for telephonically assessing suicidal risk & triaging suicidal callers as practiced in an Employee Assistance Program Call Center was investigated. The first hypothesis was that the use of the procedure would increase the probability that callers would accept the clinician’s recommendations, evidenced by fewer police interventions. The second hypothesis was that there […]

This book is based on a 3-year qualitative study that investigated how psychiatric nurses provided care for suicidal people. Drawing on service user data, this book contains & explains an evidence-based theory of how to care for suicidal people. In addition to tracing the role of nurses, the authors use their findings to launch into […]

A nationally representative sample of 968 local & national newspapers was examined to determine whether the 2001 American media guidelines were followed in articles published in 2002-2003, & featuring individual cases of suicidal behaviour. During the study period, newspaper coverage did not consistently reflect the influence of the media guidelines. On the positive side, only […]

The purpose of this chapter is to provide medical & behavioural health professionals working with military recruits a standard of risk assessment & management. Information is provided on stress in military training, suicide statistics, risk factors & vulnerable individuals (including factors specific to recruits), risk assessment procedures, the management of suicidal recruits, the prevention of […]

Whether arising from depression or another disorder, suicide does occur on American campuses & is the second leading cause of death in students of traditional college age. Drawing from mainstream & professional sources, this article provides a description of various institutional changes, ranging from policy changes to information dissemination, designed to prevent suicide on college […]

This article provides information on suicide postvention for emergency providers. A range of topics are discussed including: how recovery relates to suicide loss; mental illness & suicide; suicide loss & mental illness; what suicide postvention is; what is different about suicide loss; stressors at a suicide scene; the immediate needs of suicide grievers; misconceptions about […]