Engaging Suicidal Youth in Outpatient Treatment: Theoretical and Empirical Underpinnings

The treatment engagement literature for suicidal youth has largely focused on identifying empirical correlates of attendance & testing interventions to increase compliance. In an effort to promote the use of theory in this field, this article employs Staudt’s (2007) conceptual model of the treatment engagement process to both organize the empirical literature & to explain specific treatment engagement & retention strategies used in dialectical behavior therapy for suicidal adolescents. Recommendations for future research are offered. (22 refs.) JA