Community collaborative approaches to preventing suicidality among Asian Americans: Preliminary findings from a community-campus partnership

Suicide, or “intentional self-harm,” remains a global public health problem disproportionately affecting certain communities. Ranked as the second leading cause of death for all young women, 15-19 years old; suicide is the second leading cause of death for Asian American (AA) females, 15-24 years old. Yet, suicidal behaviors are preventable. Evidence supporting the effectiveness of current interventions remains deficient, sometimes controversial. Existing community interventions are primarily school-based and target majority groups, while few, culturally appropriate community prevention interventions exist and address needs for potentially high risk, racial, ethnic minorities, including AAs. Community-based solutions, especially partnerships designed to prevent and ameliorate suicidality are consistent with national policies that highlight the need for designing, developing, testing, and expanding suicide prevention programs. Yet, little is known about social, community-level factors and processes that may or may not influence suicidality among young AAs. The proposed study seeks to identify and describe social, community-level factors and mechanisms to inform the design and development of culturally appropriate measures and community preventive interventions. An innovative, multi-phase design combining community-based participatory research, qualitative and quantitative methods are utilized. Ongoing collaboration between campus and community partners, e.g., representatives from a community agency whose mission is to provide comprehensive social and mental health services to Asian Americans living in Seattle/King County, offer a unique approach. Preliminary findings from multiple data sources: archival records, qualitative interviews, and the National Latino Asian American Study (NLAAS), will be shared along with discussions and highlights from the community-research partnership, lessons learned, and future efforts.