CSPAR hosts free suicide research spotlight talks on the third Thursday each month from 9-10am pacific. These presentations will delve into emerging literature on suicide prevention and treatment. Anyone is invited to attend.

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Upcoming Spotlights

• April 17, 2025: Canceled for the 4th Annual Suicide Research Symposium (SRS) – Registration Details
• May 15, 2025: Caring for Veterans and Service Members (COVE) Pilot Results with the COVE Study Team
• June 19, 2025: Canceled for Juneteenth Holiday – What is Juneteenth?
• July 17, 2025: Detecting suicide risk among U.S. Service members and Veterans: A deep learning approach using social media data with Dr. Kelly Zuromski
• August 21, 2025: TBD with Dr. Joey Cheung
• September 18, 2025: Searchlight Study Lessons Learned with the Searchlight Study Research Team
• October 16, 2025: THRIVE Pilot Study: A Brief, Recovery-Focused Intervention for Crisis Stabilization Centers with Dr. Jennifer Lockman
• November 20, 2025: Canceled for the ACBT Annual Convention – Registration Details
• December 18, 2025: CSPAR Annual Round Up with Dr. Kate Comtois

Questions? Contact Us

Reach out to us at [email protected] or [email protected]

Archive

Find recordings of past research spotlights below.

Data Safety Monitoring Boards (DSMBs) have become increasingly common in psychosocial research trials – particularly those with participants who are considered vulnerable or where the research is taking place at multiple sites, both of which characterize trials of suicide interventions.

DSMBs are helpful to the investigative team, yet many researchers conducting psychosocial intervention or suicide research have limited exposure to DSMBs compared to their medical research colleagues and thus DSMBs can be confusing not only for the investigative team but also for the experts who are asked to serve as members or chairs.

In collaboration with Dr. Greg Simon, Dr. Comtois developed an innovative suicide research specific DSMB format and in this presentation, Dr. Comtois integrated her experience and expertise with a review of the DSMB literature to address key issues in psychosocial intervention and suicide research designed for current and future investigators, as well as, DSMB members and chairs.

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In this presentation, Dr. McCauley focused on factors contributing to the onset, persistence/desistence of SI drawing on data from a subsample of 137 young adults who participated in a longitudinal study of the emotional development of 520 ethnically/socioeconomically diverse individuals, seen in nine waves of data collection from age 12 to age 31.

In this presentation, Drs. Larry Pruitt, Derek Smolenski, and Daniel Evatt discussed the benefits and challenges of randomized controlled trials and the proposed alternatives in the context of suicide research. They highlighted the risks of falling short of acceptable research standards and provided strategies to advance suicide prevention research.

For this spotlight, Dr. Molly Adrian shared about the efforts to incorporate guidance from the Zero Suicide Institute into the routine practices and procedures of care at Seattle Children’s.

During the presentation, Dr. Adrian highlighted the rationale for using Zero Suicide within Children’s Hospital context, the approach to prioritizing and implementing new policies and procedures, and the preliminary outcomes of the work conducted to date.

In this month’s spotlight, CSPAR medical director Dr. Rick Ries discussed his stepped-wedge cluster randomized clinical trial that looked at patient and clinician outcomes after implementing the Preventing Alcohol Related Suicide module in community addiction treatment settings. In this trial, counselors at intensive outpatient programs received two hours of training and then delivered PARS in their own groups. The intervention had positive results on patient outcomes as well as clinician satisfaction. In addition to reviewing study outcomes, Dr. Ries also provides an orientation to the PARS module materials. 

To learn more about PARS, take a look at our PARSWeb training and the PARSWeb manual.

Historically, interventions in suicide care have often been developed by clinicians who have spent a lot of time helping those experiencing suicidality. However, the development of such interventions frequently excludes input from people with lived experience of suicidality. In this month’s spotlight, CSPAR director Dr. Kate Comtois presents research findings from a study with a nationwide sample of individuals with lived experience of suicidality to better understand their opinions and preferences for interventions targeting suicidality. In addition to treatment preferences, participants were surveyed on what values of care were most meaningful to them.

Today’s adolescents and young adults are immersed in digital spaces, with TikTok being the most popular digital platform used by over 63% of the United States’ adolescents & young adults to connect with others through short video clips. In this presentation, Dr. Keyne Law explores TikTok’s influence on mental health and suicidal ideation. It will include exploring participants’ perceptions regarding the positive and negative influences of TikTok on mental health from qualitative interviews. Then, she will present preliminary quantitative findings from the same participant’s TikTok user data, analyzing how their activity on the app, social connections, and engagement relate to suicidal ideation. The presentation concludes with a discussion on methodological challenges and future directions for suicide research and prevention on social media platforms.

Dr. Bagge and Dr. Littlefield present a study which targeted and followed a sample with a pronounced risk of suicidal behaviors: patients who are discharged from a psychiatric hospital after a suicide attempt. The main aim of the study was to determine whether subgroup membership, characterized by disparate patterns of behavioral warning signs for their suicide attempt, could predict serious suicidal ideation and behavior 12 months post-discharge.

Dr. Lisa Wexler shares learnings from research exploring ways to reduce environmental suicide risk in firearm-owning Alaska Native (AN) households. Discussion will focus on the components and outcomes, which suggest a highly acceptable, practical and potentially impactful intervention.