AFSP awards research grants to 17 studies for suicide prevention

The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention recently announced $4.35 million in grants to study suicide prevention.

The foundation received 193 grant applications in the most recent grant cycle and accepted 17, according to a press release.

Jill Harkavy-Friedman

“Research in the field of suicide and mental health is absolutely vital,” Jill Harkavy-Friedman, PhD, vice president of research at the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP), said in the release. “We need to better understand suicide and learn which suicide prevention strategies work so we can put them into practice. Our grants in suicide prevention research, along with investment by the federal government, have the potential to develop new and better tools to fight suicide.”

Five of the newly funded grants support AFSP’s Project 2025. These include:

an ED-based randomized clinical trial of lethal means counseling for parents of at-risk youth, conducted by Matthew Miller, MD, MPH, ScD, of Northeastern University, Boston, and colleagues;
safety planning intervention to reduce short-term risk, conducted by Gregory K. Brown, PhD, of the University of Pennsylvania, Barbara Stanley, PhD, of Columbia University, and Edwin D. Boudreaux, PhD, of the University of Massachusetts Medical School;
using telehealth to improve outcomes in veterans at risk for suicide, conducted by John Kasckow, MD, PhD, of the VA Pittsburgh Health Care System, and colleagues;
clinical profiles and treatment utilization patterns associated with suicide among youth in Medicaid, conducted by Cynthia Fontanella, PhD, of the Wexner Medical Center at Ohio State University; and
health coaching to enhance psychological well-being among veterans, conducted by Lauren Denneson, PhD, of Oregon Health and Science University in Portland, Oregon.

Robert Gebbia

“Through Project 2025, we have developed a model that reveals the most effective ways to save lives. We also know that reducing the suicide rate 20% by the year 2025 will take a collaborative effort across health care and community systems. We must work together in order to implement the kinds of programs, policies and interventions necessary to see this reduction in the suicide rate,” Robert Gebbia, MA, CEO of AFSP, said in the release. “Project 2025 reaches across all demographic and cultural groups, and it’s our intention to save the most lives possible in the shortest amount of time.”