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School-based program improves suicidality, depression

A multimodal program implemented in middle and high school health classes significantly improved suicidality and depression in students.

“With the school board’s active participation, we switched some of the health classes to mental health training and resiliency classes,” Peter H. Silverstone, PhD, of the University of Alberta, Canada, said in a press release. “What this shows is that if you put this program into schools, you change kids fundamentally. And these changes last well over a year.”

To determine long-term impact of the Empowering Multimodal Pathway Toward Healthy Youth (EMPATHY) program on suicidal thinking among students aged 11 to 18 years in middle and high schools, researchers conducted a 15-month follow-up among 6,277 students. The EMPATHY multimodal program identified high-risk students and implemented rapid intervention of universal cognitive behavioral therapy, various interactions with trained staff, and referral to external medical and psychiatric services when appropriate for high-risk students. Assessment occurred at baseline, 3, 7 and 15 months. Longitudinal analysis included 1,884 students who completed all four assessments.

Overall, suicidality decreased from 4.4% at baseline to 2.8% at 15 months (P < .001).

Mean depression scores among the total student population decreased from 3.73 at baseline to 3.22 (P < .001).

Among the longitudinal cohort, mean depression scores decreased from 3.43 at baseline to 2.95 at 15 months (P < .001) and the number of actively suicidal students decreased from 69 to 37.

“These sorts of programs can be transformative for vast numbers of kids in a way that almost nothing else can be,” Silverstone said in the release. “And that translates to a huge positive for society as a whole. Reduced crime, reduced dropouts, higher graduation rates — all of these things we believe are linked to these kinds of interventions.” – by Amanda Oldt

Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.