Description

NR 554 Week 7 Assignment, Commitment to Action-Teen Suicide Prevention

Teen suicide has become an epidemic across the United States, suicide second only to accidents as the leading cause of death among individuals ages 15 to 19 (Murphy, Xu, Kochanek, Curtin, & Arias, 2017).  The rate of suicidal ideation, planning and attempt has risen in last nine years for this age group.  The CDC estimates, via survey, that 17.7% of American high school students seriously consider suicide in a given year. About 14.6% concocting plans to commit suicide, and 8.6% attempting suicide in a given year (“United States 2015 Results”, 2017). 

For students in the Cleveland Metropolitan School District, these numbers are even more striking. About 20.7% having attempted suicide in the past 12 months as of 2015 (“Cleveland, OH 2015 Results”, 2017).  For teens aged 15-19, suicide is more prevalent than in the adult population by a factor of 3.6, 48.3 of every 100,000 individuals in this age group committing suicide in a given year. With this public health crisis sweeping across the United States, and especially in Northeast Ohio, more effective interventions are necessary.  ………………….Continued ( 09 Pages with References)