Academic Research in Suicide Prevention

Written by Crystal Walker

Much research is being done in the field of suicide prevention, and Centre for Suicide Prevention’s new resource – a monthly Research Roundup, summarizes the latest significant suicide research.

The Research Roundup is a great resource for anyone who is interested in academic research about suicide and suicide prevention. This includes researchers, students, those working in public policy and government, as well as others working in the field of suicide prevention, directly or indirectly.

We hope that this resource will bring context and focus to the vast wealth of suicide prevention research. Suicide is complex, and research, in addition to the voice of lived experience, is vital to understanding these complexities.

Centre for Suicide Prevention has the world’s largest English-language library of suicide related items with over 45,000 items. As we continually survey the latest research to expand our library and produce resources to educate the general public about suicide prevention, we find items of interest and significance that we hope will be useful.

The Research Roundup includes any research that is:

  • Unique; it contributes to much-needed research in scantly examined topics, for example, the efficacy of suicide prevention course work at the post secondary level.

  • Timely; research into current topics at issue, such as farmer suicide or mental health outcomes of health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic.

  • Cumulative; literature reviews or meta-analyses that sum up accumulated research into a specific area like the effectiveness of crisis line services.

  • New; the topic has never or seldomly before been seen in suicide prevention research, such as the connection between fast food consumption and suicide.

  • Large in scope; the scope or magnitude of the research covers a large population group and therefore significantly contributes to research in the topic area, for example, the Adverse Childhood Experiences study.

  • Canadian; as a national suicide prevention organization, we encourage Canadian researchers and seek to highlight significant Canadian research in the Research Roundup.

To receive the Research Roundup in your inbox every month, subscribe here www.csprev.ca/research.

You can view past Research Roundups online here: https://www.suicideinfo.ca/?s=%22research+roundup+-+%22&siec_database_item=.