School Mental Health - Solicitation for Papers for Special Issue: “Suicide Prevention in K-12 Schools”
Rates of suicide ideation and attempts for youth remain high in the United States and there is a lack of evidence-based treatment for suicide risk for adolescents. Many young people only have access to mental health resources and services through their school, and suicide risk detection, referral, and treatment frameworks are needed within this setting. Providing comprehensive suicide-focused prevention in a context where the youth spend most of their day is an important innovation to consider, especially given some of the access barriers and mental healthcare disparities impacting minoritized youth disproportionately still in the shadow of a global pandemic. The goal of this special issue (Suicide Prevention in K-12 Schools) is to highlight innovative and rigorous research that describes the process of developing and evaluating school-based interventions or implementation models designed to prevent suicide in the context of K-12 schools.
Papers must:
Describe the development and/or adaptation of a school-based intervention (universal, selected, indicated) or implementation approach designed to prevent suicide in the context of K-12 schools. Present data about the intervention or implementation approach in development (quantitative, qualitative and/or observational; can be related to constructs such as acceptability and feasibility) and describe processes by which the data informed revisions or iterations. Discuss considerations related to contextual and cultural appropriateness of the intervention or implementation approach. Discuss lessons learned related to the development, evaluation, and sustainability of suicide prevention approaches in the context of K-12 schools.
Authors interested in contributing an article for this special issue should submit a letter of intent by May 15th, 2024. The letter of intent should include the following: 1) Anticipated title; 2) List of authors, affiliations, and email address for the corresponding author; 3) Abstract of 500 words or less (Please note that abstracts can include analyses/results or planned analyses/anticipated results, but should make clear what data will be available and analyzed by the time of manuscript submission); 4) Brief justification (1-2 sentence each) of how the proposed manuscript will meet each of the stated criteria listed above. The guest editors will review the letters of intent for fit with the special issue. Authors should submit letters of intent to the guest editors, Drs. Kurt Michael and Amy Brausch, by email by sending to the address: michaelkd@appstate.edu (this opens in a new tab) by May 15th, 2024.
Invitations for full articles will be sent to corresponding authors by June 30th, 2024, and the submission deadline for full articles will be November 30th, 2024. An invitation to submit does not guarantee acceptance of the manuscript. All papers should conform to the submission guidelines for School Mental Health and will be subject to peer review.