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The CDC makes recommendations following the deaths of 12 students in 2017-18.
A survey conducted in the wake of a group of teen suicides in Stark County will be used as a tool to prevent future deaths.
After 12 high school and middle school students in Stark committed suicide between August 2017 and March last year, local and national health authorities sought help from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to analyze contributing factors.
The objectives: to understand why the youth suicide rate was 7 times higher than the national average during this period and to develop preventive strategies for the future.
With the help of the CDC, Stark County Educational Services Center and others, the Stark County Health Department and the Ohio Department of Health led in the spring last survey of more than 15,000 students in the region, Grades 7 to 12.
The results and analyzes of the survey questions were released Monday in a 56-page report.
"We know we will not solve this problem quickly," said ESC Executive Director Joe Chaddock, who, along with other local school officials, discussed report Monday at a meeting at the Canton Storage Center.
The final sections of the report include a section on "Preliminary Findings and Opportunities for Prevention". It outlines many strategies in seven defined areas that could help involve schools, mental health providers, parents and students:
1. Strengthen access and provision of suicide care. Nearly 16% of students have not always been able to obtain medical or psychological care when needed.
2. Create protective environments. One in four students has access to a firearm, nearly twice as many as all US students. less than half of students feel safe at school and almost half have used alcohol or drugs at least once.
3. Promote "connectivity". Students in the area are more involved in school and community activities than their peers in Ohio, but 1 in 10 are still not involved in an activity.
4. Teaching coping skills and problem solving skills. Better than 3 out of 5 students had an unfavorable childhood experience, a higher rate than their peers in Ohio and the United States.
5. Identify and support people at risk. Better than 3 out of 5 would say to a friend if he had suicidal thoughts, and 1 in 2 would talk to a parent about it. Such statistics, the report says, mean that community members have the opportunity to act as "gatekeepers" to help prevent suicide.
6. Reduce damage and prevent future risks. 16% of students lost a friend or family member to suicide in 2017-2018; nearly 2 out of 5 students attended an event to commemorate a teenager who died by suicide, which, according to the report, can have a negative effect, as such events can serve to glorify the act of suicide; Three out of four students have seen a news article about teen suicides in Stark County, which, according to the report, can make suicide sensational. and nearly 3 in 4 have read about it on social media.
7. Administer ongoing surveys of youth health and behavior. School districts can use several existing surveys, such as the Ohio Youth Risk Behavior, to develop intervention and prevention strategies and identify new and emerging risk factors.
The survey was conducted among 15,083 students from 18 school districts in three counties. School officials said they were confident in the results of the survey, which give a true picture of the student population in local colleges and high schools as a whole.
Students were asked questions about: school attendance and grades; extracurricular involvement; life at home and at school; interaction with parents or guardians of children; time devoted to video games, social media or unattended; access to medical and psychological care; Life experiences; substance consumption; history of mental health; exposure to information about suicide and social media; harassment; and their access to firearms.
Among the results:
• Only one in two students feel that it is part of my school and that he is "happy to be at my school".
• 2 out of 3 students spend 1 to 4 hours daily on social media.
• Nearly one in four students live with someone who is depressed, mentally ill or suicidal.
• 3 out of 10 students reported having a mental health problem.
• One in five students thought of suicide and one in 11 had attempted suicide at least once.
"The report underscores the importance of unprecedented collaboration in the development and improvement of youth suicide prevention strategies," said in a statement the County Health Commissioner. Stark, Kirk Norris. "These results will be used to improve our youth suicide prevention practices."
In the same release, John Aller, executive director of Stark County Mental Health & Addiction Recovery, said the information served as a bridge between youth and adults.
"We know that engaging youth themselves in prevention activities increases our chances of success," Aller said. "We want to help eliminate stigma by using what we now know to encourage frank conversations between young people and all the people who are here to help them."
Chaddock, director of CES, said the key phrase of the whole report may be in the last paragraph of the narrative part of the document: "Suicide can be avoided".
Contact Tim at 330-580-8333 or [email protected].
On Twitter: @tbotosREP
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