Suicide Gatekeeping: An Important Potential Role for Early Childhood Home Visitors
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Suicide Gatekeeping: An Important Potential Role for Early Childhood Home Visitors Emily M. Lund1 · Lillian K. Durán2 · Catherine P. Corr3 Accepted: 9 September 2020 © Springer Nature B.V. 2020
Abstract Parents of young children with disabilities may experience high levels of stress and psychological distress that may put them at higher risk for experiencing suicidality. Thus, early childhood home visitors (e.g., professionals who work for home-based early intervention programs) may serve as important gatekeepers for identifying and referring parents who are experiencing psychological distress, including suicidal thoughts. However, most early childhood home visitors do not receive training on identifying or intervening with distressed and potentially suicidal caregivers. Therefore, early childhood home visitors would benefit from acquiring evidence-based, accessible strategies for identifying and responding to caregivers who they know or suspect are experiencing suicidal thoughts—a class of knowledge and skills that can be obtained through “suicide gatekeeper” training. In this article, we provide evidence-based information about suicide risk among parents of young children with disabilities, the intervention of suicide gatekeeping, and how suicide gatekeeping can be incorporated into the early childhood home visitor role. Keywords Early childhood home visiting · Suicide · Crisis · Suicide gatekeeping · Caregiver Suicide is a major public health crisis, and the tenth leading cause of death in the United States (Drapeau & McIntosh 2018). In the United States, over 47,000 individuals die by suicide per year, and for every death by suicide, there are an estimated 25 additional suicide attempts (Drapeau & McIntosh 2018). Additionally, almost 4% of American adults report having seriously considered attempting suicide each year (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 2015). Thus, suicide is a prevalent and critical public health crisis
* Emily M. Lund [email protected]; [email protected] Lillian K. Durán [email protected] Catherine P. Corr [email protected] 1
Department of Educational Studies in Psychology, Research Methodology and Counseling, University of Alabama, PO Box 870231, Tuscaloosa, AL 35487, USA
2
Department of Special Education and Clinical Services, University of Oregone, Eugene, OR, USA
3
Department of Special Education, University of Illinois-Urbana-Champaign, Champaign, IL, USA
and one that may affect many of the families with whom early childhood home visitors work.
Suicide Risk Considerations Among Caregivers of Young Children with Disabilities Caregivers whose young children are receiving home visiting services for diagnosed or suspected disabilities or developmental delays may be at risk for suicide for a number of reasons. First, parents of children who are receiving early intervention home visiting services may be experiencing post-partum depression (PPD). PPD occurs in between 6.5% and 12.9% of new mothers and can involve suicidal ideation (American Psychiatric Associati
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