Opportunities for Prevention Activities

The variations in suicide rates by age groups and gender provide a wide array of opportunities for prevention and intervention activities.

Prevention strategies can cover a wide variety of target groups (e.g., population at large, those who have ever thought of suicide as an option, those who have made previous attempts at suicide, and those in immediate crisis who are contemplating suicide as well as those who have experienced the death of a family member or close friend).

Such activities can also range from a broad focus such as addressing risk and protective factors to a more narrow focus such as preventing imminent self-harm or death.

Although the data on effectiveness of various programs and interventions is limited, certain strategies are beginning to emerge as more effective than others. Clearly, a singularly focused intervention strategy such as a crisis line or gatekeeper training program will not have a lasting impact in isolation. Each program needs to be tightly integrated and interlinked with other strategies to reach the broadest possible range of persons at risk.

The groups are futher detailed in these groups:  
Youth – Ages 15 – 21
Older Adults – Ages 20 – 44
Senior Caucasian Males, Over Age 55 (this group has one of the highest rates of suicide)

Source: http://www.sprc.org/stateinformation/PDF/stateplans/plan_mt.pdf