vanessasgh / safespace-githubpage

TEAM COMMUNICATION

Juliane De Los Santos - Project Manager

Angela Yun - Product Designer

Matthew Putra - Developer

Vanessa Sugiharto - Developer

MISSION STATEMENT

Dismantling the stigma around suicidal discussion.

PROBLEM STATEMENT

Suicide is a leading cause of death among college students. The research done by Vector Solutions suggests suicide to be the second highest cause of death among college students (2018). In Washington State alone, Katherine Long from the Seattle Times reports that “...more than one in 10 [students] have thought of suicide...” (2018). These statistics portray suicide as a large problem among college students deserving additional attention.

The negative impacts of suicide goes beyond that of just the victim. A ripple effect on those associated with the victim in any way also has seemingly limitless consequences ranging from the development of mental disorders to the lack of productivity at the victim's occupational establishment. According to the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs in their article “Postvention as Prevention: Understanding the Impact of Suicide”, they claim that “Those bereaved by suicide have a greater probability of attempting suicide than those bereaved by other causes…” as various studies suggest (2020).

Motives of suicide cannot be pinpointed to one or two roots as every case of suicide is influenced by a multitude of factors. The most common causes identified by the World Health Organization’s article on suicide are related to alcohol and drug use, mental/physical health, relationships, and financial stress (2021). Of these causes, college students seem to suffer from poor mental health the most which could be influenced by the other causes outlined such as use of drugs/alcohol, relationships, and financial stress. The Illinois Department of Public Health claims that National Survey of College Counseling Centers 2013 reported that out of 69 student deaths by suicide, 48 percent of students suffered from depression out of 69 students deaths. The WHO article on suicide also mentions that “The prevention of suicide has not been adequately addressed due to a lack of awareness of suicide as a major public health problem and the taboo in many societies to openly discuss it.” This “stigma”, as some may call it, seems to be a major contributing factor to suicide as it increased the difficulty in identifying suicidal thinkers.

Existing solutions the WHO lists such as the Suicide Prevention Hotline still seem to have little impact on the problem as they require courage from suicidal thinkers to openly identify themselves and risk judgement from others. While follow-ups have shown positive results, the amount of people suffering from suicide, suicidal thoughts, and suicidal tendencies are staying relatively constant. Moreover, universities have their own counselors to prevent college suicides. However, as stated by Vector Solutions, 80% to 90% of college students who died from suicides did not receive help from counselors. This shows that current solutions are not sufficient towards reducing the amount of suicides for college students (2018).

CITATIONS

Illinois Department of Public Health. (2013). SUICIDE and COLLEGE STUDENTS. https://www.dph.illinois.gov/sites/default/files/publications/suicide-ncollege-students-050216.pdf

Long, K. (2018, January 29). Study: Nearly a third of Washington college students have experienced depression. The Seattle Times. https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/education/study-nearly-a-third-of-washington-college-students-have-experienced-depression/

U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs. (2020). Postvention as Prevention: Understanding the Impact of Suicide. https://www.mentalhealth.va.gov/suicide_prevention/docs/Literature_Review_FSTP_Postvention_as_Prevention_508_FINAL_9-18-2019.pdf

Vector Solutions. (2020, September 6). Suicide Second Highest Cause of College Deaths. https://www.vectorsolutions.com/resources/blogs/suicide-second-highest-cause-of-death-among-college-students/

World Health Organization. (2021, June 17). Suicide. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/suicide