Dr. Williams and Shimshock’s Study on Suicidal Thought Published in Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Nursing
An article by Dr. Reg Williams and doctoral student Cana Shimshock appeared in the November 2011 issue of the Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Nursing. The article, entitled, “Suicidal Thought in the Adolescent: Exploring the Relationship between Known Risk Factors and the Presence of Suicidal Thought,” reports on a retrospective study conducted by Dr. Williams and Shimshock on identifying suicidal thought in at-risk adolescents. Clinical Assistant Professor Dr. Barbara-Jean Sullivan also contributed to the research project.
The study involved a secondary analysis of data from a larger intervention study of Navy recruits in basic training. The authors used the data to explore the relationship between recognized risk factors for suicidal thought—such as family history, use or abuse of alcohol and/or drugs, and loss of a parent—and the presence or absence of self-reported suicidal thought.
As a result of the study, the authors found that personal history of mental/emotional problems have a statistically significant relationship to suicidal thought. The article also concludes, “The contribution of sense of belonging to understanding suicidal thought is an important finding. The development of interventions to increase sense of belonging may be a key to reducing suicidal thought during stressful events.”
