Student Work

Every year students from the Suicide Prevention Lab present research at the American Association of Suicidology's Annual Conference. This year, we anticipate ten or more student presentations! Students are analyzing data collected from the Operation Worth Living (OWL) study, the Louisville VA sample, as well as from the Georgia Juvenile Justice System. The following is a brief outline of expected presentations:

- Abby Ridge Anderson (5th Year Clinical Doctoral Student) will be co-leading a workshop entitled Understanding and Treating Suicidal Risk in Young Children. This workshop will review the current research on risk factors and correlates of suicidal ideation and behaviors in children under age 12, as well as present recent innovations in using CAMS to treat suicidality in children.

- Josephine Au (4th Year Clinical Doctoral Student) is currently examining how data from the Suicide Status Form can inform clinical judgment and predict different suicide typology.

- Brain Piehl (3rd Year Clinical Doctoral Student) is examining the feasibility and the implications of a new clinical tool, the Perspective Taking Task (PTT). The tool aims to reduce feelings of perceived burdensomeness, and thus suicidal ideation, by having individuals take the vantage point of those in their close social circle, particularly in reference to the individual's desire to use suicide as a viable coping mechanism.

- Samantha Chalker (3rd Year Clinical Doctoral Student) is examining how treatment fidelity is a crucial consideration within a “SMART” (sequential, multiple assignment, randomized trial) research design because the same clinicians provide both the experimental (the Collaborative Assessment and Management of Suicidality (CAMS)) and non-experimental (treatment as usual (TAU)) treatments. There are three aims of the current study: (a) to determine variability within the experimental treatment (CAMS) arm of the study, (b) to understand the clinical implications of the same clinicians providing both the experimental and non-experimental treatments in a randomized controlled trial, and (c) to examine how treatment fidelity may impact clinical practice and experimental outcomes.

- Mariam Gregorian (2nd Year Clinical Doctoral Student) is developing a new clinical intervention, "Mental Time Travel" (MTT), which is designed to treat the common suicidal "driver" of self-hatred within CAMS. The intervention aims to reflect on and deconstruct self-hatred by asking the patient to explore its connection to their own suicidality from past, present, and future perspectives. MTT is currently being examined for feasibility among a sample of individuals who have recently attempted suicide.

- Victoria Colborn (2nd Year Clinical Doctoral Student) is currently examining gender differences in suicidality based on Suicide Status Form data. This research is expected to expand our understanding of gender differences beyond epidemiological factors to person-specific risk factors in order to begin to inform gender-specific assessment and treatment for individuals struggling with suicidal thoughts and behaviors.

- Arghavan Hamedi (2nd Year MA Student) is assessing the naturalistic behavioral tendencies of suicidal patients to become preoccupied with a particular issue that is highly associated with increased suicidal ideation that may be refractory to treatment.

- Melvin Walker (2nd Year MA Student) is assessing suicidal outcomes of command-referred versus self-referred Soldiers to behavioral health.