title: School Personnel Experiences in Notifying Parents About Their Child's Risk for Suicide: Lessons Learned.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Schools across the nation are increasingly implementing suicide prevention programs that involve training school staff and connecting students and their families to appropriate services. However, little is known about how parents are engaged in such efforts.
  
  
  METHODS
  This qualitative study examined school staff perspectives on parent involvement in the implementation of a district-wide suicide prevention program by analyzing focus group and interview data gathered on the program implementation processes. Participants included middle school teachers, administrators, and other school personnel.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Study results revealed that in the immediate wake of a crisis or concern about suicide, school staff routinely contacted parents. However, substantial barriers prevent some students from receiving needed follow-up care (eg, lack of consistent follow-up, financial strain, parental stress, availability of appropriate services). Despite these challenges, school staff identified strategies that could better support parents before, during, and after the crisis. In particular, school-based services increased the success of mental health referrals.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our study suggests that systematic postcrisis follow-up procedures are needed to improve the likelihood that students and families receive ongoing support. In particular, school-based services and home visits, training and outreach for parents, and formal training for school mental health staff on parent engagement may be beneficial in this context.
authors.affiliation: Ferkauf Graduate School of Psychology, Yeshiva University, 1165 Morris Park Ave, Bronx, NY 10461. erum.nadeem@einstein.yu.edu.|Department of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, New York University School of Medicine, One Park Ave, 7th Floor, NYU Child Study Center, New York, NY 10016. erum.nadeem@einstein.yu.edu.
authors.forename: Erum
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Nadeem
authors.affiliation: Loyola University Chicago, Department of Psychology, 1032 W. Sheridan Road, Chicago, IL 60660. csantiago4@luc.edu.
authors.forename: Catherine DeCarlo
authors.initials: CD
authors.lastname: Santiago
authors.affiliation: Center for Health Services and Society, Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, University of California, 10920 Wilshire Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90024. skataoka@ucla.edu.
authors.forename: Sheryl H
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Kataoka
authors.affiliation: 1220 University Drive, Menlo Park, CA 94025. vychang@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Vickie Y
authors.initials: VY
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.affiliation: RAND Corporation, Adjunct Associate Professor of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, 4570 Fifth Ave., Pittsburgh, PA 15213. stein@rand.org.
authors.forename: Bradley D
authors.initials: BD
authors.lastname: Stein
mesh_terms: D005260:Female; D017144:Focus Groups; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008297:Male; D035622:Parental Notification; D015397:Program Evaluation; D012574:Schools; D000068217:Social Workers; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology*; D000092864:Suicide Prevention
keywords: implementation; parent involvement; schools mental health; suicide prevention