ANN ARBOR – Researchers at the University of Michigan have developed a universal screening tool that accurately predicts the suicide risk of a teenagers during emergency care visits.
Over the past decade, the suicide rate among adolescents in the U.S. has drastically increased. One of the greatest challenges that mental health professionals face is identifying young people who are in need of urgent help.
In response, researchers at Michigan Medicine have developed a personalized system to be used in emergency room visits to better detect which youths may be suicidal. The tool alerts caregivers if an adolescent is at risk and whether they need follow-up interventions.
“Too many young people are dying by suicide and many at high risk go completely unrecognized and untreated,” lead author Cheryl King, a professor, clinical child psychologist and director of the Youth and Young Adult Depression and Suicide Prevention Research Program in the Department of Psychiatry at Michigan Medicine said in a statement.
Read the full article at Click on Detroit.
