Healthcare disparities stemming from implicit bias can manifest in several ways. For example, a healthcare provider might unconsciously give less attention to a patient or make assumptions about their medical needs based on race, gender, or age. The unconscious assumptions can lead to delayed or inadequate care, misdiagnoses, or inappropriate treatments, all of which can adversely impact health outcomes. Addressing implicit bias in healthcare is crucial for achieving equity in medical treatment. Strategies to combat these biases involve education and awareness Course overview Suicide is a tragic public health consideration that affects all Americans; it is a significant public-health problem that is the 10th-leading cause of death in the United States, claiming more than 38,000 lives annually – almost double the number of homicides – and nearly one million lives annually across the globe. In youth and young adults aged 10 to 25 years, suicide is the third-leading cause of death, accounting for 14.2 deaths per 100,000 in 2018, an increase of 35% relative to 1999 (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2020). It is a leading cause of death on college campuses (Cramer et al., 2020). An untold number of other nonfatal attempts and self-harming behaviors escape surveillance, but all have impact on families, peers, and communities. Even when suicide attempts are survived, these nonfatal attempts increase risk for suicide even further. An estimated 6.7% of nonfatal suicide attempters go on to die by suicide in the years following their attempt (Parra-Uribe et al., 2017), and this is likely a conservative estimate. Therefore, preventing suicide and suicidal behaviors wherever possible is a public-health imperative (David-Ferdon, Crosby, Caine, Hindman, Reed, & Iskander, 2016). Finally, evidence is growing of a substantial trend of increasing suicide rates in the United States since the year 2000 (Hedegaar & Curtin, 2018), with rates among adults and youth approximately 30% higher in 2018 than they were in 2000 (Miron et al., 2019). Even more concerning, the Coronavirus (COVID19) pandemic of 2020 has increased public health concern for continued increases in suicidal behavior (Reger, Stanley, & Joiner, 2020). Given the prevalence and increasing trends of suicidal behavior in the United States, it is more important than ever for clinicians, medical staff, educators, community service providers, and even families to be well-versed on the topic of suicide and the best ways to assess and treat those at risk for suicidal behavior. Indeed, most clinicians will treat suicidal individuals in some capacity during their careers, and even more will interact with suicidal individuals unknowingly, due to still-insufficient knowledge about key risk factors and assessment strategies (Franklin et al., 2016). This is problematic because many Americans assume that mental health professionals have substantial training in this clinical domain; this assumption likely influences help- seeking behaviors and/or beliefs about the wellbeing of those seeking help. Confusion and ambiguities surround the terms used to describe suicidal phenomena. For example, in the United States, the term non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) refers to self- harming behaviors (e.g., cutting, burning, or picking at skin) that do not have a fatal outcome and were not done with suicidal intent. Suicide gesture usually means that a client is engaged in sublethal self-harming behavior, but with a motivation that was not intended as life-ending. However, some use the term to denote any suicide attempt that did not have a fatal outcome. Gesture also has the connotation that the suicide attempt was less serious than one in which a method with a higher lethal probability was used. However,
programs for healthcare professionals. These programs help individuals recognize and acknowledge their biases, fostering a more empathetic and unbiased approach to patient care. Additionally, implementing policies and procedures prioritizing equitable treatment for all patients can play a pivotal role in reducing healthcare disparities. Ultimately, confronting implicit bias in healthcare is essential to creating a more just and equitable healthcare system where everyone receives fair and equal treatment regardless of their background or characteristics. When mental health professionals serve clients with suicidal ideation or behavior, they will often collaborate with members of a multidisciplinary team of professionals from education, mental health, social, and medical services in a variety of inpatient, outpatient and long-term care residential facilities. For clinicians, social workers, educators, and medical professionals to be effective in providing services to clients facing these issues, they must develop competencies of knowledge in the above areas of mental and physical/behavioral health. In addition, they must be competent in clinical skills to deliver the highest quality of care for the welfare of their client. This course will provide information and research on these areas of knowledge to enhance social-work competency in assisting clients with life-threatening suicidal ideation and behavior. The purpose of this course is to assist clinicians in understanding factors that contribute to suicidal behavior, conducting comprehensive suicide risk assessments, and engaging patients in brief, empirically-supported interventions to reduce risk of death. This course meets an increasing demand of many mental health professionals seeking information about working with suicidal clients and conducting empirically- supported suicide risk assessments. This intermediate-level course is designed for social workers, mental health counselors, marriage and family therapists, educators, community-based program administrators, providers, and psychologists. The course will cover major risk factors, demographics and warning signs for suicidal behavior, as well as provide guidance on clinical risk assessment and options for intervention. Although the information presented here is useful to many mental health providers, no continuing education course can provide all the information that may be required in working with each individual who comes for help. It is therefore important that mental health providers consult knowledgeable colleagues, review the most recent articles and books on the topic of suicide, read and understand the risk-management practices of their agency, and maintain awareness of applicable local and state laws concerning the management and referral of suicidal persons. References and resources for those interested in pursuing further education on this topic are provided at the end of the course.
CLARIFICATION OF TERMS
suicide gestures should be taken very seriously, and clinicians should focus on lethality and intent of any suicide- related behavior (Frey et al., 2020). The term commit suicide is one that advocacy and other groups challenge because the word commit usually connotes engaging in a crime. (Suicide once was considered a crime.) The favored terms are to complete suicide or die by suicide, and this course holds to that convention (Massachusetts Coalition for Suicide Prevention, 2016).
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