UMass Medical receives $1.5M to research suicide prevention

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By Sam Bonacci

A UMass Medical School professor is the recipient of nearly $1.5 million that will be used in conjunction with two other researchers to study ways to reduce short-term risk of suicide for those who have been evaluated and treated by the hospital.

The $1,495,075 grant from the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention is part of the organization’s annual research grants that totalled $4 million this year, according to AFSP. The UMass figure is the largest given out this year by the foundation and will be headed up in Worcester by Dr. Edwin D. Boudreaux, who is a professor of emergency medicine, psychiatry and the quantitative health sciences vice chair of research in the Department of Emergency Medicine. The research will be conducted with other doctors from the University of Pennsylvania Psychiatry in Philadelphia and Columbia University Medical Center in New York City.

The study, titled “Safety Planning Intervention to Reduce Short Term Risk" seeks to answer the question of “Will helping people develop a safety plan when in the emergency room for a suicide attempt prevent future suicidal behavior?” The potential impact of the study could be a reduced rate of suicidal behavior among high-risk people who have been evaluated and treated in acute care, according to the foundation.