Global Mental Health | Brown University School of Public Health

Together We Can

“Together We Can: Engaging Youth, Caregivers, and Teachers in Suicide Prevention” is a NIH funded community-centered research approach to reduce stigma against mental health and suicidal ideation and behavior, improve mental health literacy, promote healthy coping and help-seeking to address suicide risk for adolescents in rural China.

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Study PI: Shufang Sun, PhD

Brown University School of Public Health

Funded by the National Institutes of Health (1R34MH136243-01)

The Significance

Suicide is now the leading cause of death among adolescents in China, making it a critical public health issue.

With suicide ideation rates between 18-32% and a 2.95% prevalence of attempts, rural adolescents are particularly vulnerable due to poverty, low mental health literacy, and stigma.

Despite the inclusion of psychological health in the curriculum, practical coping and help-seeking skills are not adequately taught.

Our Work So Far

Recognizing the critical role of teachers and caregivers in adolescent mental health, our BNU-Tsinghua-Brown research team co-designed and tested a teacher-focused suicide prevention program called “Life Gatekeeper” in rural China.

This pilot RCT demonstrated significant improvements in teachers’ mental health and suicide literacy, reduced stigmatized attitudes, and increased willingness and competency to intervene.

Life Gatekeeper’s success has laid a strong foundation for developing a comprehensive, multi-level intervention that also includes caregivers and adolescents.

By utilizing mobile health (mHealth) for scalable engagement, we will follow the Exploration, Preparation, Implementation, Sustainment (EPIS) framework to address challenges effectively.

Our approach includes developing a culturally tailored suicide prevention program through multi-level exploration, creating a comprehensive implementation toolkit and manual, and conducting a feasibility randomized control trial to evaluate the program’s effectiveness, acceptability, and safety. Our overarching goal is to integrate this program into schools.