Running head: PREVENTING TEEN SUICIDE 1
Commitment to Action: Preventing Teen Suicide
Carole N. Bingley
Chamberlain College of Nursing
NR554: The Nurse Leader and Healthcare Policy-
Fildes April 2018
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https://www.coursehero.com/file/30553991/Bingley-NR554-W7-Commitment-to-Action-Teen-Suicide-
, PREVENTING TEEN SUICIDE IN NORTHEAST 2
Commitment to Action: Preventing Teen Suicide
Teen suicide has become an epidemic across the United States, suicide second only to
accidents as the leading cause of death among individuals ages 15 to 19 (Murphy, Xu,
Kochanek, Curtin, & Arias, 2017). The rate of suicidal ideation, planning, and attempt has risen
in each of the last nine years for this age group (“Trends”, 2017). The CDC estimates, via the
youth risk behavior survey, that 17.7% of American high school students seriously consider
suicide in a given year, 14.6% concocting plans to commit suicide, and 8.6% attempting suicide
in a given year (“United States 2015 Results”, 2017). For students in the Cleveland Metropolitan
School District, these numbers are even more striking, 20.7% having attempted suicide in the
past 12 months as of 2015 (“Cleveland, OH 2015 Results”, 2017). For teens aged 15-19, suicide
is more prevalent than in the adult population by a factor of 3.6, 48.3 of every 100,000
individuals in this age group committing suicide in a given year (American Foundation for
Suicide Prevention, 2017). With this public health crisis sweeping across the United States, and
especially in Northeast Ohio, more effective interventions are necessary. The best medium
through which improvements can be pursued is the education system, where individuals in the
affected age groups are most accessible and where comprehensive suicide prevention initiatives
can be implemented.
Nursing Role Function
Nurses on legislative staffs are most apt to advocate for education-driven solutions to the
teen suicide epidemic because legislators can enact laws that simultaneously impact multiple
school districts at the same time. If grant-matching programs and hiring mandates are necessary
for schools to provide adequate access to mental health treatment, legislators can bring those
solutions into practice by instituting regulations on government agencies and school districts to
This study source was downloaded by 100000861168648 from CourseHero.com on 04-07-2023 01:08:01 GMT -
https://www.coursehero.com/file/30553991/Bingley-NR554-W7-Commitment-to-Action-Teen-Suicide-
Commitment to Action: Preventing Teen Suicide
Carole N. Bingley
Chamberlain College of Nursing
NR554: The Nurse Leader and Healthcare Policy-
Fildes April 2018
This study source was downloaded by 100000861168648 from CourseHero.com on 04-07-2023 01:08:01 GMT -
https://www.coursehero.com/file/30553991/Bingley-NR554-W7-Commitment-to-Action-Teen-Suicide-
, PREVENTING TEEN SUICIDE IN NORTHEAST 2
Commitment to Action: Preventing Teen Suicide
Teen suicide has become an epidemic across the United States, suicide second only to
accidents as the leading cause of death among individuals ages 15 to 19 (Murphy, Xu,
Kochanek, Curtin, & Arias, 2017). The rate of suicidal ideation, planning, and attempt has risen
in each of the last nine years for this age group (“Trends”, 2017). The CDC estimates, via the
youth risk behavior survey, that 17.7% of American high school students seriously consider
suicide in a given year, 14.6% concocting plans to commit suicide, and 8.6% attempting suicide
in a given year (“United States 2015 Results”, 2017). For students in the Cleveland Metropolitan
School District, these numbers are even more striking, 20.7% having attempted suicide in the
past 12 months as of 2015 (“Cleveland, OH 2015 Results”, 2017). For teens aged 15-19, suicide
is more prevalent than in the adult population by a factor of 3.6, 48.3 of every 100,000
individuals in this age group committing suicide in a given year (American Foundation for
Suicide Prevention, 2017). With this public health crisis sweeping across the United States, and
especially in Northeast Ohio, more effective interventions are necessary. The best medium
through which improvements can be pursued is the education system, where individuals in the
affected age groups are most accessible and where comprehensive suicide prevention initiatives
can be implemented.
Nursing Role Function
Nurses on legislative staffs are most apt to advocate for education-driven solutions to the
teen suicide epidemic because legislators can enact laws that simultaneously impact multiple
school districts at the same time. If grant-matching programs and hiring mandates are necessary
for schools to provide adequate access to mental health treatment, legislators can bring those
solutions into practice by instituting regulations on government agencies and school districts to
This study source was downloaded by 100000861168648 from CourseHero.com on 04-07-2023 01:08:01 GMT -
https://www.coursehero.com/file/30553991/Bingley-NR554-W7-Commitment-to-Action-Teen-Suicide-
