Primary Prevention Youth Suicide Trial in Colorado High Schools Prevention Among Colorado High School Students

Primary Prevention Youth Suicide Trial in Colorado High Schools Prevention Among Colorado High School Students

The Impact of Sources of Strength, a Primary Prevention Youth Suicide Program, on Sexual Violence Prevention Among Colorado High School Students

University of Rochester, Texas Tech University, Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Sources of Strength is an evidence based program for youth suicide that trains student key leaders to strengthen social connectedness and healthy norms school-wide and is listed on the National Registry of Evidence Based Programs and Practices (NREPP). This project will expand the existing evidence base by evaluating Sources of Strength for sexual violence outcomes in a randomized controlled trial (RCT) in twenty-four high schools.

At present few programs systematically address broader social-ecological factors such as school-wide norms and youth-adult connectedness that research identifies as major drivers of sexual violence. To address this gap, this application proposes a large-scale RCT evaluation of Sources of Strength to evaluate for sexual violence perpetration outcomes. Sources of Strength is an evidence based program for youth suicide that trains student key leaders to strengthen social connectedness and healthy norms school-wide and is listed on the National Registry of Evidence Based Programs and Practices (NREPP). This project will expand the existing evidence base by evaluating Sources of Strength for sexual violence outcomes, which has never been done before. Twenty-four high schools will be recruited and stratified (rural or urban) and randomly assigned to one of two conditions: (a) immediate Sources of Strength intervention, (b) wait-list for Sources of Strength Implementation after 16 months.

Sources of Strength is an evidence based program for youth suicide that trains student key leaders to strengthen social connectedness and healthy norms school-wide and is listed on the National Registry of Evidence Based Programs and Practices (NREPP).

Sexual violence perpetration will be measured by method of survey as part of the Sources of Strength suicide prevention program

Suicidal ideation and behaviors will be measured by method of survey as part of the Sources of Strength suicide prevention program

Inclusion Criteria: high school student in participating school, parents did not withdraw from study Exclusion Criteria: none