Links to Enhancing Teens' Connectedness (LET's CONNECT)

描述（由申请人提供）：自杀行为在美国青少年中非常普遍，并与大量发病率相关。此外，自杀行为是自杀的主要危险因素，是这一年龄组的第三大死亡原因。尽管自杀行为和自杀具有公共卫生意义，但为青少年制定的循证预防战略很少，侧重于预防自杀行为最初发生的战略就更少了。为了响应RFA- CE-10-006“通过加强联系预防自杀行为”，本申请建议在一项随机对照预防试验中严格评估加强青少年联系（LET's CONNECT）的有效性。LET's CONNECT是为那些由于人际联系较低、最近有欺凌他人的历史和/或最近有被欺负的历史而有自杀行为风险较高的青少年设计的。它将青少年与一名青少年提名的“天然”导师和一名社区导师组成小组，积极促进和支持青少年参与社区组织和活动。具体目的是确定LET's CONNECT条件下的青少年是否相对于对照组条件下的青少年（仅限社区资源信息）：(1)在个人连通性和社区连通性方面有更大的改善，(2)不太可能从事自杀行为。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Suicidal behavior is highly prevalent among adolescents in the United States and associated with substantial morbidity. Moreover, suicidal behavior is a primary risk factor for suicide, which is the third leading cause of death for this age group. Despite the public health significance of suicidal behavior and suicide, few evidence-based prevention strategies have been developed for adolescents and even fewer have focused on preventing the initial occurrence of suicidal behavior. In response to RFA- CE-10-006 "Prevention of Suicidal Behavior through the Enhancement of Connectedness," this application proposes to rigorously assess the effectiveness of Links to Enhancing Teens' Connectedness (LET's CONNECT) in a randomized controlled prevention trial. LET's CONNECT was designed for adolescents who are at elevated risk for suicidal behavior due to low interpersonal connectedness, a recent history of bullying others, and/or a recent history of being bullied. It teams the adolescent with an adolescent-nominated "natural" mentor and a community mentor to actively facilitate and support the adolescent's engagement with community organizations and activities. Specific aims are to determine if adolescents in the LET's CONNECT condition relative to adolescents in the control condition (community resource information only): (1) report greater improvement in individual connectedness and community connectedness, and (2) are less likely to engage in suicidal behavior. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: Despite the high prevalence of suicidal behavior among adolescents and the too frequent tragedy of suicide, few evidence-based suicide prevention strategies have been developed. This application proposes to rigorously assess the effectiveness of the Links to Enhancing Teens' Connectedness (LET's CONNECT). This strategy was designed to enhance family and community connectedness and to prevent the onset of suicidal behavior in adolescents who are at elevated risk due to a history of victimization or exposure to interpersonal violence.