Risk Factors for Suicidal Behavior Among Bhutanese Refugees Resettled in the United States

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This predoctoral fellowship award supports the PI’s research training in preparation for a career focused on studying the development of, and risk factors for, suicidal behavior in underserved populations. The research project aims to significantly advance understanding of risk factors for suicidal behavior in the Bhutanese refugee population living in the United States. The project aims to test (1) a comprehensive conceptual model of suicidal behavior by examining incremental risk factors for suicide including suicidal desire, suicidal ideation, thwarted belongingness, and perceived burdensomeness in Bhutanese refugees and (2) the relative contributions of suicidal desire and suicidal ideation as risk factors for suicidal behavior in Bhutanese refugees. Based on the Interpersonal Psychological Theory of Suicide (IPTS), the proposed conceptual model posits that (a) higher levels of perceived burdensomeness and higher levels of thwarted belongingness each, independently, predict increases in suicidal desire and ideation. Additionally, the model will examine (b) the extent to which the interaction of perceived burdensomeness and thwarted belongingness contributes to suicidal desire and suicidal ideation, separately. Finally, the model proposes (c) that suicidal desire captures additional risk of suicidal behavior above and beyond suicidal ideation, alone. The proposed conceptual model will provide the necessary preliminary evidence for a cultural adaptation of well-established proximal risk factors of suicidal behavior and will aid in identifying the earliest and most accurate warning signs for suicide risk in Bhutanese refugees to date. This study will lay the groundwork for future longitudinal tests of the proposed risk factors for suicidal behavior and will allow for the development of interventions designed specifically to reduce suicidal behavior among Bhutanese refugees.