Training Program in Comparative Effectiveness Research for Suicide Prevention

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Project Summary This application is being submitted for a new Training Program in Comparative Effectiveness Research for Suicide Prevention that will be offered by the Department of Epidemiology at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health with predocs also coming from the Department of Psychology in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS) at Harvard University and postdocs from the Department of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School (HMS). The principal objectives of the Training Program will be to educate a new generation of promising interdisciplinary pre- and post-doctoral trainees in the use of cutting-edge methodology for comparative effectiveness research (CER) focused on clinical and policy interventions aimed at reducing suicides and suicide-related behaviors (SRBs; ideation, plans, attempts, other self-injurious behaviors). The application builds on the combined strengths of the epidemiologic methods program in the Epidemiology Department and the strong collaborative research program on suicide prevention across several Departments at Harvard. We aim to train subject matter specialists (clinical psychologists, psychiatric epidemiologists, psychiatrists) in cutting-edge CER methods and to provide trainees who are going to become CER methodologists with the intensive subject matter exposure in suicide prevention research needed to encourage their continued focus on suicides and SRBs in their future studies. All trainees will complete a rigorous core set of courses in modern CER methods as well as receive in-depth training in current theories and empirical CER studies aimed at preventing suicides and SRBs. An extensive network of collaboration exists among training faculty members with each other and with external collaborating in numerous high-profile CER studies focused on interventions to reduce suicides and SRBs. These projects will provide trainees with a rich array of mentored research training opportunities. We are requesting support for a total of six trainees: three predoctoral and three postdoctoral. Training will be a combination of coursework, training seminars led by core faculty, practica, and mentored research training in which CER methods are applied to important projects involving the prevention of suicides and SRBs. Diversity and health disparities will be major foci.