Lisa Horowitz

Title

Developing and Implementing the Ask Suicide-Screening Questions (ASQ) Tool: Translating Research Into Practice (1.5 CE/CPD)

Date/Time

Abstract

Suicide is the third leading cause of death for youth aged 10-24, claiming over 6,600 young lives in 2020 (CDC, 2020). Validated screening tools are necessary to identify those at risk for suicide and connect them to lifesaving care. Given that 80% of youth who died by suicide saw a healthcare provider within a year of their death, with 40% visiting as recently as within four weeks, medical settings are ideal venues for identifying those at elevated risk and bridging them to further care (Ahmedani et al., 2014)

The presentation will describe the development, validation, and implementation of the Ask Suicide-Screening Questions (ASQ), a suicide risk screening tool for all ages that can be feasibly administered in medical settings (Horowitz et al., 2012, Aguinaldo et al. 2020, Horowitz et al 2020). Implementation examples will illustrate how research on suicide risk screening can translate into practice to ensure that individuals of all backgrounds receive mental health support in clinical and community settings.

Bio

Dr. Lisa Horowitz, PhD, MPH, is a Pediatric Psychologist and a Senior Associate Scientist at the National Institute of Mental Health at NIH. Dr. Horowitz received her doctorate in clinical psychology from George Washington University, completed a Pediatric Health Service Research Fellowship at Harvard Medical School, and obtained a Masters in Public Health at the Harvard School of Public Health. The major focus of Dr. Horowitz’s research has been in the area of suicide prevention in the medical setting. She is lead PI on five NIMH suicide prevention protocols that involve validating and implementing tools for clinicians, such as the Ask Suicide-Screening Questions (ASQ). She is also one of the co-authors of the Blueprint for Youth Suicide Prevention, released by the American Academy of Pediatrics this past March. Dr. Horowitz is collaborating with hospitals and outpatient clinics around the country, assisting with implementation of suicide risk screening and management of patients who screen positive using the ASQ Toolkit and Clinical Pathways, nimh.nih.gov/ASQ