Project Proposal: Reducing the Incidence of Suicide in Indigenous Groups – Strengths United through Networks (RISING-SUN).

• Main Author: Sustainable Development Working Group (SDWG)
• Format: Other/Unknown Material
• Language: English
• Published: Sustainable Development Working Group (SDWG) 2015
• Subjects: SDWG; Arctic
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/11374/1534

"Objective of Project: To create common metrics for evaluating suicide prevention efforts in the Arctic as a key component of scaling up and evaluating interventions across the circumpolar region. Rationale: RISING SUN (Reducing the Incidence of Suicide in Indigenous Groups-- Strengths United through Networks) is designed as a follow-on activity to the Canadian-initiated mental wellness project of 2013-2015. Whereas the Canadian-initiated project focused on best practices from the literature and community-based interventions, RISING SUN is designed to take the next logical step: creating a common, science-based set of metrics to evaluate the key correlates and outcomes associated with suicide prevention interventions, across Arctic states. Common metrics, developed through an on-going engagement with Permanent Participants and community leaders, as well as mental health experts, will facilitate data sharing and pooling, evaluation, and interpretation of interventions across service systems. These metrics will aid health workers to better serve the needs of their communities while helping policymakers measure progress, evaluate the scale up of interventions, and identify impediments to implementation and cultural adaptability challenges. Arriving at common metrics and reporting systems is especially important in the Arctic, where the vast geography, significant number of remote communities, and breadth of cultural diversity, pose challenges for systematic approaches to suicide prevention." /./