The 2024 State and Territorial Suicide Prevention Needs Assessment (SNA): Identifying National Strengths and Challenges in Suicide Prevention Infrastructure

Body of Abstract: Effective suicide prevention efforts rely on accurate, timely, and comprehensive data to assess current prevention strategies, understand emerging trends, and address the complex factors contributing to suicide. Collection, analysis, and application of suicide-related data are crucial for developing comprehensive, sustainable suicide prevention infrastructure which is necessary to support informed and impactful suicide prevention efforts.

In 2019, the Suicide Prevention Resource Center (SPRC) released its Recommendations for State Suicide Prevention Infrastructure (Infrastructure Recommendations), identifying six essential elements of suicide prevention infrastructure. The Infrastructure Recommendations and the corresponding essential elements offer concrete recommendations for implementing sustainable suicide prevention infrastructure at the state and territorial level. To assess national progress toward sustainably achieving these essential elements, in 2021, SPRC, with its partner Social Science Research and Evaluation, Inc. (SSRE), conducted the first annual State and Territorial Suicide Prevention Needs Assessment (SNA). The SNA aims to measure suicide prevention infrastructure capacity across the country and offer state and territorial suicide prevention programs the opportunity to articulate needs and track changes in their suicide prevention capacity over time. As the only assessment of its kind, the SNA not only collects and disseminates national suicide prevention infrastructure data, it also provides information directly back to states and territories on their individual progress. The fourth SNA was conducted in 2024.

The SNA employs a multifaceted approach, combining quantitative and qualitative methodologies to gather data on the unique challenges and successes states and territories experience in developing suicide prevention infrastructure. The assessment is divided into six categories that align with the six essential elements and includes scored quantitative and unscored qualitative questions that directly measure state and territorial efforts to achieve the recommendations associated with each of the essential elements, as well as the barriers and successes related to their achievement. An average progress score is calculated across all respondents to determine the United States’ national progress in developing and sustaining suicide prevention infrastructure. All states and territories that participate in the SNA receive personalized infrastructure progress rates, which depict strengths and areas for growth, along with a comparison report that shows how the state or territory’s efforts compare to the national aggregate data.

The 2024 SNA collected data from 53 of the 54 states and territories invited to participate. Each state or territorial suicide prevention representative was asked to assess and describe their state’s suicide prevention infrastructure’s strengths, needs, barriers, and successes. While only one response is collected per state or territory, state or territorial suicide prevention leads are encouraged to collaborate with their partners and colleagues to complete the SNA. The 2024 SNA results showed continued national progress toward developing the six essential elements of suicide prevention infrastructure. The 2024 SNA Aggregate Technical Report was released in October 2024, detailing the complete findings of the SNA.

This presentation will provide an overview of the 2024 SNA national progress rates and explore the themes that emerged in the barriers and successes states and territories experienced in developing suicide prevention infrastructure. These findings, along with a discussion of the three national priority areas and their associated calls to action as identified by SPRC, offer valuable insights around suicide prevention infrastructure needs that policymakers, public health professionals, and suicide prevention champions can use to implement and advance the development of local, state, and national of suicide prevention infrastructure.

Learning Objectives:

• Upon completion participants will be able to describe the six essential elements of suicide prevention infrastructure.
• Upon completion participants will be able to identify the three national priority areas from the 2024 SNA.
• Upon completion participants will be able to access tools and resources to support and promote comprehensive suicide prevention infrastructure.