ERIC Number: EJ789437
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2008
Pages: 14
Abstractor: ERIC
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0164-7970
EISSN: N/A
Suicide and Its Impact on Campus
Levine, Heidi
New Directions for Student Services, n121 p63-76 Spr 2008
Although any death on campus can have profound effects on the community, leaving survivors to grope for meaning and cope with feelings of grief and loss, deaths by suicide entail several additional challenges. Shneidman (2001) estimated that an individual's suicide touches the lives of at least six others, creating wide-ranging psychological ripple effects among survivors. Shneidman suggested that in the wake of suicide, survivors are left to wonder what role they might have played in the death or whether there was something they could have done to prevent the suicide. In a college setting, it is likely that the number of people affected will be even greater than Shneidman's estimate, given the widespread patterns of interaction and connection found on campuses. The rate of death by suicide among college-age young adults has, after a slow rise, remained stable for more than twenty years. In the wake of several recent highly publicized cases, increasing attention has been paid to suicide prevention. Models, such as that developed and implemented at the University of Illinois, focus on community education and identification of students at risk. The focus of this article is how campuses can respond effectively when suicides occur.
Descriptors: Campuses, Prevention, Community Education, High Risk Students, Suicide, Identification, Grief, College Students, Crisis Management, Educational Administration, Guidelines
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: Higher Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A