First-Ever National Research Agenda for Suicide Prevention

The National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention’s Research Prioritization Task Force (RTF) is tasked with developing a national research agenda aimed at identifying research pathways to reduce morbidity and mortality by at least 20% in 5 years and 40% or greater in 10 years, if fully implemented. The RPTF is happy to announce that A Prioritized Research Agenda for Suicide Prevention: An Action Plan to Save Lives has now been made public and can be accessed electronically at www.suicide-research-agenda.org.
 
The RPTF research prioritization process has considered multiple approaches to prioritization. RTF began this process by seeking input from relevant stakeholders through an online survey and Delphi process.
 
This input led to the development of 12 Aspirational Goals (AGs) for moving the field of suicide research forward, which guided the rest of our process, including: review of extant suicide prevention scientific literature; analysis of the current research portfolios of public and private funding agencies; calculating burden among accessible subpopulations; estimating potential intervention benefits; and synthesizing input from a National Institutes of Health Request for Information on methodological roadblocks and new paradigms needed to move science forward.
 
As part of this process, the RPTF also engaged a panel of Overview Experts who considered various research pathways provided by Topic Experts—research experts in particular topic areas in the suicide prevention field. Topic Experts presented to the Overview Expert Panel from October 2012 through February 2013. These presentations helped to inform the development of the final Agenda.
 
SAVE played a lead role with the Task Force in developing this national plan for suicide prevention research and hope that this Agenda will help move the field forward and to save lives! 
 
To find out more about the RPTF and to stay up-to-date on its progress, please visit www.suicide-research-agenda.org.