UNC School of Education faculty members Dorothy Espelage, PhD, and Marisa Marraccini, PhD, in collaboration with Nationwide Children’s Hospital and additional partners, will lead North Carolina efforts in a groundbreaking study aimed at reducing adolescent suicide-related risk through school-based prevention programs. The multi-state project is supported by an approximately $16 million funding award from the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI).

The study, “Building Resilience in Teens through Education” (BRITE), will compare the effectiveness of two widely used school-based suicide prevention programs — Signs of Suicide and Youth Aware of Mental Health — as well as a combined approach. Researchers will examine which interventions work best overall, for which students, and in which school contexts, focusing on outcomes such as suicidal ideation, school connectedness, mental health knowledge, and help-seeking behaviors. 

The study will also place trained mental health interventionists in participating communities across North Carolina, Ohio, Idaho, and Washington, strengthening local capacity and ensuring all schools involved have access to an evidence-based suicide prevention program. 

“Our goal is to create schools that are supportive and protective for all youth through peer support and help-seeking,” said Espelage, who is also a faculty fellow within the UNC Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute. “This is a highly collaborative project, with each state site engaging school advisory boards, parent-student advisory boards, and dissemination boards throughout the study.” 

Read the full story, originally published by UNC's School of Education.