We are happy to announce that the piece that we have been working on with the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP) has just been published as a part of their ‘Stories’ blog! This blog features voices of researchers, advocates, policymakers, and those who have been personally affected by suicide to provide their audience with diverse and valuable perspectives on suicide prevention in the U.S. (read more of the stories here).

Our blog post focuses on data quality in the National Violent Death Reporting System (NVDRS), which is an essential dataset and tool for researchers that study suicidality. Specifically, it explains work previously done by GREMAP that investigated the narrative data in the NVDRS and observed significant inequalities in the narratives based on the individual characteristics of the suicide victim, primarily for older adults, people of color, and those with less education. This blog briefly discusses these findings and highlights the importance of improving this qualitative aspect of NVDRS data to further suicide prevention efforts.

It is a part of the public engagement aspect of the Aging, Transitions over the Lifespan, and Suicide (ATLAS) Study, which prioritizes working with stakeholders such as advocacy groups like AFSP.

You can read the blog here.