Grant: Travel Awards - Institute Community Support

Suicide has impacted many communities in Labrador, and is an important cause of health inequality across the circumpolar world. Suicide prevention has become a priority for many Aboriginal and health care leaders, communities, and governments. In some communities, this has lead to improved access to mental health services and investments in local wellness initiatives. Despite these efforts, some communities in northern Labrador continue to have a high suicide rate. For my doctoral research, I am examining suicide in Labrador with both community-based and statistical methods, through partnerships with Aboriginal groups and the regional health authority. I believe that sharing local information with these groups is needed to help understand the problem, reduce inequalities, and improve community and health system approaches to prevention. During initial consultations, I met with Aboriginal community groups and health care staff in Labrador to talk about how communities cope with suicide and what they do to prevent it. This helped me develop the following research questions based on local priorities: 1)Do suicide rates vary by region? 2)What health services do people use in the year before they die by suicide? 3)What health services do people with suicidal behaviour use after visiting the emergency department? I collected and analyzed data from interviews, vital statistics, and personal medical records to answer these questions. This included information about demographics, health history, health service use, and cause of death. As part of my knowledge translation activities I have submitted two abstracts for presentations at the International Congress on Circumpolar Health in Finland in June 2015. At this meeting, I will share results from a study that compared suicide and injury rates between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal populations, and from another study on health service use among patients with suicidal behaviour.