Resource

Between December 7, 2021, and January 28, 2022, the Suicide Prevention Resource Center (SPRC) and its partners at Social Science Research and Evaluation, Inc., (SSRE) conducted a Tribal Suicide Prevention Needs Assessment (TNA) with 200 suicide prevention coordinators or other individuals most knowledgeable about the suicide prevention efforts of tribes and tribal health boards (Area Health Boards that serve as member organizations of the National Indian Health Board) throughout the United States.

The primary purpose of the TNA is to help SPRC better understand tribal suicide prevention needs and track changes over time in suicide prevention capacity, while providing information to tribes and tribal health boards on their own progress and on tribal suicide prevention infrastructure and programming in the nation as a whole. Findings from the TNA are also expected to help SPRC identify and develop learning opportunities, supports, and resources for tribal suicide prevention coordinators.

The assessment invited tribal representatives to assess and describe their entity's suicide prevention strengths, challenges, and needs. It included four main sections: (1) Service Landscape, (2) Suicide Prevention Infrastructure [Structure and Support; Capacity and Collaboration; Data, Surveillance, and Evaluation; Strategic Planning and Implementation], (3) Crisis Resources, and (4) Technical Assistance Needs. Throughout the assessment, respondents were asked to assess whether various factors considered beneficial to supporting an effective suicide prevention infrastructure were present in their tribe or tribal health board and detail their major challenges in these areas. They were also given the opportunity to rate their anticipated level of need in the upcoming year for technical assistance services (i.e., support, tools, resources) across a variety of areas