Presenter Profile
Dawn M. Porter, MS, CHES
American Foundation for Suicide Prevention
dporter@afsp.org
Dawn Porter worked in collaboration with communities with community partners for over ten years to prevent child injury and death including suicide prevention. She graduated from University of Central Arkansas, with a Masters of Science with emphasis in Health Promotion. She was awarded one of two CDC supported regional injury prevention fellowships in 2021. Her fellowship focused on the development of a suicide prevention resource digital platform for communities across Arkansas in collaboration with multiple organizational partnerships, including American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.
She was a contributing author of a book chapter “Building Injury Prevention Capacity Through Community Partnership” in the Hospital-based Injury and Violence Prevention Programs. She is currently in her third year of the Doctoral of Leadership in Equity and Inclusion program at University of Central Arkansas. Her dissertation focus is suicide prevention from the lens of leadership. She is the Arkansas Programs Manager for American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.
Presentations
Middle and High School Principals' Perceptions and Practices for Implementing Suicide Prevention Programs for Their Students in Their Schools.
Dawn M. Porter, MS, CHES
Dr. Louis S. Nadelson, PhD
Hope Mullins, MPH
Suicide is the 2nd leading cause of death in children 10-18 years old. Suicide deaths among children have profound effect on educational communities. Secondary schools are prime location to provide suicide prevention education as students spend most of their time in classroom learning environments. Unfortunately, many school faculty and staff are inadequately prepared to identify and intervene when a student is at risk for suicide. As the school leader, principals have the opportunity to provide and support suicide prevention programs for their students. Our search of the literature search indicated a research gap in principals’ perceptions of and engagement in implementing suicide prevention programs for their students. To address the gap, we conducted a qualitative research study to explore school principals’ knowledge of suicide prevention programs, their perceptions of logistical and cultural barriers, and justification for adopting suicide prevention programs.
Accessing a publicly accessible database of principals, we recruited participants via email. We focused on principals working in secondary schools where no suicide prevention work was taking place. We conducted semi-structured interviews via zoom of eight secondary school principals working in a south-central region of the United States. Interview protocol consisted of questions that aligned with the concepts of the Health Belief Model and was designed to elicit responses detailing the principal’s experience with suicide among their students, identify potential barriers to implementation, and justifications for adopting suicide prevention programs.
We found principals’ justifications for adopting suicide prevention programs were the desire to address their student’s mental health and improved learning. Principals also recognized the need for suicide prevention programming. Logistical and cultural barriers included limited staffing, lack of knowledge of suicide prevention program resources, and support from the school district central administration. The principals also shared the cultural barriers of stigma and community resistance to school involvement in suicide prevention. Our results indicated for principals seeking to overcome barriers to implementing suicide prevention programs, they will need support and resources and will need to address issues of knowledge and perceptions in their school and community.
School-based suicide prevention programs can have high impact on the well-being on all in the school. There is a need to prepare principals and staff with the training and resources to identify students who may be thinking of suicide. However, there is also a need for extensive communication to ensure accurate knowledge, meaningful interventions, and sustained implementation. Many principals could benefit from professional development focused on implementation of suicide prevention programs, and there may be a high impact by including implementation of the programs as part of the initial leadership preparation.
1. Participants will have an increased knowledge of school principals' justifications for implementation of suicide prevention program in their schools.
2. Participants will have an increased knowledge of school principals' cultural barriers they face that can prevent implementation of suicide prevention programs in their schools.
3. Participants will have an increased knowledge of school principal's logistical barriers they face that can prevent implementation of suicide prevention programs in their schools.