Suicide Prevention Australia is pleased to announce the recipient of the 2024 Implementation Science Grant funded by the Suicide Prevention Research Fund.
Dr Katie McGill from the University of Newcastle was successful in receiving $49,900 to support research into the process of scaling up the implementation of evidence into practice.
This is the first time the Implementation Science Grant has been funded by the Suicide Prevention Research Fund. The grant aims to fund innovative research to address the implementation gap and progress interventions towards practice.
A brief description of the research being undertaken by Dr Katie McGill is provided below:
Dr Katie McGill, University of Newcastle
Research title: Improving uptake and quality of safety planning in a public mental health service
Description: Safety planning is a recommended component of best practice care for people who are suicidal. It is a brief intervention that helps people address and manage suicidal thoughts and represents a practical and concrete plan a person can follow when feeling suicidal, unsafe or in crisis. The goal of this proposal is to increase uptake and quality of safety planning (an evidence-based intervention) in an Australian mental health service, through use of an implementation science and learning health service approach. Mental health services are a particularly important suicide prevention setting because it is a place/service that reaches very high-risk populations and a setting where people are asking for or expecting treatment. Improving mental health care to those in suicidal crisis and at risk of psychological distress within this setting can help reduce acute suicidality and repetition or transitions from suicidal thoughts to behaviours, while also improving quality of life and recovery outcomes in the longer term.
To learn more about the Suicide Prevention Research Fund, click here.
To read previously funded research, click here.
