EurekAlert! In the Spotlight - National Suicide Prevention Awareness Month

Welcome to In the Spotlight, where each month we shine a light on something exciting, timely, or simply fascinating from the world of science.

This month, we're turning our attention to National Suicide Prevention Awareness Month, an important time dedicated to raising awareness, breaking stigma, and exploring the science behind mental health and suicide prevention.

Latest news releases

Updates every hour. Last Updated: 26-Apr-2026 10:16 ET (26-Apr-2026 14:16 GMT/UTC)

Rural adolescents are twice as likely to die by suicide compared to their urban peers

Pediatric Academic Societies
Reports and Proceedings

Rural-residing adolescents are twice as likely to die by suicide compared to their urban-residing peers. To better support crisis care for rural youth, researchers developed Plan & Protect, a technology-guided safety planning program for youth with suicidality seeking care in rural emergency departments. Plan & Protect aims to enhance accessibility, usability, and fidelity of safety planning in resource-limited emergency departments, with a goal of supporting more effective crisis care for adolescents in rural communities. The program and findings from the study will be presented at the Pediatric Academic Societies (PAS) 2026 Meeting, taking place April 24-27 in Boston.

Meeting: PAS 2026

Suicide mortality among adolescents and young adults after launch of a suicide and crisis lifeline

JAMA Network
Peer-Reviewed Publication

About The Study: This analysis found that launch of the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline was associated with significant reductions in suicide mortality among adolescents and young adults nationally. Observed reductions were larger in states with the highest uptake of 988 Lifeline services. In July 2022, the U.S. launched the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, replacing the 10-digit 1-800-273-TALK number with a 3-digit number and investing more than $1.5 billion to expand crisis center capacity and workforce nationwide.

Journal: JAMA

Firearm storage and carrying practices and suicidal behaviors in US Army service members

JAMA Network
Peer-Reviewed Publication

About The Study: In this retrospective cross-sectional study, unsecured firearm storage practices were significantly associated with increased suicide risk across all time frames, after controlling for lifetime mental health disorders and history of stressful life events. Carrying a weapon other than a firearm was also associated with heightened suicide risk. The findings suggest firearm storage and carrying behavior of any weapon, not just firearms, may indicate heightened suicide risk among military service members.

Journal: JAMA Network Open

Widely used food preservative implicated in recent uptick in UK suicide deaths

BMJ Group
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A chemical widely used in food preservation is implicated in an uptick in recent UK deaths by suicide, with a disproportionately high number of cases among young people and boys/men, finds a comprehensive analysis of available data for the period 2019-24, published in the open access journal BMJ Public Health. There’s now an urgent public health need to review unrestricted access to this source, to avoid further preventable deaths, say the researchers.

Journal: BMJ Public Health
Funder: William Harvey Foundation

Suicide prevention measures can help AI better protect young users

Canadian Medical Association Journal
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Suicide prevention approaches are key to making sure conversational AI is safe for youth, argues a commentary in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal) https://www.cmaj.ca/lookup/doi/10.1503/cmaj.251693. The adoption of AI chatbots by youth as a source of mental health support makes AI safety an urgent issue.

Journal: Canadian Medical Association Journal

Family-led firearm strategy goes 'beyond the screen' to curb suicide risk

University of Michigan
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A family-centered approach to firearm safety can change how guns are kept in homes and may offer a new path to reducing suicide risk.

Journal: Injury Prevention

Korea University College of Medicine research team demonstrates potential of AI for early detection of self-harm behavior

Korea University College of Medicine

A research team led by Professor Hyun Ghang Jeong from the Department of Psychiatry at Korea University College of Medicine (Korea University Guro Hospital), in collaboration with the research team at Geovision Inc., has published the results of a large-scale validation study investigating the feasibility of early detection of self-harm behavior using artificial intelligence (AI) in psychiatric wards. The study was published in the internationally renowned journal Scientific Reports.

Journal: Scientific Reports

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