Citation

Collings S. Psychiatr. Danub. 2006; 18(Suppl 1): 102.

Affiliation

Health Sciences, PO Box 7343, 6001, Wellington South, New Zealand. sunny.collings@otago.ac.nz.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2006, Facultas Universitatis Studiorum Zagrabiensis - Danube Symposion of Psychiatry)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

16964042

Abstract

The New Zealand Youth Suicide Prevention Strategy (In Our Hands and Kia Piki te Ora o te Taitamariki) was released in March 1998, and subject to a two-phase evaluation in 2003 and 2005. The strategy development was led by the Ministry of Youth Affairs (later the Ministry of Youth Development), and the evaluations were led by the Centre for Social Research and Evaluation in the Ministry of Social Development. In Our Hands and Kia Piki te Ora o te Taitamariki, the parallel frameworks for suicide prevention in the general youth population and the Maori youth population respectively, were each supported by a review of evidence prepared by independent researchers. Both parts of the evaluation used qualitative methods. Key informants (58 for the first and 28 for the second phase) participated in mostly face to face interviews lasting up to 90 minutes. The second phase of the evaluation also included case studies of several sectors including education, health and NGO social services. Analytic methods were not well described in either report. Key successes identified in the Phase one evaluation included the high quality evidence reviews supporting the strategy, the development of new initiatives such as guidelines for schools and primary care providers, and suicide risk monitoring in the statutory child protection agency. Questions were raised about the effectiveness of having a dual approach for Maori and non-Maori youth; about the "all-encompassing" nature of the strategy which made it difficult to translate into organisational or clinical and human services practice and to develop approaches for population subgroups; and about leadership of and accountability for implementation. The second phase of the evaluation focused on provision of an "information base" that the Ministry of Youth Development could use as a resource to improve the implementation and communication of the strategy. A number of recommendations were made to enhance the dissemination and implementation of the strategy. The New Zealand All-ages Suicide Prevention Strategy will be released in July 2006. It will be compared and contrasted with the Youth Suicide Prevention Strategy to demonstrate the utility of the evaluations and also the limitations on strategy development that result from the political and policy environment.

Language: en