Module 3 > Populations at elevated risk
Some populations experience elevated risk of suicide because of historical and current-day policies, laws, practices, and procedures that shape the determinants of health. One of the seven strategies included in the CDC’s Preventing Suicide: A Technical Package of Policy, Programs, and Practices is to identify and support people at risk. Who are the populations at elevated risk for suicide? The CDC regularly tracks and reports national-level data on suicide and leading causes of death for different groups in the U.S. These data indicate that people in certain age groups, from marginalized identities or geographical areas, with certain life experiences, and who work in certain industries are at elevated risk of suicide.
To skip ahead and learn about examples of equitable solutions for populations at elevated risk, click here.
National Data Sources
This tool from the Suicide Prevention Resource Center includes a number of common sources of national suicide data.
Spotlight
In late August of 2020, the CDC’s weekly Morbidity and Mortality Report focused on Mental Health, Substance Abuse, and Suicidal Ideation during the COVID-19 Pandemic. The report highlighted that during the last week of June 2020, U.S. adults reported considerably elevated adverse mental health conditions associated with COVID-19. Younger adults, people of color, essential workers, and adults with caregiving responsibilities reported having experienced disproportionately worse mental health outcomes, increased substance use, and elevated suicidal ideation.
In A Guide for Health Systems to Save Lives from “Deaths of Despair” and Improve Community Well-Being, the Institute for Healthcare Improvement identifies two populations potentially experiencing elevated risk during the COVID-19 pandemic:
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Healthcare Workers Magnified during the COVID-19 pandemic, the healthcare workforce has experienced significant trauma. The workforce includes providers, food-service staff, environmental-services staff, community health workers, and all who contribute their skills to ensure a functioning health system. Physicians, nurses, and other healthcare workers face extremely high rates of burnout — emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and feelings of inefficacy resulting from chronic work related stress — though they rarely seek treatment, which may result in worsening illness or even death by suicide.
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Essential Workers Certain aspects of the “essential” workforce have experienced disproportionate burdens of exposure to the virus, fear, and stresses that threaten wellbeing. These include grocery store workers, workers in the hospitality industry, transportation workers, food and agriculture workers, and other jobs that support critical infrastructure and can only be done in person. Unfortunately, much of this burden falls on people in low-paying jobs who are already struggling with economic and other challenges. This, too, has played out as a disproportionate burden on people of color.
Reflection Questions
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How is your community supporting the mental health and wellbeing of healthcare workers and essential workers during the pandemic?
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Read this article about mental health challenges in the Asian-American community in the context of xenophobia and anti-Asian violence during the coronavirus pandemic. What are some ways that infrastructure disruptions can marginalize communities further?
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What lessons from the coronavirus pandemic can be applied to future infrastructure disruptions?
Photo credits: CC by sdttds, CC by the Nevada National Guard, and IG by Soni López-Chávez