By J.D. EDDY, Editorial Editor
The Institutional Review Board is a peer-review body, responsible for ensuring that the research at the institute safeguards the rights of human research subjects.
Board members often have to talk about tough issues like suicidality, but they often go about it the wrong way.
Suicidality is a controversial topic in many research studies. The board’s exact policy, as written on its website, is: “If a participant reports that he/she is considering suicide, the research team is then responsible for timely and appropriate follow-up to assure the safety of that participant.”
Now, that may seem like it makes sense, but going to someone after saying that the survey is anonymous is a breach of trust.
Not only will you point out to others around this student that they are suicidal, you will also force the student into a corner. If you didn’t know, that is not how you deal with someone thinking about suicide.
Students who are contemplating suicide need to come forward of their own free will, of their own volition.
There are things that shouldn’t be said to someone who is suicidal, especially if you are a random individual that found out the person was at risk for suicidality.
Confronting someone you don’t know and saying things like “You have so much to live for,” “I know how you feel” or even “I would be devastated if you were gone” are examples of things you shouldn’t say.
If you don’t know the person, the best thing to do is advise them where to find counseling services, helplines for suicide prevention, mental health services around their area or something simple like talking to their own family. Going to find them on campus or at their own home is not right.
If I were suicidal, I would not want someone to come find me on campus. It would make me defensive.
I would immediately deny that I was having these thoughts. At the end of most research studies involving the Beck Depression Inventory, resources are always supposed to be given to the individuals taking the survey.
The Institutional Review Board will flag the research study if no resources are listed. They will review the survey or the IRB application that you submit.
Then the board will either approve it or they will deny it. In that case, the applicant often has to rewrite it.
In some cases at Northwestern, applications were flagged for the suicidality question on the Beck Depression Inventory.
The Beck Depression Inventory is a series of questions developed to measure the intensity, severity and depth of depression in patients with psychiatric diagnoses. It is a 21-question inventory with a 1-6 point Likert Scale. Each of these questions is designed to assess a specific symptom of depression.
By explaining all of this, I am trying to show there are other ways to talk to someone with suicidal tendencies. Giving background is showing why the board conducts itself in this way.
Being that 41.6% of college students suffer from depression, it would be fair to say you can encounter this factor of suicidality in a research study. How you handle this is what will make the difference to the student body, and to the student that you are contacting.
While there will be situations with students that you cannot control, you can try to help in different ways.
If you ever send out a study with sensitive material like this, please put resources at the end, or after someone answers that specific question, send them to a page through a hyperlink.
The Institutional Review Board needs to change the way it approaches students after finding out this information.