Conference Agenda

Suicide prevention education is widely implemented, yet little empirical work examines how specific pedagogical features support clinical learning in youth suicide prevention. This study investigates how a theory-informed digital skills training course supports readiness to engage with suicidal children and adolescents across stages of clinical training, from advanced students to experienced youth mental health clinicians.
Clinical Suicide Prevention – Children and Adolescents is a digital course refined through three decades of clinical and educational work. Recent digitalisation strengthened key components—filmed scenarios, structured reasoning tasks with feedback, and narrative and community-based activities such as expert interviews and shared reflections—enabling engagement with realistic clinical situations. Cognitive apprenticeship, communities of practice, and narrative pedagogy informed both the design and the analysis of learner engagement. The course is delivered on the SPERA learning platform, launched in 2025 as a national infrastructure for clinical suicide prevention education in Sweden.
This mixed-methods study examines learning across senior undergraduate (n=150), postgraduate health professions students (n=25) and clinicians (n=50) in youth mental health services. Participants will complete pre–post self-report measures of perceived readiness for clinical encounters with suicidal youth and their caregivers, and post-course evaluations with open-text reflections. Semi-structured interviews with a subset of clinicians and students will be analysed using reflexive thematic analysis.
Preliminary results indicate that learners emphasise the value of practising authentic clinical tasks in manageable steps and observing modelling of preventive oriented, person-centred consultations. Self-report data indicate increased perceived readiness to approach suicidal youth. Novice learners describe gaining a coherent structure for rehearsing a full clinical encounter, whereas experienced clinicians highlight refinements in intuitive reasoning and articulation of tacit knowledge.
By clarifying how pedagogical design features support learning in youth suicide prevention, this study outlines a scalable, clinically grounded model for strengthening competence across the youth mental health workforce.

Background/Aims. Nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI) is a multifactorial behavior.The aim of this presentation is to summarize and synthesize recent findings of the Research Group of Childhood Mental Disorders at Eötvös Loránd University and Semmelweis University, Budapest focusing on risk factors of NSSI.
Methods. The presented research includes a systematic review, cross-sectional analyses in clinical and non-clinical adolescent populations, and models assessing psychological and environmental mediators.
Results. Externalizing disorders significantly contribute to the emergence of NSSI, while challenges in terminology and diagnostic categorization complicate interpretation. Pathological internet use is linked to NSSI only in the presence of comorbid psychiatric disorders. Maladaptive perfectionism shows a consistent association with NSSI.
Negative or cumulative life events differentiate adolescents engaging in NSSI in both clinical and non-clinical adolescent populations and may predict progression toward suicidal behavior. Vocational school students show higher rates of NSSI compared to high school students. Finally, cyberbullying involvement is associated with NSSI, with anxiety - but not depression - mediating this relationship.
Conclusions. Recent findings of the Research Group of Childhood Mental Disorders, Budapest emphasize the need for multidimensional assessment and targeted prevention and intervention strategies addressing both individual vulnerabilities and social contexts in which NSSI developed.

Suicide among young people remains a pressing public health concern in Sweden, where declining suicide rates in most age groups have not been mirrored among individuals aged 0–24. Despite extensive research on risk and protective factors, the existing evidence base often lacks a contextualised exploration of how individual, psychosocial, and environmental factors interact over time. This study aims to explore the path toward suicide from a life-course perspective by examining the life circumstances, life events, and healthcare interactions preceding suicide among young people.
This study draws on medical records from all individuals aged 0–24 who died by suicide in Stockholm County during 2015 (n = 27). Using life charts, we seek to map the sequence of documented experiences and contacts with healthcare services across the life course. The use of life charts enables us to trace individual trajectories but also to compare constellations across cases. Through an inductive approach, themes will be generated directly from the data without predefined categories, supporting a nuanced exploration of both individual and shared experiences within the suicidal process.
As data extraction and analysis are currently ongoing, the presentation will focus on the methodological approach and preliminary reflections on how constellations of significant life events, life circumstances, and healthcare interactions may interact across the life course, as communicated and documented within healthcare.

Suicide rates among young people in Sweden have remained stable or increased over the past two decades, contrasting with declines in other age groups. While previous research has identified key risk factors, such as depression, social isolation, and adverse life events, less is known about how these factors intersect and unfold within young people’s everyday lives. This project seeks to complement existing knowledge by exploring suicidality as a dynamic, relational process shaped by social contexts, life circumstances, and meaning-making practices.

Using an exploratory, multi-method design, the study combines event analysis techniques with qualitative and ethnographic approaches to reconstruct life trajectories and examine how relationships, systemic responses, and key events interact over time. Data sources include document analysis (medical records, social service notes, forensic reports), digital footprint analysis, and narrative interviews with three participant groups: (1) young people (15–24) who have survived serious suicide attempts, (2) significant others of deceased youth, and (3) professionals who engaged with these individuals prior to their death. The iterative design allows evolving themes to guide the research process, ensuring that young people’s perspectives remain central to both analysis and the development of preventive strategies.

By moving beyond static risk models, this research aims to generate a nuanced understanding of how suicidality develops and where intervention might be most effective. Ultimately, the goal is to contribute to a suicide-preventive model grounded in youth experiences, one that complements existing approaches and informs strategies across healthcare, education, and social policy. The presentation will share early lessons learned and reflect on how this perspective can enrich ongoing efforts to rethink suicide prevention.

Previous Swedish research has reported an annual 2.2% increase in suicides among individuals under 18 years between 2000 and 2018, but longer-term trends remain insufficiently described. The aim was to examine paediatric suicide incidence in Sweden from 1980 to 2023, analyse trends by sex and age groups (10–14 and 10–17 years), and identify potential temporal changes using joinpoint analysis. This study used national data from the Swedish Cause of Death Register (1980–2023; N = 878 suicides aged 10–17; 58% males; n = 205 aged 10–14; 52% males). Crude suicide rates per 100,000 population were calculated using mid-year population denominators. Time trends were analysed using Joinpoint regression, estimating Annual Percentage Change (APC) with 95% confidence intervals (CI). Annual crude paediatric suicide rates (ages 10-17) averaged 1.84 per 100 000 between 1980 and 1989 and increased to 2.58 per 100 000 between 2014 and 2023 (from 17 to 24 deaths annually). In ages 10-14, the corresponding crude rates were 0.40 and 1.31 per 100 000 (increased from 2.2 to 7.7 deaths annually). The increase was driven by rising female rates, which increased linearly (P < 0.0001), while male rates remained unchanged (P > 0.163). No joinpoints indicating abrupt trend changes were identified. The increase among females was steeper in ages 10–14 (APC = 4.55%; 95% CI 3.61–6.32) than in ages 10–17 (APC = 2.33%; 95% CI 1.35–3.31). The male-to-female ratio declined over time and reversed in ages 10–14 after 2002. Paediatric suicide rates in Sweden have increased over more than four decades, driven primarily by sustained increases among girls, particularly in younger age groups. The historical male predominance has diminished. Findings highlight the need for improved early identification of suicidality and strengthened clinical and public health interventions, including developmentally adapted clinical training how to perform assessments of suicidal children and safety planning.