The Center for Population Health (CPHHP) is conducting an evaluation of the Garrett Lee Smith Connecticut Campus Suicide Prevention Initiative (CCSPI). The initiative is made possible by the Garrett Lee Smith Memorial Act which was named in memory of Senator Gordon H. Smith’s son, a 21 year-old college student who died by suicide. CCSPI awarded four campuses and five Regional Action Councils sub-grants to implement campus/community specific initiatives aimed at reducing suicide contemplation, attempts and deaths of college students in Connecticut aged 18 to 24. Awarded campuses and community agencies work with DMHAS and its partners to assess gaps in services and implement evidence-based strategies appropriate for their unique environments such as capacity and infrastructure building and developing or enhancing evidence-based suicide prevention, intervention and response strategies listed on the Suicide Prevention Resource Center Best Practice Registry.

The evaluation design uses a comprehensive framework detailed in the handbook Understanding Evaluation: The Way to Better Prevention Programs which was developed with funding from the U.S. Department of Education (Muraskin, 1993). The model espouses three evaluation components: process, outcome and impact. The process evaluation measures programmatic activities and collaborative efforts at the State, campus and community levels related to expanding and enhancing the CCSPI. The outcome evaluation is designed to measure the Cross-Site Evaluation Tools required by SAMHSA. The impact evaluation component is designed to measure long-term program effects using the Suicide Prevention Exposure, Awareness and Knowledge Survey (SPEAKS)-S (Student Version), Suicide Prevention Exposure, Awareness and Knowledge Survey (SPEAKS)-F/S (Faculty/Staff Version) and the National College Health Assessment (NCHA).

Funding Source: US DHHS, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services, Center for Mental Health Services

Prime Recipient: CT Department Mental Health and Addiction Services