"Where are the pediatricians in all this?": Family perspectives on the role of pediatricians in mental healthcare and suicide prevention
Open accessAbstract
Rising rates of youth anxiety, depression, and suicide mean that pediatricians are increasingly likely to encounter children struggling with their mental health in their clinical practices. Despite pediatric professional organizations encouraging pediatricians to contribute more to mental healthcare and suicide prevention, research on the role of pediatricians and whether families consider them a resource is limited. Drawing on original survey (N=1,230) and interview data (N=102), we investigate how families conceptualize and involve pediatricians in their children's mental healthcare, including during suicidal crises. Our survey data show that while families considered mental health professionals the ideal point of contact, pediatricians were a close second, confirming that families view pediatricians as a mental health resource. Parent interviews clarify that parents most often turn to pediatricians for medication and referrals to other mental health professionals or because mental health professionals were inaccessible. We also examine how pediatricians helped (by connecting families promptly to appropriate care) or hurt (by stigmatizing suicide or by providing interventions associated with harm) during a child's suicidal crisis. We conclude by emphasizing the importance of proper suicide prevention training for pediatricians, as well as suggesting directions for future research.
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Families report seeing their pediatric primary care providers as someone who can help during times of suicidal crisis.
“Families report seeing their pediatric primary care providers as someone who can help during times of suicidal crisis.52”
From Evidence-based youth suicide prevention and intervention in pediatric primary care settings. (2024) · cites this paper as [52]
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Evidence-based youth suicide prevention and intervention in pediatric primary care settings.
Ruch, D. A., Hughes, J. L., Bridge, J. A., & Fontanella, C. A. (2024) · Pediatric Clinics of North America · doi:10.1016/j.pcl.2024.07.017 · Cited by 10 · see citing works
- Authors
- DeCrane, O., Zhang, J., Parrott, B., & Mueller, A. S.
- Affiliations
- Indiana University Bloomington (US)
- Corresponding author
- Mueller, Anna S.
- Venue
- SSM - Mental Health
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2024-06
- Volume
- 5
- Pages
- 100307
- ISSN
- 2666-5603 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC11067714
- OpenAlex
- W4392381130
- Cited by
- 7
- References
- 29
- Citations by year
- 2026: 3 · 2025: 3 · 2024: 1
- FWCI
- 3.50
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- SSM - Mental Health (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Funders
- National Institute of Mental Health
- American Foundation for Suicide Prevention
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Suicide and Self-Harm Studies
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Mental Health Treatment and Access
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Child and Adolescent Health
- Keywords
- pediatricians, child mental health, suicide prevention, family perspectives, suicidal crisis, adolescent depression, youth anxiety, suicide stigma, referral to mental health professionals, suicide prevention training, parental help-seeking
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