Abstract
Research indicates that the suicide attempt rate among American Muslims is at least twice the rate of the national US average and follows a different trend of suicide behavior compared to other groups. Religious leaders, such as Imams, are commonly sought out for support, but many lack training in mental health crisis management. The Stanford Muslim Mental Health and Islamic Psychology Lab created the Muslim Community Suicide Response Manual and its accompanying training modules to address this issue. This paper describes the creation, evolution, and future directions of the Suicide Response Training from an Islamic perspective to reduce suicide risk in Muslim communities.
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Acknowledgements
We would like to acknowledge the hard work and dedication of our consultants and collaborators: Osama El-Gabalawy, Taimur Kouser, Belal Zia, Kamal Suleiman, Aneeqa Abid, Emine Karakas Kurt, Fairuziana Humam, Shaan Kamal, Amina Husain, Rami Nsour, and Hossam Helal.
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RA contributed to the study conception and design. The first draft of the manuscript was written by RA, MM, and TA, and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. RA, MS, and MAl-prepared and edited the final manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
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Data collection for this study was reviewed and approved by the institutional review board at Stanford University (IRB-63336). When the data were collected, informed consent was obtained from each participant. No animals were included in the study.
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Awaad, R., Midani, M., Ali, T. et al. The Development and Implementation of a Custom-Tailored Suicide Response Training for Muslim Communities. J Relig Health (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10943-024-02032-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10943-024-02032-5