Youth Suicide Prevention Project InternAt — Los Angeles County Department Of Public Health

Project Description

The Office of Violence Prevention (OVP) is working to prevent youth suicide in several ways.  This includes funding peer grief support groups in communities with the highest need, organizing suicide prevention capacity-building trainings for County and community agencies, placing medical case workers in emergency departments to support youth after they are treated for a suicide attempt, and distributing suicide prevention materials throughout the county. The intern will provide support to areas of our suicide prevention work in the areas of applied research and the tracking of suicide prevention materials as described below.

Tasks:

The intern will provide support to areas of our suicide prevention work. First, by supporting analysis of qualitative data from surveys completed by participants who complete capacity building trainings. The intern will work to organize free responses from surveys into coherent and meaningful themes; comparing these results to responses from quantitative data and helping organize the results into a report. They will be supported by research staff from OVP in this work. Second, under guidance from the youth suicide prevention lead, the intern will support the organization, distribution, and tracking of suicide prevention materials to ensure our partners receive it in a timely fashion.

Training:

To help the intern achieve the proposed learning outcomes, the OVP and the supervisor will offer: an orientation, clear instructions, bi-weekly meetings, consultations to discuss issues, review the intern’s work plan, evaluate progress, and provide supervision and mentorship.

Learning Outcome:

The internship will focus on the development and growth of the following skill sets: (a) critical thinking, (b) analysis and evaluation, (c) written and oral communication skills, and (d) organizational skills. By the end of the internship, the intern will be able to:
A. Critical Thinking
i. Identify, obtain, and use relevant empirical and other evidence-based sources for on a research topic(s).
ii. Effectively read scholarly public health and other social and life science research.
iii. Critically analyze scholarly research and other reports on a given topic to identify consistent findings, themes, limitations, and strengths.
A. Analysis and Evaluation
i. Apply scientific findings and evidence-based information to understand qualitative survey data.
ii. Apply scientific principles to organize qualitative survey data into meaningful themes.
iii. Demonstrate an understanding of issues related to the construction of themes, including question type and wording, agreement, and validity.
B. Written and Oral Communication Skills, and
i. Demonstrate effective use of written language.
ii. Use American Medical Association style consistently in written work.
iii. Use formal and professional expression.
iv. Correctly site and reference content from several sources.
v. Interpret and effectively communicate research findings in AMA-style written work (e.g., reports).
vi. Develop logical arguments in support of work.
vii. Demonstrate effective use of written language (e.g., preparing a literature review; research report).
viii. Demonstrate effective oral communication and presentation skills.
C. Organizational Skills
i. Demonstrate effective use of existing organizational, distribution, and tracking resources for the dissemination of suicide prevention materials to our partners.
ii. Identify strengths, weaknesses, and possible improvements in tracking resources, methods, and processes.
iii. Continuously implement process improvements that increase efficiency, reduce weaknesses, and enhance quality through ongoing data-driven decision-making, evaluation, and trial and error.