# Continuity of Mental Health Care after Youth Hospitalization for Suicide Attempt

> **NIH NIH K23** · CHILDREN'S HOSP OF PHILADELPHIA · 2020 · $184,436

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT
 The purpose of this Mentored Patient-Oriented Research Career Development Award is to prepare
Stephanie K. Doupnik, MD, MSHP for a career as an independent investigator focused on identifying health
systems organizational strategies and practices for promoting engagement in mental health treatment among
young people, with a particular focus on reducing youth suicide attempts and suicides. Dr. Doupnik’s
immediate goal is to obtain the training, mentorship, and research experience necessary to successfully obtain
extramural funding to support multicenter clinical effectiveness and dissemination studies in this area. To meet
this goal, Dr. Doupnik and her mentors have developed a comprehensive career development and research
plan. The plan’s 3 components include: (a) intensive mentorship from a team of mentors and advisors with
whom Dr. Doupnik has a track record of prior collaboration, (b) advanced training in large dataset analysis for
health policy evaluation, qualitative and mixed methods research, and operations research methods to inform
hospital process improvement, and (c) an innovative research plan designed to identify how health systems
can effectively use available resources to ensure young patients’ safety and continuity of mental healthcare
after medical hospitalization for suicide attempt. Although youth suicide attempts result in approximately
60,000 hospitalizations annually, most inpatient medical hospital units do not currently implement practices to
ensure patients’ safety and continuity of mental healthcare after hospital discharge. The proposed research
studies will develop a toolkit to guide implementation of effective suicide prevention practices for youth on
inpatient medical hospital units. Aim 1 uses large dataset analyses to determine which hospital, outpatient, and
community structures are associated with higher rates of youth attendance at mental health follow-up after
suicide attempt hospitalization and to identify hospitals with higher performance on mental health follow-up.
Aim 2 uses literature review and qualitative inquiry in hospitals with different resource configurations and
varying performance to develop a suicide prevention toolkit to disseminate effective suicide prevention
practices. Aim 3 pilot tests the youth suicide prevention toolkit in preparation for a future multi-center cluster
randomized controlled trial. The proposed research is closely aligned with the National Institute of Mental
Health Strategic Priority 4.3 to develop “service delivery models to improve dramatically the outcomes of
mental health services received in diverse communities and populations.”

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9977810
- **Project number:** 5K23MH115162-03
- **Recipient organization:** CHILDREN'S HOSP OF PHILADELPHIA
- **Principal Investigator:** Stephanie Doupnik
- **Activity code:** K23 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $184,436
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2018-07-01 → 2022-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9977810

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9977810, Continuity of Mental Health Care after Youth Hospitalization for Suicide Attempt (5K23MH115162-03). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9977810. Licensed CC0.

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