Date of Award

2026

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Psychology (PsyD)

Department

Graduate Department of Clinical Psychology

First Advisor

Leihua Edstrom

Second Advisor

Elliott Lawless

Third Advisor

Nahani Freeman

Abstract

Suicidality is seen at an exceptionally high rate for both sexual minority and gender minority youth (Zaza et al., 2016; Thoma et al., 2019). The American Psychological Association (APA) has set out guidelines for mental health providers working with queer youth (APA 2015 and APA 2021) but does not require clinicians to adhere to them, labeling them as “aspirational.” To bridge the gap in clinician education on how to best support this group, an organizing framework based on etiological and preventative research is necessary. This would allow providers to more accurately and efficiently assess and respond to risk. The Salience-Occurrence Model of Risk Reduction in Queer Adolescents sets out six domains of preventative factors for queer adolescents, informed by empirical evidence of suicide trends, current theoretical models, and influential 20th-century psychological theory. The model utilizes a brief questionnaire to link to intervention targets, and a flow analysis is offered that demonstrates how the model may inform treatment planning. This work has established a potential framework by which to understand and implement preventative interventions in this population as well as a clinical tool that can be subjected to future empirical evaluation.

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