@drjessicaphd.bsky.social
Assistant Professor | Depression & suicide prevention in autistic people | CBPR | Latinx mental health | All opinions my own My research lab: https://www.chla.org/research/lab/training-and-research-empower-neurodiversity-trend
In honor of Suicide Prevention month, colleagues and I partnered with @afspnational.bsky.social to create an Autism and Suicide webpage: afsp.org/autism-and-s...
Proud of this team and hopeful this webpage can be a helpful resource for autistic people and their families!
🆘 Measurement help needed
I'm looking for a parent/self-report measure to quantify behavioral crisis events (e.g., suicide, aggression, etc.) in youth. Any suggestions?
🆘 'Tis the season of prepping RPPR docs, Loan Repayment renewal application, and multiple IRB submissions....
15.08.2025 17:17 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
🆘 Autistic adolescents & young adults needed for a new study!
We aim to study the experiences of autistic & gender diverse young people through online surveys and interviews. Study flyer below and link to register!
Link: udenver.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_...
Please RT to spread the word!
📣 Autistic adult volunteers needed for a brief online anonymous research study!
This dissertation project is led by a new doctoral student in our lab this year, Lauren Bacchus, and she's hoping to recruit participants!
Flyer below with info and reposts appreciated!
NIMH
05.07.2025 06:45 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0🎉👏My NIH Loan Repayment award was renewed today! Breathing a sigh of relief.
Really grateful for this program and its incredible help in covering my loans! Highly recommend applying for this award and I’m happy to chat with anyone who has questions.
Sharing fun updates from my K23 study on mental health in autistic teens! Recently, we started one-year follow-up visits & created this infographic for our families.
We're still recruiting teens (14-17 y.o.) with confirmed or suspected autism in Los Angeles!
Call/text 323-207-5910 if interested!
Front-page-style graphic titled “BREAKING NEWS” with photos of RFK Jr. and Dr. Bhattacharya in front of a government hearing chamber. Text reads: “NIH Scientists Sound the Alarm as Health Research Faces Historic Threat” and “NIH Employees Send Trump Cronies Scathing Wake-Up Call.”
🚨BREAKING: 300+ NIH employees call out the harm of censorship & politicized science in scathing email to Bhattacharya, demanding an end to political interference, a lift on funding freezes, & rehiring of fired staff whose work saves lives.
This is historic - insiders are blowing the whistle.
🧵(1/5)
🎉 New paper!
The protocol for my K23 study on reward responsivity, depression, & broader mental health in autistic teens is published! An ongoing 5-yr project with some talented collaborators at USC, CHLA, and Vanderbilt.
Stay tuned for more to come from this project!
Link to paper: rdcu.be/epC81
Question for CBT providers and/or researchers:
Do you have a brief, free, and publicly available measure of clinicians' knowledge of CBT?
I'm looking for a quick way to gauge a clinician's knowledge of standard CBT for some of our ongoing work.
Thank you!
My lab received a new grant from the Southern California Center for Latino Health! 🎉
"Community-guided depression & anxiety treatment for Latino youth with intellectual & developmental disabilities"
With our community partners, we will adapt a treatment for Latino youth with IDD. More to come!
Headed to Boston in November 2025 for the International Academy for Suicide Research!
Excited for our symposium, "Suicidal Thoughts and Behaviors in Autism: Contributors to Risk and Use of Crisis Services" & presenting with @pittreaact.bsky.social & others!
suicide-research.org/iasr-afsp-in...
10/10 recommend this
04.05.2025 12:14 — 👍 2 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0I’m sharing some of our work
with autistic teens at #INSAR20205 today from 12:30-1:30pm!
418.047 - Disclosure of Suicidal Thoughts and Behaviors and Self-Harm in Autistic Adolescents from Adolescent and Parent Perspectives: A Mixed-Methods Investigation
Swing by and say hello! 👋
Looking forward to presenting tomorrow as a panelist at the INSAR 2025 Community Conference!
“Taking Care of Each Other – Creating Systems of Care” tomorrow from 12-4:30pm at the Seattle Convention Center! Open to all!
Link to event: ihdd.org/2025/03/24/i...
Looking forward to attending and presenting at #INSAR2025 in Seattle this week! Happy to be with fellow autism researchers amidst an incredibly challenging time in science and autism research in the U.S.
28.04.2025 19:09 — 👍 7 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
THURSDAY, APRIL 24 Concurrent Symposium Sessions Thu 2 PM - 3:30 PM Leveraging Qualitative Methodologies to Advance Suicide Prevention Efforts in Under-Researched Communities Key Words interventions suicide prevention, qualitative research, diversity, minority Kellyann Navarre, B.A., M.A. Chair University of Toronto, Advisory Committee Jessica Schwartzman, Ph.D. Presenter Children's Hospital Los Angeles and University of Southern California Suicidal Thoughts and Behaviors and Disclosure Experiences of Autistic Adolescents and Parents: A Qualitative Study Kailyn Phillips, Others Presenter Vanderbilt University Examining Identity-Related Experiences of SGM Youth at Risk for Suicide in the Southeastern U.S. Juno Pinder, B.S., M.A. Presenter University of Denver Adolescent Feedback and Perspectives on a Self-Guided Digital Safety Planning Intervention Megan McDaniel, B.A. Presenter University of Wisconsin - Madison Thematic Relationships of Proximal Social Connection and Mental State with Suicidal ideation: An Ecological Study Spencer Chen, B.A. Presenter Simon Fraser University Unpacking 'A Life Worth Living' and What Helps People Choose Life During Suicidal Crises
Join our #SRS25 symposium tmrw 2 PM EST: "Leveraging Qualitative Methods to Advance Suicide Prevention in Under-Researched Communities" + featuring some work I'm honored to collaborate on!
@suicideresearchsym.bsky.social @kathrynfox.bsky.social @drjessicaphd.bsky.social @kirstyclarkphd.bsky.social
Autistic people are not a disease. They never have been.
Autistic people have fundamentally shaped our world...an incredibly net positive community.
To condemn the existence of any autistic person is unacceptable.
Autism is an inherent part of our culture and history, and it always will be.
At the Gatlinburg Conference all week in San Diego! ☀️
I'm excited to connect with colleagues, attend my husband's panels, and support several of my lab members in presenting their research!
It's autism acceptance month!
Autistic people have fundamentally improved my life both personally and professionally in countless ways. I'm so grateful to work with, have friends, and connect with family in this community!
What does this mean?
Autistic people across age groups constitute a high-priority group for suicide prevention!
Appropriate assessments & evaluation of system-level programs that effectively address the problem of preventable death by suicide in this community are essential.
Limitations:
Pooled sampling across different groups complicate the generalizability and implications of this work.
Sample enriched for STB and mental health needs.
Not representative of all autistic people and their families, among other limitations (see paper).
Our results:
(6) The youngest age of suicide attempt was 7 years in this sample.
(7) The average ages of first/initial, most lethal, and most recent suicide attempts in youth (n = 24) and adults (n = 42) were 16.6, 19.2, and 20.8 years old, respectively.
Our results:
(4) Sex was NOT a significant risk factor for suicidal ideation, behavior, or self-injury.
(5) Increases in lifetime suicidal ideation were observed across older age-groups, with those 18+ reporting more severe and longer-lasting ideation than in youth.
Our results:
(1) In their lifetime, most participants (87.8%) reported suicidal ideation & self-injury (56.3%).
(2) Nearly 1 in 3 people (31.0%) reported a suicide attempt (2.9 attempts on average; range = 1–26)
(3) Overdosing was the most common method of suicide attempt.
Our sample:
139 youth and 106 adults
46.1% female sex
Men age = 24.8 years old, Range = 7–70
*The study samples were enriched with autistic people experiencing depression and suicidality; interpret the findings with this perspective.
What we did:
We examined STB in 245 autistic youth and adults without ID, considering sex- and age-based effects, in a pooled multinational sample from the US, Canada, & Australia.
We studied STB using an interview, which integrates individual & clinician perspectives.
What we know:
Autistic people are at significant risk for suicidal thoughts & behaviors (STBs).
Most research on STB is survey-based and from one location.
Other assessments (e.g., interviews) & multinational datasets can advance knowledge of suicide risk in autistic people.
🚨New paper out!
"Elevated Suicidal Thoughts and Behaviors and Nonsuicidal Self-Injury in Autistic Youth and Adults: A Multinational Study" in the journal Autism in Adulthood
Link below to the paper and a brief 🧵of findings!
Link to paper: www.liebertpub.com/doi/abs/10.1...
