Presentation Date: Friday 23 October, 2020
Presenter: Megan L. Rogers, PhD
Online research studies offer substantial opportunities to access difficult-to-reach populations, including individuals at high risk for suicide who are not engaged in treatment. However, relatively few longitudinal studies of suicide have utilized fully online designs. This webinar provides an overview of conducting entirely online suicide-related research studies, with insights on both logistical and ethical issues associated with the recruitment, retention, and risk management of online participants with suicidal ideation. Specifically, this webinar highlights both benefits and limitations/challenges of conducting online studies of suicide, particularly as they pertain to participant recruitment, study design, response fidelity, compensation, suicide risk assessment and management, and strategies for providing mental health/crisis resources. Implications of and recommendations for fully online studies of suicide are discussed.
Dr. Megan L. Rogers is a postdoctoral research fellow at Mount Sinai Beth Israel, working in the lab of Dr. Igor Galynker. She completed her PhD in Clinical Psychology at Florida State University, and her predoctoral clinical internship at the Alpert Medical School of Brown University, in 2020. Dr. Rogers's research primarily focuses on short-term cognitive, physiological, affective, and behavioral risk factors for suicidal thoughts and behaviors, with an emphasis on the phenomenology and etiology of acute suicidal crises. She has conducted several entirely online studies of suicide. In addition to her position as a postdoctoral fellow, Dr. Rogers serves on the Board of Directors for the American Association of Suicidology.