Examining the link between stressful life experiences, responses to emotional information and mental health over time (SKYDIVE2)

The purpose of this study is to better understand how major life stressors shape our emotional reactions to pleasant and unpleasant information and how this changes overtime. Further, we are interested in finding out how unpleasant human emotions may be related to indicators of mental well-being (e.g., mood, negative thoughts). Eventually, this knowledge could be used to change unpleasant emotions among people who have experienced major life stressors to improve long-term adjustment and well-being.

Funding: (awarded to Dr. Jeremy Stewart)

• Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council

Understanding Response to Suicidal Ideation Among Young Adults

The study “Understanding Response to Suicidal Ideation Among Young Adults” seeks to further our understanding of the experience of suicidal thoughts (also known as suicidal ideation) in young adults. In particular, we wish to develop a measure to understand how young adults respond to their suicidal ideation. By doing so, it may help us develop more effective suicide prevention strategies. Participants will complete an online survey that takes approximately 45-60 minutes. The online survey includes several questionnaires that ask about sociodemographic information, mental health history and related treatments, history of suicidal thoughts and behaviours, substance use, and thoughts and behaviours you have when you experience suicidal ideation.

Funding: (awarded to Si Ning Yeo)

• Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council Canada Graduate Scholarships.

Impulsivity and Suicidal Thoughts and Behaviours Among Young Adults (CAGE DIVE)

This study aims to assess the association between impulsivity and suicide, determine how these contribute to suicide risk, and translate our findings to improve suicide prevention. Participation includes completing questionnaires and online games while on Zoom with a trained lab member. This research is essential for progress in this field both in terms of developing accurate theories but also for implementing effective interventions! Ultimately, this study aims to improve our ability to identify at-risk youth for preventative measures.

Funding: (awarded to Emilia Sherifi)

• Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council

• The Ontario Graduate Scholarship

Validation of Image Stimuli: Understanding Attitudes toward Life (VISUAL)

This study aims to validate a set of images depicting violent and/or risky behaviours, and to learn more about how people perceive image content. Furthermore, we will examine how mental health symptoms, thoughts of suicide, and attitudes toward life and death may influence appraisals of the images.

Funding: (Awarded to Grace Okusanya)

• Arts and Science Undergraduate Research Fund (ASURF)

Risky actions, Emotions and Decision-making (RED)

This study aims to better understand the relationship between decision-making and people’s mental health symptoms, personality traits, and history of risky and self-destructive behaviours. Furthermore, we are interested in how different feedback and emotional states (e.g., mood and negative thoughts) may influence the ability to make “good” choices. Eventually, this knowledge could be used to further understand why people make risky decisions and how to prevent it.

Funding: (Awarded to Brooke Nancekivell)

• Arts and Science Undergraduate Research Fund (ASURF)

Mental Health and Healthcare Experiences Among Trans and Non-binary Individuals (2019 - 2020)    

This online, longitudinal study aims to identify reliable risk factors of suicidal thoughts and behaviours among gender diverse (e.g., trans, non-binary) people. Participants from countries around the world were recruited to complete an initial assessment of mental health symptoms, suicidal thoughts and behaviours, life stressors, and healthcare experiences. Study enrollment is now closed and participants are being invited to complete several follow-up assessments over the coming year. Ultimately, we hope to identify contexts that may contribute to suicide risk among transgender and non-binary people, as well as characteristics that confer resilience in the face of gender-based victimization and other life stressors. Ultimately, we believe that the experiences shared by transgender and non-binary participants will contribute to improving suicide prevention in this community.

For this project, the QuERBY Lab is working with Dr. Caroline Pukall and members of the Sexual Health Research Lab at Queen’s University.

Funding: (Awarded to Dr. Stewart)

• Queen’s Research Opportunities Funds

Staring Down Death: Using Gaze Behaviour to Predict Suicide Risk (SKYDIVE) (2019-2020)

According to cognitive theories of suicide, people in suicidal crises are characterized by greater allocation of attention to suicide-relevant information in their environments. Generally, this has been tested using behavioural tasks that use reaction time to make inferences about where participants are directing their attention. The primary goal of SKYDIVE was to more directly capture attention towards suicide-relevant images by measuring gaze behaviour with eye tracking. Participants in this study viewed several categories of images, including some that featured people who appeared unconscious, dead, and/or injured. The emotional images (e.g., pleasant, threatening) were paired with a neutral image while an eye tracker recorded where participants’ eyes were fixated and for how long. Along with an in-lab baseline assessment, participants responded to brief questionnaires about their suicidal thoughts and behaviours at two- and four-month follow-up assessments. Presently, the QuERBY Lab is cleaning and pre-processing data from this project, and we have conducted some preliminary analyses. In June 2020, Dr. Stewart shared some of our findings at the Canadian Psychological Associations annual meeting, and his virtual talk is available here. Generally, we are interested in how past experiences of suicidal thoughts and behaviours may influence attention to suicide-relevant images, and whether patterns of gaze towards these images predict future suicide risk.

We are collaborating with Dr. Thomas Armstrong at Whitman College, Dr. Edwin Dalmaijer at the University of Cambridge, and Dr. Tom Hollenstein at Queen’s University on this line of research. Further, the QuERBY Lab has had the pleasure of hosting Siri Danielson (2019) and Zoe Brown (2020), undergraduate student researchers from Dr. Armstrong’s Paulouse Emotion and Experimental Psychopathology (PEEP) Lab, as summer students working on this project.

Funding: (All funding awarded to Dr. Stewart)

• Canadian Foundation for Innovation

• Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council

Towards Identification of Behavioral and Neural Predictors of Adolescent Suicidality (2015-2018)

The goal of this study is identify novel markers of suicidal thoughts and behaviours (STBs) among hospitalized depressed adolescents. Given that interpersonal rejection (e.g., being bullied) frequently precipitates suicidal behaviour in youth, we were especially interested in examining behavioural and neural responses to acceptance and rejection from same-aged peers. To quantify neural responses to peer feedback, we use a technique called electroencephalography (EEG) that captures small changes in electrical voltage on the scalp to make inferences about cortical activity in the brain. We are comparing these responses in youth with and without a lifetime history of suicide attempts and are testing whether we can use these to predict outcomes after hospital discharge.

Enrolment for this project was closed prior to Dr. Stewart beginning his current appointment at Queen’s University. The data were collected at McLean Hospital and Harvard Medical School; they are being preprocessed, cleaned, and analyzed by the QuERBY Lab.

The project included a team of collaborators and mentors. The study was conducted in Dr. Randy Auerbach’s lab, and he was the primary mentor for the fellowships that supported Dr. Stewart’s work. Dr. Stewart also benefitted from the co-mentorship of Dr. Diego Pizzagalli, Director of the Center for Depression, Anxiety and Stress Research at McLean Hospital and Harvard Medical School. Finally, Dr. Matthew Nock (Harvard University) and Dr. Jukka-Pekka Onnela (Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health) contributed their considerable expertise as project consultants.

Funding: (All funding awarded to Dr. Stewart).

• American Foundation for Suicide Prevention

• Brain and Behavior Research Foundation

• Kaplen Fellowship on Depression and Livingston Fellowship Awards (Harvard Medical School)

• Pope-Hintz Endowed Fellowship Award (McLean Hospital)