Research and Evaluation

Since 2001, the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline (988 Lifeline) has been evaluating and strengthening crisis centers’ efforts through an iterative process. In recent years, the 988 Lifeline has also partnered with external researchers on analyses of extant data. The 988 Lifeline’s high service utilization and abundance of analyzable data provides opportunities for researchers to further evaluate the impact of the 988 Lifeline, as well examine other research questions initiated by investigators.

The 988 Lifeline is often approached by researchers to collaborate on new research and evaluation projects. The 988 Lifeline welcomes opportunities to collaborate on research projects with the goal of preventing suicides and mental health crises, and providing a pathway to well-being. We take each request for 988 Lifeline data and research project collaboration seriously as we work to preserve our values, which include the ultimate benefit of crisis contacts/crisis centers and avoidance of any potential harm to them; the preservation of network operations; and a commitment to include a diverse range of voices and experiences in our work.

The 988 Lifeline is able to collaborate with external researchers in the following ways: through through public data sharing; through the 988 Lifeline Restricted Access Dataset (RAD), which must be formally requested; and through collaborative projects between researchers and the Vibrant Research and Evaluation team. 988 RAD and collaboration proposals can be submitted through the Lifeline Data Access and Collaboration Requests (LDAC) process. Learn more about process and proposals.