Assessment of Suicide-related Knowledge and Skills in a Sample of Health Professionals and Students

Abstract

Objective

Assessment of suicide risk is of paramount importance for proper prevention.

Aims

To examine the association between gatekeeper training and suicide-related knowledge among a diverse set of health care workers (psychiatrists, nurses, psychologists, and educators) and students enrolled in medical and psychological schools who took part in the world suicide prevention day 2015 conference.

Method

Among 223 participants who completed the assessment, 204 provided complete data for analyses. Participants were administered the applied suicide intervention skills training (ASIST), a 13-item survey questionnaire to assess participants’ knowledge about suicidal behavior and comfort dealing with suicidal clients. There were 62 psychiatrists; 23 nurses, 51 psychologists, 11 educators, and 57 university students.

Results

Among participants, 57.1% of the sample had experiences of suicide a patient (students were excluded from these analyses). Those who reported a suicide among patients (compared with others) less frequently answered that suicide risk is more alarming in older adults than youths. They also less frequently disagreed with questions asking if they had the training to deal with suicidal patients. Students more frequently answered correctly on the association between depression and suicide risk, and less frequently chose the correct answer on the seriousness of suicide intent in borderline personality disorder. Students also more frequently disagreed with questions asking on their suicide assessment skill.

Conclusions

Our study highlights that differences exist when it comes to knowledge and skills related to suicide risk assessment both among health professionals and students. Our results also indicate that suicide awareness among these groups should be promoted.

Disclosure of interest

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.