Conceptualization and Pilot Testing of a Core Competency-Based Training Workshop in Suicide Risk Assessment and Management: Notes From the Field

Abstract

We discuss statistical and generalizability limitations as well as implications for future modification, implementation, and provision of this training method.

Short‐ and Long‐Term Impact of an Undergraduate Suicidology Course

“…Students completing the Understanding Suicide course experienced large gains in foundational knowledge about suicide prevention and meaningful reductions in their general stigma toward suicide. These results are consistent with recent reports of similar courses offered to undergraduates with health‐related interests (Cramer & Long, ) and those provided to graduate students in mental health fields (e.g., Almeida et al., ; Cramer et al, ). Furthermore, students who took the Understanding Suicide course endorsed less derogative and glorification attitudes toward individuals who die by suicide at the end of the course and these continued to show a slight decrease at follow‐up relative to students in the control courses.…”

“…The current findings are consistent with the few existing studies demonstrating that providing comprehensive, semester-long courses on suicide prevention produces positive outcomes (Almeida et al, 2017;Cramer et al, 2016;Scott, 2015) and has potential to enhance the quality of current suicide prevention and intervention activities. Providing evidence that such education produces positive results may also help sway state and federal governments as they consider legislation requiring suicide prevention continuing education for health professionals to maintain their licenses.…”

“…Most of the professional training and education is delivered in piecemeal fragments, provided through brief workshops, webinars, or one‐class didactic seminars (Liebling‐Boccio & Jennings, ; Ruth et al., ). There is some evidence to suggest that half‐ and full‐day workshops teaching suicide risk assessment and formulation skills that include experiential components, such as role‐plays, lead to improvements in risk assessment knowledge, self‐confidence, and ability to recognize appropriate clinical responses to suicidal patients (Cramer, Bryson, Eichorst, Keyes, & Ridge, ; Jacobson, Osteen, Jones, & Berman, ; Leubbert & Popkess, ). However, the research to date has been limited to very small samples, predominant use of self‐reported perceptions of gains in knowledge and skills, a lack of long‐term follow‐up, and failure to include control groups to ensure the effects observed are the true result of the workshop content.…”

“…Semester-long educational courses on suicide prevention and intervention at the graduate level are rare but emerging, and they show encouraging outcomes for strengthening the knowledge and skill base of mental health providers (e.g., Scott, 2015). For example, Cramer, Bryson, Stroud, and Ridge (2016) describe a semester-long graduate course designed to teach core competencies for working with suicidal clients that was provided to five graduate students in clinical psychology. Using both objective and subjective assessments of knowledge and skill, Cramer et al reported significant gains in students' self-efficacy, knowledge of risk assessment and management, and ability to estimate chronic and acute suicide risk in a scenario.…”

Documenting suicide risk assessments and proportionate clinical actions to improve patient safety and mitigate legal risk

“…Core competencies, to take the field of psychology for example, broadly refer to the minimum level of “knowledge, skills, attitudes, and values [that] are essential to the professional education of psychologists, especially those providing health and human services” (Rodolfa et al, , p. 348). Core competencies span multiple domains of psychology (and similar principles would reasonably apply across professions), including the assessment and management of suicide risk (Cramer, Bryson, Eichorst, Keyes, & Ridge, ; Rudd, Cukrowicz, & Bryan, ). For instance, drawing from the existing literature, Cramer and colleagues identified 10 core competencies in SRA, among them being “document risk, plan, and reasoning for clinical decisions” (Cramer, Johnson, McLaughlin, Rausch, & Conroy, , p. 7).…”