Development, Implementation, and Evaluation of a Comprehensive Course on Suicide in a Master’s of Social Work Program

Almeida, Joanna; O’Brien, Kimberly H. McManama; Gironda, Christina; Gross, E. B.

doi:10.1080/10437797.2017.1302856

Cited by 26 publications

(25 citation statements)

References 9 publications

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“…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.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

“…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., ; Cramer et al., ; Scott, ) 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.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 90%

“…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. Comparable results were reported by Almeida, O'Brien, Gironda, and Gross () for a semester‐long course delivered to 22 MSW students. Again, students who completed the course demonstrated significant pre‐/postcourse improvements on an objective measure of suicide risk assessment knowledge and self‐reported confidence and preparedness for working with suicidal clients.…”

supporting

confidence: 72%

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

Muehlenkamp

Thoen

2019

Suicide & Life Threat Behav

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Objective Suicide prevention models emphasize the importance of education as a foundational element for success. Yet, courses on suicidology are rare and those that do exist focus on clinical intervention skills at the graduate level, missing a critical population of undergraduate students. The current study evaluated the short and long‐term impact of a semester long liberal education undergraduate course in suicidology. Method Students enrolled in either the experimental (Understanding Suicide) or control course completed pre‐ post‐ and 4‐month follow‐up surveys assessing objective knowledge about suicide, suicide stigma, attitudes towards suicidal persons, and suicide prevention advocacy. Results Mixed repeated measures ANCOVAs indicated significant interactions between course enrollment over time for all the outcome variables. Students in the suicidology course showed significant pre‐ to post‐ increases in knowledge and suicide prevention advocacy, alongside reductions in suicide stigma and negative attitudes compared to students in the control course, who showed no significant pre‐/post changes. All effects were maintained over time. Conclusion Providing general education undergraduate courses in suicidology may be an important avenue for building a motivated and informed public that can sustain suicide prevention efforts in their communities.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 90%

supporting

confidence: 72%

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

Muehlenkamp

Thoen

2019

Suicide & Life Threat Behav

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“…Clinicians whose client populations experience frequent gun violence and injury should take the steps outlined to be able to facilitate safe gun practices when indicated. Moreover, social work educators must do a better job of preparing students to discuss firearms with diverse clients, including those at-risk of suicide (Almeida, O'Brien, Gironda, & Gross, 2017;Joe & Niedermeier, 2008;Ruth et al, 2012) as well as other forms of gun violence (Danis & Lockhart, 2003;Kelly et al, 2010).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Social Work Practice and Gun Safety in the United States

Logan-Greene

Sperlich²,

Finucane³

2019

ASW

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Public policy debate about guns continues in the United States, with many professional organizations taking strong stands in policy statements. Moreover, many clinical organizations have provided recommendations for practitioners to use with clients to encourage gun safety in the home, particularly for vulnerable populations such as families with young children and those at risk of suicide. Social workers are in an excellent position to encourage gun safety with some of the most at-risk populations; however, clinical guidelines and research on preventing gun violence has lagged in social work compared to other disciplines. In this article we examine the importance of gun safety for social work clients (with special attention to families with children, families experiencing violence, and individuals at risk of suicide), consider the recommendations made by other professional organizations, and provide some initial thoughts about how social workers might engage with the families they serve to reduce the incidence of gun violence.

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“…In this regard, school social workers may be a primary point of contact for students experiencing thoughts of suicide, which range from non-specific thoughts regarding desirability, to thoughts regarding intent, to actual attempts. Despite this, social workers routinely report minimal or insufficient training for identification and response to youth suicide risk [4,5].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Taking Youth Suicide Prevention to the Schools: Pilot Evaluation of School-Based Clinician Outcomes and Perspectives of a Multi-Modal Program Including Post-Training Online Consultations for Management of Ongoing Suicide Risk

Gwyther

McKechnie

Nicoll

et al. 2020

Psychiatry International

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School-based youth-specific suicide prevention and early intervention initiatives are presently underdeveloped. The current study conducted a pilot evaluation of a multi-modal suicide prevention training program for school-based social workers, ‘Management of Youth Suicidality Training for Schools’ (MYSTS). The program comprised a two-day workshop and six fortnightly post-workshop webinar online consultations. Participants were 36 social workers (years’ experience M = 11.23, SD = 8.29) employed by the Department of Education in Tasmania, Australia. Outcomes were self-rated confidence, competence, and knowledge of self-harm in young people, and attitudes toward suicide prevention and suicide-related behaviors. Exploratory quantitative results indicated significant improvements with large effect sizes for participants’ self-reported competence (d = 1.33), and confidence (d = 1.29) to identify and respond therapeutically to youth suicidality following the workshop. Confidence remained significantly higher than baseline following the online consultations (d = 0.90). Qualitative analysis of online supervision consultations indicated key themes of accessibility, communication and information sharing, and clinical management. Participants endorsed the MYSTS package as well-presented, with relevant topics, and effective learning activities. This study highlights the need for continued supervisory or implementation support to practitioners following suicide prevention training initiatives and suggests web-based teleconference technology as a feasible strategy for this. Further evaluation of the MYSTS package, including a suitable comparison or control condition, is indicated.

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Development, Implementation, and Evaluation of a Comprehensive Course on Suicide in a Master’s of Social Work Program

Cited by 26 publications

References 9 publications

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

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

Social Work Practice and Gun Safety in the United States

Taking Youth Suicide Prevention to the Schools: Pilot Evaluation of School-Based Clinician Outcomes and Perspectives of a Multi-Modal Program Including Post-Training Online Consultations for Management of Ongoing Suicide Risk

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