School psychologists and suicide risk assessment: Role perception and competency

Abstract

As the second leading cause of death for adolescents, suicide is a major concern for school personnel. School psychologists' training in mental health makes them wellpositioned to lead in suicide prevention efforts; however, studies have shown a lack of preparedness in crisis intervention and, more specifically, suicide risk assessment.This study surveyed practicing school psychologists (N = 92) to explore their perception of both their role and competency in suicide risk assessment. Suicide risk assessment was defined as a broad term pertaining to any measures taken in suicide prevention, intervention, or postvention. The majority of school psychologists reported having a primary role at the tertiary level (i.e., intervening with a student identified as needing help).Participants indicated lacking adequate graduate preparation; however, most participants were confident in their knowledge of suicide and suicide risk assessment and were comfortable identifying and intervening with a student who is suicidal. Implications for practice and directions for future research are discussed.

Práticas de Avaliação Psicológica Escolar: Uma Revisão Sistemática da Literatura

“…No que diz respeito à categoria 1 (35% dos estudos), percepção de papéis e/ou competências de avaliação psicológica de profissionais de psicologia escolar e afins, os estudos evidenciaram uma grande variabilidade de práticas de avaliação psicológica escolar, entre as quais estudo de competências e papéis de psicólogos escolares na avaliação para o risco de suicídio (Erps et al, 2020), verificação de dados de raça e influência na tomada de decisões de psicólogos escolares (Sullivan et al, 2019), utilização do instrumento WISC-V no esclarecimento diagnóstico de casos de crianças com dupla excepcionalidade (superdotadas e com dificuldade de aprendizado) (Silverman & Gilman, 2020), e análise de erros mais comuns no uso da WISC-IV e de seus subtestes mais problemáticos (Oak et al, 2018) (Quadro 2). De entre as práticas referentes à categoria 1, destacaram-se, ainda, a identificação, via inquéritos (surveys), de perfis de utilizadores e de utilização de instrumentos por psicólogos (Benson et al, 2019a;Benson et al, 2019b;Cochrane et al, 2019;Johnson et al, 2019;Preast & Burns, 2019;Seabra-Santos et al, 2019, Maki, Burns & Sullivan, 2018Aiello et al, 2017 2017) (Quadro 2), a discussão de medidas de prevenção, avaliação de risco e estratégias de intervenção de psicólogos e conselheiros escolares ao abordar o cyberbullying (Elbedour et al, 2020) (Quadro 3), os papéis de psicólogos escolares para crianças pequenas (Albritton et al, 2019) (Quadro 3) e o uso de entrevistas telefônicas para identificar as forças, fraquezas e possibilidades de desenvolvimento da "aprendizagem baseada em problemas" (Problem-based Learning) (Dunsmuir et al, 2017) (Quadro 3).…”

“…Embora os testes de inteligência padronizados continuem a predominar dentre as práticas de avaliação psicológica escolar, os questionários permanecem como a base de todos os processos de avaliação e obtenção de informações (Erps et al 2020;Ruether et al 2019;Seabra-Santos et al 2019;Aiello et al 2017;Watson et al 2016;Johnson et al 2015;Bourke & Dharan, 2015). Os itens destes questionários podem, eventualmente, vir a ser utilizados como guia de avaliação em contextos específicos.…”

Adolescent perceptions of school before and after psychiatric hospitalization: Predicting suicidal ideation.

“…Formulations about suicide-related risk and ongoing treatment provided to individuals with suicide-related thoughts and behaviors (STB) are considered to be among the most stressful aspects of clinical practice, wrought with ethical challenges and taking a heavy toll on clinicians’ emotions (Jobes et al, 2008; Rothes et al, 2014). School psychologists, who are often expected to provide tertiary interventions to students experiencing a suicide-related crisis, are among the professionals facing these challenges (Brown et al, 2018; Erps et al, 2020). In addition to their role in the risk formulation process, school psychologists may also face decisions about how best to support adolescents, as they return to school following hospitalization for a suicide-related crisis (Marraccini et al, 2019).…”

Collaboration is key: School psychologists' experience in suicide intervention

“…Within the context of suicide intervention specifically, similar barriers to collaboration likely apply. Erps et al (2020) found that most school psychologists (87%) reported adequate knowledge of community mental health providers with whom they could collaborate for student referrals regarding suicidal thoughts or behaviors. Other findings, however, suggest that relatively few school psychologists (31%) have access to sufficient community mental health resources, and that many find it difficult to promote adequate follow‐up care when collaborating with external providers (e.g., community mental health providers not returning phone calls; Brown et al, 2018).…”