Interprofessional Suicide Prevention Education

The COVID-19 pandemic has raised concerns regarding possible spikes in suicidal behavior in light of heightened risk factors such as social isolation and financial strain; thus, comprehensive suicide prevention training for emerging health service providers is increasingly vital. This article summarizes an interprofessional education (IPE) suicide prevention course delivered in-person in Spring 2020. Pilot data demonstrate that despite the impact of COVID-19 on higher education, this course had long-term impacts on trainee suicide prevention efficacy, IPE attitudes, and use of course content in practice. Discussion serves to address enhancements for interprofessional and suicide prevention education during and after the pandemic. Emphasis is placed on adaptable training strategies, considerations in the delivery format, guidelines for intensive virtual meetings with trainee teams, and future directions in IPE suicide prevention training research.

SUICIDE PREVENTION IS A COMMUNITY’S RESPONSIBILITY: EVALUATING THE IMPLEMENTATION OF A SUICIDE PREVENTION TRAINING IN A FACULTY OF APPLIED SCIENCE & ENGINEERING

Suicide prevention is a societal responsibility which Engineering Faculties can address by implementing community-wide interventions to educate staff, faculty and students on how to recognize, respond and connect people in need. COVID-19 has necessitated a reimagining of the way suicide prevention programs are delivered and this paper will highlight the implementation and program evaluation of a new online asynchronous suicide prevention training program at a university’s Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering which proved to be effective.

Staff Perspectives of Safety Planning as a Suicide Prevention Intervention for People of Refugee and Asylum-Seeker Background

Background: Safety planning involves the co-development of a personalized list of coping strategies to prevent a suicide crisis. Aims: We explored the perspectives of workers regarding safety planning as a suicide prevention strategy for people of refugee background and those seeking asylum in Australia. Method: Participants attended suicide prevention training, specific to refugees and asylum seekers, at which safety planning was a key component. Semistructured, posttraining interviews ( n = 12) were analyzed thematically. Results: Four key themes were identified: safety planning as a co-created, personalized activity for the client; therapeutic benefits of developing a safety plan; barriers to engaging in safety planning; strategies to enhance safety planning engagement. Limitations: First-hand refugee and asylum-seeker experiences were not included. Conclusion: As a relatively low-cost, flexible intervention, safety planning may be valuable and effective for these groups.

Implementing Suicide Prevention Training into an Athletic Training Curriculum: An Introductory Model

Context Best practice guidelines indicate the need for suicide prevention training for athletic trainers. However, no resources exist that address suicide prevention programs that are specifically designed for athletic trainers and their roles working with student-athletes and mental health crisis teams. Objective To describe an introductory model for implementing suicide prevention training into an athletic training curriculum. Background Current Commission on Accreditation of Athletic Training Education standards identify suicidal ideation as one of the behavioral health conditions that need to be addressed within athletic training curricula. Introducing educational models for implementing suicide prevention training and mental health emergency action plans (EAPs) into curricula will assist educators in preparing athletic training students to recognize and assist student-athletes who are in a suicidal crisis. Description An introductory educational model for implementing suicide prevention training into an athletic training curriculum that highlights gatekeeper training, appropriate suicide terminology, recognition of suicidal ideation in student-athletes, proper responses to student-athletes in crisis, use of experiential exercises, and development of a mental health—suicide-specific EAP. Clinical Advantage(s) Within this educational model, a threefold benefit exists for athletic training students: (1) engagement in meaningful experiential exercises to enhance their readiness to enter clinical practice with the skills and knowledge needed to recognize, assist, and refer student-athletes dealing with suicidal ideation; (2) skill development in the design, development, and implementation of a mental health—suicide-specific EAP; (3) interdisciplinary collaboration with mental health professionals that enhances appreciation for their expertise and promotes the value of each professional's role on the mental health crisis team. Conclusion(s) This introductory model for implementing suicide prevention training within an athletic training curriculum offers an instructional strategy that supports the Commission on Accreditation of Athletic Training Education standards, professional readiness for athletic training students, and interdisciplinary collaboration among mental health and athletic training professionals.

Student pharmacists and mental health nurses training together in suicide prevention: an evaluation of interprofessional education

Introduction Suicide prevention is a Government priority and affects every sector of society.(1) The role of mental health nurses (MHN) in suicide prevention is more obvious than that of pharmacists. However, the requirement for suicide prevention training in community pharmacy staff has been incentivized in England through its inclusion in the Pharmacy Quality Scheme. (2) There is no standardized requirement for suicide prevention training in the MPharm degree so we curated an interprofessional education (IPE) session involving pharmacy and MHN students in order to learn about suicide prevention in a mutually beneficial way. Aim We aimed to evaluate the IPE session to understand the attitudes towards suicide and preparedness to help someone thinking about or planning suicide of both sets of students. We aimed to compare any changes in attitude before and after the session both within and between pharmacy students and MHN students. Methods We delivered two IPE sessions on suicide, 3.5 hours in length. Students attended one session. This was compulsory for pharmacy students and optional for MHN students. We evaluated the session through a duplicated, anonymous online survey, via the Qualtrics® platform, at the start and end of the session. Students were informed that this was an optional evaluation. They self-assigned a code that we used to link their answers. We invited students to answer a series of questions to assess their attitudes and preparedness to suicide prevention. We summarised these data using descriptive statistics related to individual statements and composite scores. We used Independent-samples median test and Wilcoxon-Signed Rank Tests to compare data distributions between professional groups before the session, between groups after the session and then to understand change within subject groups, using paired data only. Results 104 students completed the initial survey of which 46% (n=48) were pharmacy students. MHN students reported being more prepared to respond to suicide (median:14, IQR 12–15) than pharmacy students (median: 8, IQR 6–10). Prior to the session, there were no statistically significant differences in responses to the attitude questions between MHN and pharmacy students, barring one question (‘I don’t feel comfortable assessing someone for suicide risk’). A statistically significant increase in preparedness was reported both pharmacy students (p<0.005) and MHN students (p<0.005), following the session (n=76 in paired analysis). MHN students (median: 15, IQR 15–17) continued to report higher levels of preparedness than pharmacy students (median=13, IQR: 10–15). Conclusion We present an innovative session in suicide awareness involving two professional groups. MHN self-reported higher levels of preparedness in suicide prevention than pharmacy students both before and after the session but an improvement was seen in both groups. These results indicate that IPE between MHN and pharmacy students could improve preparedness relating to suicide. More work is needed to explore the optimal content of training and longitudinal impact of training involving more students, as well as understanding if self-reported preparedness translates to professional behaviour, all of which are limitations of the current study References 1. HM Government H. Preventing suicide in England: Third progress report on the cross-government outcomes strategy to save lives. London: HM Government; 2017. 2. NHS Business Service Authority. Drug Tariff; 2020 [cited 07 Oct 2020]. Available at: https://www.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/pharmacies-gp-practices-and-appliance-contractors/drug-tariff