Faculty Articles
Suicide intervention skills: Graduate training and exposure to suicide among psychology trainees
Document Type
Article
Publication Title
Training and Education in Professional Psychology
ISSN
1931-3918
Publication Date
1-1-2014
Abstract
Preparing psychology trainees to assess and to manage clients who are suicidal is a critical responsibility of graduate training programs. In this study, doctoral trainees in clinical psychology (N = 59) were surveyed on their exposure to training and supervision on suicide assessment, their exposure to bereavement by suicide, and their confidence in providing care to suicidal clients. The Suicide Intervention Response Inventory–Revised (SIRI-2) was utilized to assess participants’ suicide intervention skills. Results indicated that over 75% of trainees had received education on suicide during graduate school; however, few students reported receiving clinical supervision on this topic. Trainees with and without formal training scored similarly on the SIRI-2, though there was a trend toward more skillful responding among trainees with more clinical experience. Exposure to suicidal clients during clinical training was common, as was personal bereavement by suicide. Trainees who reported working with clients who endorsed suicidal ideation and/or a history of suicide attempts performed better on the SIRI-2 than students with no such experience. Although a higher proportion of graduate trainees endorsed education on suicide assessment and management than in past studies, these findings call into question the efficacy of current training curricula. Implications for training and supervision are discussed
DOI
10.1037/tep0000050
Volume
8
Issue
2
First Page
136
Last Page
142
NSUWorks Citation
Mackelsprang, J. L.,
Karle, J.,
Reihl, K.,
Cash, R. E.
(2014). Suicide intervention
skills: Graduate training and exposure to suicide among psychology trainees. Training and Education in Professional Psychology, 8(2), 136-142.
Available at: https://nsuworks.nova.edu/cps_facarticles/1355
