Parents of young children with disabilities may experience high levels of stress and psychological distress that may put them at higher risk for experiencing suicidality. Thus, early childhood home visitors (e.g., professionals who work for home-based early intervention programs) may serve as important gatekeepers for identifying and referring parents who are experiencing psychological distress, including suicidal thoughts. However, most early childhood home visitors do not receive training on identifying or intervening with distressed and potentially suicidal caregivers. Therefore, early childhood home visitors would benefit from acquiring evidence-based, accessible strategies for identifying and responding to caregivers who they know or suspect are experiencing suicidal thoughts—a class of knowledge and skills that can be obtained through “suicide gatekeeper” training. In this article, we provide evidence-based information about suicide risk among parents of young children with disabilities, the intervention of suicide gatekeeping, and how suicide gatekeeping can be incorporated into the early childhood home visitor role.

残疾幼儿的父母可能会经历高度的压力和心理困扰，这可能使他们面临更高的自杀风险。因此，早期儿童家庭访问者（例如，为家庭早期干预计划工作的专业人员）可以作为重要的守门人，用于识别和转介正在经历心理困扰（包括自杀念头）的父母。然而，大多数幼儿家庭探视者没有接受过识别或干预陷入困境和可能有自杀倾向的照顾者的培训。因此，幼儿家庭访问者将受益于获得基于证据的、识别和回应他们认识或怀疑正在经历自杀念头的看护人的可用策略——可以通过“自杀守门人”培训获得的一类知识和技能。在本文中，我们提供了关于残疾幼儿父母的自杀风险、自杀看门人的干预以及如何将自杀看门人纳入幼儿家庭访客角色的循证信息。