Background

Teachers are important gatekeepers in suicide prevention for children and youth, yet little is known about factors that contribute to suicide prevention training effectiveness and the influence of student suicidality on teachers’ role as gatekeepers.

Objective

This study examined teachers’ attitudes and self-efficacy in suicide prevention including an examination of suicide prevention training and exposure to student suicidality. Researchers examined incremental prediction of the relationship between teachers’ self-efficacy, outcome expectations, and outcome values following prevention training.

Methods

Participants included teachers in PreK-12th grade schools in the United States (N = 505). Researchers used non-parametric statistics to examine group level differences and a structural equation model (SEM) to test the proposed theoretical model.

Results

Teachers who experienced a student death by suicide reported significantly higher levels of gatekeeper reluctance than teachers who had not experienced a student death by suicide (p < 0.01). Similarly, teachers who encountered students with suicidal thoughts reported greater levels of gatekeeper reluctance (p < 0.01) and higher self-efficacy to engage in suicide prevention (p < 0.05) compared to teachers who had not had this exposure. Results of the SEM indicated an adequate goodness of fit and fit statistics [χ² (87) = 194.420, p = 0.000; CFI = 0.95; RMSEA = 0.05]. The model remained in-tact when exposure to student suicide was added.

Conclusions

Findings support the importance of supporting teachers continued engagement in youth suicide prevention and prevention training that targets specific outcomes in teachers’ attitudes and efficacy.

中文翻译：

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教师作为青少年自杀预防守门人：自杀预防培训和对有自杀风险的学生的接触检查

背景

教师是儿童和青少年自杀预防的重要守门人，但关于影响自杀预防培训效果的因素以及学生自杀对教师作为守门人角色的影响知之甚少。

客观的

本研究调查了教师在自杀预防方面的态度和自我效能感，包括对自杀预防培训和学生自杀倾向的调查。研究人员检查了预防培训后教师自我效能、结果期望和结果价值观之间关系的增量预测。

方法

参与者包括美国 PreK-12 年级学校的教师 ( N  = 505)。研究人员使用非参数统计来检查组水平差异，并使用结构方程模型 (SEM) 来测试所提出的理论模型。

结果

经历过学生自杀死亡的教师比没有经历过学生自杀死亡的教师报告的看门人不情愿水平明显更高 ( p  < 0.01)。 同样，与没有接触过这种情况的教师相比，遇到有自杀念头的学生的教师更不愿意 ( p  < 0.01) 和参与自杀预防的自我效能更高(p < 0.05)。SEM 的结果表明拟合度和拟合统计量足够好 [χ ² (87) = 194.420，p  = 0.000；CFI = 0.95; RMSEA = 0.05]。当添加学生自杀事件时，该模型保持不变。

结论

调查结果支持支持教师继续参与青少年自杀预防和预防培训的重要性，这些培训针对的是教师态度和效能的具体结果。