Impact of a Virtual Suicide Safety Planning Training on Clinician Knowledge, Self-Efficacy, and Use of Safety Plans in Community Mental Health Clinics

Abstract

Objective: Safety planning is a critical evidence-based intervention used to prevent suicide among individuals who report suicidal ideation or behavior. There is a dearth of research on optimal ways to disseminate and implement safety plans in community settings. The present study examined one implementation strategy, a 1-hour virtual pre-implementation training, designed to teach clinicians to effectively use an electronic safety plan template (ESPT), integrated with suicide risk assessment tools, in the context of a measurement feedback system. We examined the effect of this training on clinician knowledge and self-efficacy in use of safety planning as well as ESPT completion rates.

Method: Thirty-six clinicians across two community-based clinical psychology training clinics completed the virtual pre-implementation training as well as pre- and post-training knowledge and self-efficacy assessments. Twenty-six clinicians completed a 6-month follow-up term.

Results: Clinicians reported significant improvements in self-efficacy and knowledge from pre- to post-training. They retained significant improvements in self-efficacy and a trend toward greater knowledge at the 6-month follow-up. Of the clinicians who worked with suicidal youth, 81% attempted to use an ESPT and 63% successfully completed all sections of the ESPT. Reasons for partial completion included technological difficulties and time constraints.

Conclusion: A brief virtual pre-implementation training can improve clinician knowledge and self-efficacy in use of an ESPT with youth at risk for suicide. This strategy also holds the potential to improve the adoption of this novel evidence-based intervention in community-based settings.

Keywords: Clinician training; safety planning; suicide; youth.