Suicide-intervention trainees' perceptions of awareness for warning signs of suicide

55 trainees in suicide intervention were administered a revised version of the Suicide Opinion Questionnaire to examine the effects of suicide intervention training and experience in suicide prevention on their perceptions about the availability of suicide warning signs. Over-all, results indicated that most participants agreed with the ideas that warning signs of suicide are usually evident and that family members of those who have committed suicide may not be aware of these signs. Effects of intervention training on perceptions about the availability of suicide warning signs were not evident. Multivariate analysis indicated that participants with less than one year of experience in suicide prevention expressed significantly (p < .01) more agreement than participants with between one and five years of experience in suicide prevention for the idea that family members may not be aware of suicide warning signs in their suicidal relatives.