Youth suicide prevention: a survey of public school superintendents' acceptability of school-based programs

From a random sample of members of the 2000-2001 membership directory of the American Association of School Administrators (AASA), public school administrators' acceptability ratings of three school-based programs for the prevention of adolescent suicide were examined. A total of 210 (46%) respondents examined a description of a suicide prevention program and completed a measure designed to evaluate the acceptability of suicide prevention programs. Three suicide prevention programs were evaluated for their acceptability, and included: (a) school-wide curriculum-based programs presented to students; (b) in-service presentations to school staff; and (c) self-report screening programs for students. The results indicated that superintendents rated the staff in-service training and curriculum-based programs as significantly more acceptable than the school-wide screening program. In addition, the school-wide screening program was rated as significantly more intrusive by school psychologists than the staff in-service training or curriculum-based prevention programs. Limitations of the study and future research directions are discussed.