Freely Available Training Videos for Suicide Prevention: Scoping Review

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Mental Health Training
• Digital Health Interventions

Background:

• Freely available asynchronous training can reduce the burden of evidence-based practice implementation.
• Web-based training videos for suicide prevention have increased, but their content and scope are unquantified.

Purpose of the Study:

• To conduct a scoping review of freely available suicide prevention training videos.
• To describe a methodological framework for reviewing such digital health resources.

Main Methods:

• A scoping review of 506 freely available suicide prevention training videos (≥2 minutes) from major video platforms.
• Videos were coded for target audience, content focus, community tailoring, and inclusion of formal clinical content.

Main Results:

• Most videos targeted lay providers (gatekeepers) rather than clinical professionals.
• Content frequently covered suicidal thoughts/behaviors and tailored to specific communities.
• Less than half of the videos included formal clinical content on suicide risk assessment or intervention.

Conclusions:

• An abundance of videos provide general information on suicide risk, but few offer instructional content for clinical providers.
• Identified gaps suggest a need for developing targeted resources for evidence-based suicide prevention training.
• Machine learning may expedite future reviews of digital health training materials.