Suicide Prevention Training in Pediatric Primary Care: A Scoping Review

Pediatric primary care providers are expected to deliver suicide prevention strategies that may include screening, assessment, intervention, and specialist referral. Training is often provided to increase knowledge and confidence, and to shape clinician behavior with suicide prevention activities. The effectiveness of suicide prevention training, specifically for pediatric primary care, has been minimally explored.

The aim of this scoping review is to describe the current state of the literature on the acceptability and effectiveness of suicide prevention training in pediatric primary care settings.

Medical librarian search included PubMed, Ovid Medline, APA PsycINFO (EBSCO), CINAHL (EBSCO), Embase (Elsevier), Google Scholar, and the Cochrane Library using MESH terms: adolescent, child, pediatrics, suicide prevention, depression, outpatient, primary care, and general practice.

Four thousand two hundred and seventy four peer-reviewed studies were identified from databases and screened for inclusion. Sixty two studies were retrieved for full-text review. Sixteen articles met inclusion criteria. Results identified one randomized control trial of suicide prevention training.

Suicide prevention training appears to enhance the knowledge and confidence of pediatric primary care providers in the short term. However, further research is necessary to assess the impact of this training on provider behavior change and patient outcomes. This review provides an overview of the current landscape of research on suicide prevention training in pediatrics and offers recommendations for future investigators.