Community-driven strategies for implementing suicide prevention education in jails

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Criminal Justice
• Implementation Science

Background:

• Suicide is a leading cause of death in jails, accounting for nearly one-third of fatalities.
• Effective suicide prevention education implementation strategies in correctional settings are understudied.
• The Talk Saves Lives: Corrections (TSL-C) program offers a brief suicide prevention education curriculum.

Purpose of the Study:

• To identify and pilot strategies for promoting the uptake of the TSL-C program in jails.
• To assess the preimplementation landscape of suicide prevention education in jails.
• To evaluate the feasibility and helpfulness of proposed implementation strategies.

Main Methods:

• A statewide survey of 65 jail leadership in a mid-Southern state was conducted.
• Community-engaged dissemination and implementation principles were applied.
• A rigorous Evidence-Based Quality Improvement process was used with two partner jails to select and tailor strategies, followed by piloting TSL-C.

Main Results:

• Statewide survey revealed low rates of foundational (50.8%) and refresher (27.7%) suicide prevention training.
• Jail leadership showed high receptivity to proposed implementation strategies.
• Both partner jails successfully piloted the TSL-C program facility-wide, utilizing overlapping strategies (local champions, tailored materials, train-the-trainer) and some divergent approaches.

Conclusions:

• Carceral settings face significant barriers to implementing and sustaining health interventions.
• Community-developed implementation strategies can effectively support the uptake of suicide prevention education in underresourced jails.
• Tailored strategies and strong implementation teams are vital for successful program adoption and sustainability.