Developing and Piloting Suicide Prevention Training in Pediatric Primary Care

Area of Science:

• Pediatric primary care
• Public health
• Mental health interventions

Background:

• Suicide prevention is a key competency for pediatric primary care clinicians (PPCCs).
• Effective suicide prevention training must be tailored to the specific needs and context of the pediatric primary care setting.
• Community-participatory development is essential for creating relevant and impactful training programs.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and pilot a suicide prevention training series for PPCCs.
• To assess the feasibility, acceptability, and impact on confidence of the developed training program.
• To integrate clinician-identified needs for suicide risk identification and management into the training.

Main Methods:

• A 3-part training series (didactic, video demonstration, role play) was developed using community advisor guidance and PPCC surveys (N=81).
• The training was piloted with 20 PPCCs to evaluate feasibility and acceptability.
• Participant confidence in suicide screening, assessment, and safety planning was measured pre- and post-training and at follow-up.

Main Results:

• The training series integrated PPCC-identified needs for suicide risk identification (54%) and post-risk management (67%).
• The training demonstrated high feasibility (mean ≥ 3.73) and acceptability (mean ≥ 4.03).
• Participant confidence significantly increased by 22.7% post-assessment and 23.2% at 2-month follow-up.

Conclusions:

• Tailored suicide prevention training is feasible and acceptable for PPCCs.
• This training significantly enhances PPCC confidence in implementing evidence-based suicide prevention interventions.
• The study highlights the importance of practical considerations and advanced evaluation methods for suicide prevention training in primary care.