The impact of an online suicide prevention training program on community pharmacy staff outcomes: A cluster...

The impact of suicide prevention gatekeeper training on community pharmacy staff outcomes has yet to be tested in randomized controlled trials.

To determine whether a pharmacy gatekeeper training program with interactive video cases (Pharm-SAVES+) outperforms a training without interactive video cases (Pharm-SAVES).

A convenience sample of pharmacy staff (N = 162) were randomized to the standard intervention (Pharm-SAVES) or enhanced intervention (Pharm-SAVES+) group with 120 providing usable baseline data. Baseline, immediate post-training, and 1-month follow-up surveys assessed suicide prevention knowledge, gatekeeper self-efficacy, and gatekeeper preparedness. Participants also evaluated hypothetical written patient cases where the patient exhibits suicide warning signs. Blinded coders documented whether participants directly asked about suicide and made 988 Lifeline referrals on the baseline and immediate post-training written cases. Generalized estimating equations were used to analyze the data.

Retention rates were 73% post-training and 58% at 1-month follow-up. The percentage of participants who directly asked about suicide increased from 7% at baseline to 71% post-training, and the percentage making Crisis Line (988) referrals increased from 49% at baseline to 74% post-training. Significant improvements in suicide prevention knowledge, gatekeeper self-efficacy, and gatekeeper preparedness were maintained at 1-month follow-up. There were no significant differences by group (Pharm-SAVES vs. Pharm-SAVES+).

On the written cases, both groups improved from baseline to post-training in the frequency of asking about suicide and referring to the Crisis Line. Interactive video cases did not yield additional gains in learning outcomes; however, we were unable to assess the amount of time that participants engaged with video case content. Future studies should account for time spent engaging with content when assessing the impact of learning elements on outcomes. Pharm-SAVES training yielded significant improvements in multiple outcomes for pharmacy staff.