Abstract
BackgroundSuicide is a critical public health problem around the globe. Asian populations are characterized by elevated suicide rates and a tendency to seek social support from family and friends over mental health professionals. Gatekeeper training programs have been developed to train frontline individuals in behaviors that assist at-risk individuals in obtaining mental health treatment. The purpose of this study is to assess the efficacy of a brief, multi-component gatekeeper intervention in promoting suicide prevention in a high-risk Asian community in the United States.MethodsWe adapted an evidence-based gatekeeper training into a two-hour, multi-modal and interactive event for Japanese-Americans and related stakeholders. Then we evaluated the intervention compared to an attention control using mixed methods.ResultsA sample of 106 community members participated in the study. Intervention participants (n = 85) showed significant increases in all three types of intended gatekeeper behavior, all four measures of self-efficacy, and both measures of social norms relevant to suicide prevention, while the control group (n = 48) showed no significant improvements. Additional results showed significantly higher satisfaction and no adverse experiences associated with the gatekeeper training. The separate collection of qualitative data, and integration with the quantitative survey constructs confirmed and expanded understanding about the benefits of the intervention.ConclusionsA brief, multi-modal gatekeeper training is efficacious in promoting positive gatekeeper behaviors and self-efficacy for suicide prevention in an at-risk ethnic minority population of Japanese Americans.
Highlights
Suicide is a critical public health problem around the globe
The control was conducted during a single event in English, while the intervention was conducted as two events, once in English and held on a university campus, and once in Japanese and held in a community venue
Eight-six percent of the intervention participants strongly agreed that the event was excellent, whereas only 49 % of the control group strongly agreed with the same statement (p < 0.001)
Summary
Suicide is a critical public health problem around the globe. Asian populations are characterized by elevated suicide rates and a tendency to seek social support from family and friends over mental health professionals. The purpose of this study is to assess the efficacy of a brief, multi-component gatekeeper intervention in promoting suicide prevention in a high-risk Asian community in the United States. Ethnic minority populations in the U.S are of major importance, and Census data indicate the Asian population (referring to persons having origins in any of the original peoples of the Far East, Southeast Asia, or the Indian Subcontinent) is growing faster than all other racial groups. Experts in suicide prevention have emphasized a need to focus suicide prevention efforts on strengthening social bonds and community connectedness [2]. This approach is necessary given that an individual in crisis
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