Predicting Changes in Behavioral Health Professionals’ Clinical Practice Skills for Recognizing and Responding to Suicide Risk

Abstract

Objective: Behavioral health professionals who have primary contact with people at risk for suicide play a critical role in suicide prevention. Previous studies suggest that training helps professionals build clinical practice skills to identify and assess suicide risk, but only limited research is available regarding which factors influence changes in clinical practice skills. This study aims to identify those factors, as measured by written responses to 3 vignettes, over time. Social cognitive theory is used as the conceptual framework to develop models of changes in clinical practice skills. Method: Secondary data (n = 314) from the Recognizing and Responding to Suicide Risk (RRSR) training are analyzed using multilevel modeling analyses. Results: Model 1 shows higher levels of self-efficacy and more positive attitudes toward suicide prevention significantly predict improvement in clinical practice skills over time. Model 2 shows other significant predictors of changes in behavioral health professionals’ clinical practice skills include self-efficacy, gender, age, and educational degree. Conclusions: Findings from the analyses suggest those designing trainings or interventions intended to increase professionals’ skills in suicide prevention should account for individual characteristics, differing levels of self-efficacy, and variability in attitudes toward suicide prevention among behavioral health professionals.