School Counselors’ Exposure to Student Suicide, Suicide Assessment Self-Efficacy, and Workplace Anxiety: Implications for Training, Practice, and Research

Abstract

In a national sample of current school counselors with membership in the American School Counselor Association (N = 226), we examined the prevalence of suicide training among school counselors as well as differences in suicide assessment self-efficacy and workplace anxiety between school counselors who were exposed to student suicide and those who were not. The results indicate that 38% of school counselors were not prepared for suicide prevention during graduate training. Although school counselors’ exposure to suicide was not related to their workplace anxiety, those who were exposed to a student suicide attempt had higher suicide assessment self-efficacy scores than those who were not. This study demonstrates the impact of suicide exposure on school counselors and the need for additional suicide assessment training.