Teaching Note—A Survey of Suicide Content in Social Work Programs

Abstract

ABSTRACT Although suicide has been identified as a major public health issue in the United States, social work education has not yet clearly determined its role in suicide prevention. There has been a dearth of research on suicide content and education within social work programs, particularly baccalaureate programs. This teaching note presents the result of a cross-sectional survey of social work practice instructors (N=289) from Bachelor of Social Work (46.7%) and Master of Social Work (53.3%) programs. Almost all participants (87.5%) include suicide content in some of their practice courses. Teaching practices about suicide in suicide education are described, including frequency that topics and competencies are taught, factors affecting the inclusion of suicide content in the classroom, and instructors’ perceptions of student competence on completion of the course. Implications for social work education are identified, including the need to increase continuing education for practice instructors, and to expand coverage of some topics, such as evidence-based practices, and the role of culture in suicide assessment.