Evaluation of a School-Based Training Program for Suicide Prevention

June 27, 2013 updated by: University of Rochester

RCT of Gatekeeper Training for Suicide Prevention

This study will determine whether a training program designed to help school staff members identify adolescents at risk for suicide will increase the number of students who are referred to mental health services.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

The rate of suicide among adolescents has significantly increased in recent years. Psychiatric disorders are often associated with increased suicide risk; therefore, the ability to identify adolescents with signs of depression and other psychiatric conditions is clear. This study will determine the effectiveness of a suicide prevention training program called Question, Persuade, Refer (QPR) in increasing the number of potentially suicidal adolescents who are referred to mental health services. The training is designed to help school staff recognize signs that a student may be suicidal, provide tips on how to question students about any suicidal thoughts they may have, and provide techniques to persuade students to seek suicide prevention help.

School staff will be randomly assigned to either receive QPR training for 2 years starting immediately or be placed on a waiting list for later training. The rates of referral to the school district's prevention/intervention centers will be used to assess the effectiveness of QPR training. In addition, the impact of QPR training on school staff members' knowledge and attitudes about intervening with at-risk students will be assessed through surveys at four time points over the 2-year study duration with a randomly selected portion of staff in the 32 participating schools. Surveys completed by randomly selected 8th and 10th grade students will also be used to determine whether the intervention is effective in reducing suicidal thoughts or attempts.

Study hypothesis: More students in schools that have Question, Persuade, Refer (QPR)-trained staff will be referred for a mental health evaluation than in schools without QPR-trained staff.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Anticipated)

50000

Phase

  • Phase 2
  • Phase 3

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • United States
    • Georgia
      • Marietta, Georgia, United States, 30061
        • Cobb County School District

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

  • ADULT
  • OLDER_ADULT
  • CHILD

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria for School Staff Members:

  • Currently working as a staff member in Cobb County school district

Inclusion Criteria for Students:

  • Parent or guardian willing to provide informed consent

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: PREVENTION
  • Allocation: RANDOMIZED
  • Interventional Model: PARALLEL
  • Masking: NONE

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Rates of referrals for students identified as suicidal risks
school staff knowledge and attitudes
outcomes of mental health evaluations for accurate detection of suicidal risk

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

University of Rochester

Collaborators

National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Peter Wyman, PhD, University of Rochester

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start

March 1, 2004

Primary Completion (ACTUAL)

December 1, 2006

Study Completion (ACTUAL)

December 1, 2006

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

July 6, 2005

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

July 6, 2005

First Posted (ESTIMATE)

July 11, 2005

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (ESTIMATE)

June 28, 2013

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

June 27, 2013

Last Verified

June 1, 2013

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • R34MH071189 (NIH)
  • DSIR 82-SEDR

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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