Citation

Coohey C, Neblett K, Knox S. Crisis 2021; ePub(ePub): ePub.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2021, International Association for Suicide Prevention, Publisher Hogrefe Publishing)

DOI

10.1027/0227-5910/a000770

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

BACKGROUND: The self-report measures used in evaluations of the Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training (ASIST) program have tended not to detect an improvement in a broad range of suicide counseling skills from pre- to posttraining or among trainees with better skills at pretraining. Aims: The purpose of this study was to develop and validate the Suicide Counseling Skills Inventory (SCSI), which included ten brief counselor-client scenarios and three counselor responses to each scenario.

METHOD: Data were collected from several samples to develop and evaluate the SCSI. Trainee scores were subtracted from criterion expert scores to create discrepancy scores.

RESULTS: The SCSI detected an improvement in skills from pre- to posttraining across samples, including among trainees with better skills at pretraining. Internal consistency and test-retest reliability were good. Limitations: The results may not generalize across different training models.

CONCLUSION: Trainee scores were more like expert scores at posttraining. The SCSI may be useful in evaluating suicide counseling competency.

Language: en

Keywords

training; validation; counseling; inventory; scale