%0 Journal Article %T Impact of a virtual suicide safety planning training on clinician knowledge, self-efficacy, and use of safety plans in community mental health clinics %J Archives of suicide research %D 2023 %A Whitmyre, Emma D. %A Esposito-Smythers, Christianne %A Goldberg, Debora G. %A Scalzo, Gabriella %A Defayette, Annamarie B. %A López, Roberto Jr %V ePub %N ePub %P ePub-ePub %X OBJECTIVE: Safety planning is a critical evidence-based intervention used to prevent suicide among individuals who report suicidal ideation or behavior. There is a dearth of research on optimal ways to disseminate and implement safety plans in community settings. The present study examined one implementation strategy, a 1-hour virtual pre-implementation training, designed to teach clinicians to effectively use an electronic safety plan template (ESPT), integrated with suicide risk assessment tools, in the context of a measurement feedback system. We examined the effect of this training on clinician knowledge and self-efficacy in use of safety planning as well as ESPT completion rates.

METHOD: Thirty-six clinicians across two community-based clinical psychology training clinics completed the virtual pre-implementation training as well as pre- and post-training knowledge and self-efficacy assessments. Twenty-six clinicians completed a 6-month follow-up term.

RESULTS: Clinicians reported significant improvements in self-efficacy and knowledge from pre- to post-training. They retained significant improvements in self-efficacy and a trend toward greater knowledge at the 6-month follow-up. Of the clinicians who worked with suicidal youth, 81% attempted to use an ESPT and 63% successfully completed all sections of the ESPT. Reasons for partial completion included technological difficulties and time constraints.

CONCLUSION: A brief virtual pre-implementation training can improve clinician knowledge and self-efficacy in use of an ESPT with youth at risk for suicide. This strategy also holds the potential to improve the adoption of this novel evidence-based intervention in community-based settings.

Language: en

%G en %I Informa - Taylor and Francis Group %@ 1381-1118 %U http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13811118.2023.2183163