Effectiveness of an online suicide prevention program for college faculty and students

Abstract

Objective: Suicide prevention programs help college staff and students identify students at-risk for suicide. Kognito is an online, simulation-based suicide prevention program. The purpose of the current study was to evaluate Kognito’s effectiveness in changing suicide prevention attitudes and behavior. Participants: 170 college students and 140 college staff completed the training module and three surveys. Methods: College staff and students from 24 public, private, and community colleges and universities in Maryland completed Kognito modules and pre-, post-, and 3-month follow-up assessments. Results: Both college staff and students exhibited significant improvements in reported Preparedness, Likelihood, and Self-Efficacy in gatekeeper attitudes. Students reported significant gains in gatekeeper intervention behaviors. Conclusions: The current results suggest that Kognito is associated with attitudinal change for college staff and students, but only college students demonstrated statistically significant behavioral impact for both being more likely to ask about suicide and refer peers to counseling.

Keywords:

• Kognito
• suicide prevention
• suicide

Conflict of interest disclosure

The authors have no conflicts of interest to report. The authors confirm that the research presented in this article met the ethical guidelines, including adherence to the legal requirements, of the United States and received approval from the university of Maryland Baltimore.

Additional information

Funding

This research was funded by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) Garrett Lee Smith grant to the Maryland Department of Health, Behavioral Health Administration. Grant number is 1U79SM061751-01.