Feasibility of brief online gatekeeper training for Japanese university students: A randomized controlled trial

Abstract

Gatekeeper training for university students is a promising suicide prevention approach. However, there is a lack of comparative studies with control groups and the effectiveness of online gatekeeper training programs is unclear. We investigated the effectiveness of brief online gatekeeper training for Japanese university students. Participants were divided into two groups (training or control) and answered surveys at three time points (pretest, posttest, follow-up). The gatekeeper training improved students’ knowledge. Skills were also improved post-training but returned to baseline level at follow-up. A brief online program may improve knowledge, but the effect is limited.

Acknowledgment

This article is based on the bachelor’s thesis of the third author, which was supervised by the first author. We thank Audrey Holmes, MA, from Edanz (https://jp.edanz.com/ac) for editing a draft of this manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the research fund of Chukyo University.