Primary Hypothesis: Participants in the Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training (ASIST) gatekeeper training will be significantly more likely to have increased knowledge and preparedness to help people with suicidal ideation than participants who receive the resilience retreat. Secondary Hypotheses: 1. Participants in ASIST gatekeeper training will not have higher levels of post-intervention distress or suicidal ideation compared to the resilience retreat. 2. High levels of distress, grief, and alcohol abuse will significantly impact on the learning and retention of suicide intervention skills.
Inclusion criterion: All members of the Swampy Cree Tribal communities who are currently residing on the reserves will be eligible to participate in the study. Exclusion criterion: Exclusion criteria for the study include being less than 16 years of age, prior training in SafeTALK or ASIST, being an elected official in a First Nations community, and inability to read or write. Primary outcome: Skills in Suicide Intervention: Suicide Intervention Response Inventory.The Suicide Intervention Response Inventory (SIRI) will be used to detect enhancement of intervention skills in participants. The SIRI is a self-administered test that was designed to measure competence in choosing appropriate response to a series of clinical scenarios with suicidal individuals. Research on the SIRI has shown its good psychometric properties, freedom from social desirability effects, and responsiveness to training in suicide prevention. It contains 25 items, each of which consists of a "client" remark and two "helper" responses. Responses are judged based on response options made by highly expert suicidologists. The SIRI has shown good internal consistency with alpha of 0.834, and good test-retest reliability. Secondary Outcomes: * Knowledge about suicide, attitudes toward suicide, and self-reported preparedness to intervene with suicidal behavior will be measured by a series of questions that were developed by LivingWorks Inc. * Gatekeeper behaviors will be measured similar to questions utilized by Wyman in the school-based study that assess how many people had the person asked others about suicide.
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
PREVENTION
Masking
NONE
Enrollment
55
Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training (ASIST) is a 2-day, 14 hour suicide intervention skills training workshop.
The Resilience Retreat is a 2-day, 14 hour session
University of Manitoba Department of Psychiatry
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
SIRI Questionnaire Score
The Suicide Intervention Response Inventory (SIRI-2) will be used to detect enhancement of intervention skills in participants. The 25-item SIRI-2 is a self-administered test that was designed to measure competnce in choosing appropriate response to a series of clinical scenarios with suicidal individuals. Research on the SIRI-2 has shown its good psychometric properties, freedom from social desirabiity effects and responsiveness to training in suicide prevention.
Time frame: pre-training, post-training and 6 mo follow up
Self-perceived Confidence in Helping a Suicidal Individual
Meaures the level of confidence that the individual believes they have in helping a suicidal person based on a 4 point Likert scale ranging from 1 (not at all confident) to 4 (very confident).
Time frame: pre-training, post-training and 6 month follow-up
Self-perceived Skill in Helping a Suicidal Individual
Measures the level of ability that the individual believes they have in helping a suicidal person based on a 4 point Likert scale ranging from 1 (not at all skilled) to 4 (very skilled).
Time frame: pre-training, post-training and 6 month follow-up
Self-perceived Knowledge About Suicide
Measures the level of knowledge about suicide that the individual believes they have based on a 4 point Likert scale ranging from 1 (not at all knowledgeable) to 4 (very knowledgeable).
Time frame: pre-training, post-training and 6 month follow-up
Self-perceived Preparedness
Measures the level of preparedness of the individual to help someone who is suicidal based on a 4 point Likert scale ranging from 1 (not at all prepared) to 4 (very prepared).
Time frame: pre-training, post-training and 6 month follow-up
Self-reported Distress
Measures the level of distress in the participant using the K6 distress scale. The scale is comprised of six questions which are scored from 0 (none of the time) to 4 (all of the time). The sum of the scores from all six questions was used to determine a total scale score which ranges from 0 (not at all distressed) to 24 (very distressed).
Time frame: pre-training and 6 month follow-up
Self-reported Alcohol Use
Details participants' level of alcohol consumption and if it may be harmful according to the AUDIT. The AUDIT scale is comprised of ten questions with most questions being scored from 0 (never) to 4 (4 or more times per week). The sum of the scores from all ten questions was used to determine a total scale score which ranges from 0 (no risk related to alcohol) to 40 (high risk related to alcohol). Total scores of 8 or more are recommended as indicators of hazardous and harmful alcohol use, as well as possible alcohol dependence.
Time frame: pre-training and 6 month follow-up
Self-reported Resiliency Score
Assesses resiliency in the participant according to the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale, 10-item. The CD-RISC 10 is comprised of ten questions scored from 0 (Not at all true) to 4 (True nearly all of the time). The sum of the scores from all ten questions was used to determine a total scale score which ranges from 0 (low resiliency) to 40 (highly resilient).
Time frame: pre-training and 6 month follow-up
Lifetime Suicidal Ideation at Baseline
Number of people who endorsed having thought about suicide in their lifetime as measured at baseline
Time frame: July 19-20, 2010
Lifetime Suicide Attempt at Baseline
Number of people who endorsed having made a suicide attempt in their lifetime as measured at baseline
Time frame: July 19-20, 2010
Suicidal Ideation in Past 2 Days at Baseline
Number of people who endorsed having thought about suicide in the past 2 days as measured at baseline (not at all vs a little to a lot)
Time frame: July 19-20, 2010
Number of People With Suicidal Ideation in Past 2 Days Immediately Post Training
Number of people who endorsed having thought about suicide in the past 2 days as measured immediately post training (not at all vs a little to a lot)
Time frame: July 22-23, 2010
Suicidal Ideation Since Training at 6 mo Follow-up
Number of people who endorsed having thought about suicide since the training as measured at 6 month follow-up (not at all vs a little to a lot)
Time frame: January 28-31, 2011
Attempted Suicide Since Training at 6 mo Follow-up
Number of people who endorsed having made a suicide attempt since the training as measured at 6 month follow-up
Time frame: January 28-31, 2011
Gatekeeper Behaviors - Asked Person at Risk About Suicidal Thoughts
Number of participants who have asked someone that they thought was at risk about suicidal thoughts since the training, measured at 6 month follow-up assessment.
Time frame: January 28-31, 2011
Gatekeeper Behaviours - Did Not Ask Person at Risk
Number of participants who did not ask someone about their suicidal thoughts even though they thought they were at risk, measured at 6 month follow-up assessment based on time since training.
Time frame: January 28-31, 2011
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