The CALM Gatekeeper Training Is Associated With Increased Confidence In Suicide Prevention Skills Among A Sample Of Resident Assistants

Suicide is a significant public health concern accounting for nearly 121 deaths per day. Many prevention programs focus on improving knowledge regarding suicide, yet most fail to address how individuals elect to harm themselves. In an attempt to address this gap in practice, the Counseling on Access to Lethal Means (CALM) program was developed to educate clinicians on the importance and impact of means restriction interventions. The purpose of the current study was to administer and evaluate a gatekeeper version of the CALM training delivered to a group of 167 resident assistants (RAs) at a university in the Southeastern United States. Confidence levels regarding suicide prevention (SP) and means restriction (MR) skills were assessed at baseline, post-training, and after a 4-6 week follow-up. Results were suggestive of medium to large training effects for SP and MR confidence levels among the sample of trained RAs. There was also a small decay of the training effects at follow-up possibly due to the passing of time. This might suggest that training should be provided more consistently to help sustain the impact. Additionally, if CALM becomes implemented more broadly, suicide rates should be studied to determine the impact of means restriction approaches.