YOUTH SUICIDE PREVENTION AND INTERVENTION TRAINING FOR SCHOOL-BASED STAFF IN HAWAI‘I

Abstract

Problem Statement: In 2019, Native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islander (NHOPI) high school students were amongst the populations with the highest rate of suicide attempts. A large system that works directly with NHOPI youth, the Hawai‘i State Department of Education (HIDOE), is currently lacking training on evidence-based protocols to connect at-risk youth to appropriate suicide prevention and intervention services. Purpose: To improve the quality of suicide prevention and intervention training of HIDOE liaisons through Connect training. Methods: Connect suicide prevention and intervention training, a six-hour comprehensive educational event with activities, was provided to HIDOE’s suicide prevention liaisons. Pre- and post-surveys monitored knowledge, attitudes, confidence, and areas of the training’s usefulness and improvement needs. Results: Statistically significant improvements were demonstrated in pre- to post-survey analysis in confidence (67.7%), knowledge (25.0%), and attitudes (20%). Participants found the activities embedded within the Connect training and the discussion of protocol most useful. Discussion: Given the success of implementation, expansion of Connect to all HIDOE staff may be considered to facilitate better overall suicide prevention and intervention for youth across the state. Lack of further significant improvement from pre- to post-survey results may be due to the high baseline knowledge and experience of the participants. Sustainability of this project may be done through a “train-the-trainer event” to certify Connect trainers to provide future trainings. Further tailoring of HIDOE’s suicide prevention training approach may help to further bring awareness to the cultural and racial disparities in relation to suicide, particularly with respect to NHOPI communities.