A proof-of-concept study for assessing the School District Suicide Policy Evaluation Tool (SDSPET)

Background: As adolescent suicide rates have increased, there has been a nationwide focus on legislation requiring school districts to create suicide prevention policies. There is a lack of tools to make a quantitative assessment of the quality and breadth of school-district suicide prevention policies. Thus, we developed a proof-of-concept instrument, the School District Suicide Policy Evaluation Tool (SDSPET). Methods: The SDSPET is derived from the “Model School District Policy on Suicide Prevention,” a document compiled by four nationally recognized suicide organizations. As a preliminary validation of the SDSPET, four independent raters used the SDSPET in a systematic analysis of suicide prevention policies for all school districts in Utah. Results: Inter-rater reliability was calculated to be 98.8% with intraclass correlation analysis. Analysis revealed a right-skewed distribution of policy scores, and a median total score was 2.25 out of 36 possible criteria. Conclusion: This proof-of-concept study demonstrates the utility of the SDSPET in quantifying the shortcomings of school-district policies on suicide while generating specific recommendations for improvement. With further validity testing, we expect this tool to be beneficial to school district administrators, education policymakers, and those studying suicide interventions and outcomes in school-aged children and adolescents.