Devaluating Death Education Through Short-Term Suicide Intervention Programs

The results of the Shaffer et al study are challenged regarding: 1) program content, 2) length of student exposure, 3) instructor competence, &, particularly 4) the implicit conceptualization of suicide as a simplistic rather than a complex, interpretive act. The conclusion, or even implication, that the effectiveness of educational suicide intervention efforts are doomed, or that suicide is a function of mental illness, is unwarranted. The value of ongoing death education courses is argued.