An Educational Intervention for Front-Line Health Professionals in the Assessment and Management of Suicidal Patients (the STORM Project)

The feasibility of health district-wide training in the assessment & management of people at risk of suicide was evaluated as was the impact of training on these skills. 359 staff in 3 health care settings were offered training using a flexible facilitator approach; 167 eligible participants received training during a 6-month training period. 103 attended all training. A volunteer sample of 28 staff showed improvements in assessment & management skills. Satisfaction with training was high. The expected costs of district-wide training, if it produced a 2.5% reduction in the suicide rate, would be approximately 100,000 pounds per suicide prevented & nearly 3400 pounds per life year gained. (19 refs.)