Maintained Attitudinal Changes in Nursing Personnel After a Brief Training on Suicide Prevention

317 nursing personnel working at a general hospital attended a 6-hour training program on suicide prevention & answered the Suicide Behavior Attitude Questionnaire pre- & post-training. Results indicated there were positive changes in attitudes & gains & these were significantly maintained at 6-month follow-up. Improvement was in the Feelings & Professional Capacity subscales. There was no change on the Right to Suicide subscale. Because attitudes influence the effectiveness of health care personnel interventions, these findings may have important implications for the development of suicide prevention programs. (27 refs.)