The Short-Term Effectiveness of a Suicide Prevention Gatekeeper Training Program in a College Setting With Residence Life Advisers

This study examined the short-term effects of Question, Persuade, & Refer (QPR), a gatekeeper training program that teaches how to recognize warning signs, question suicidal intent, listen to problems, & refer for help. 122 residence advisers who were trained demonstrated significant post-training gains across a variety of domains relevant to suicide & suicide prevention, with 60 who completed the follow-up assessment showing sustained knowledge & appraisals into the following semester. Although these gains were generally more substantial for the trained residence advisers, 86 controls who completed both baseline & follow-up assessments also demonstrated changes in appraisals relevant to suicide & suicide prevention, despite not having received training. (47 refs.) JA