Suicide prevention and intervention education in Australian social work qualifying courses: Are students adequately prepared for the workforce?

Suicide is complex and multifactorial, with social, cultural, and economic components, exacerbated by inequalities, social injustice, marginalization important contexts, along with the immediate presenting crisis. Social workers are uniquely equipped for suicide crisis support, employed across clinical and non-clinical settings. However, how social workers access pre- service suicide education and training at the university qualifying level is poorly understood. Despite taking on roles in which they will be required to respond to suicidal people immediately upon graduation. All Australian qualifying social work programs are required to adhere to the Australian Social Work Education and Accreditation Standards (ASWEAS). These standards identify that mental health content is to be embedded in Australian university curriculum. However, there are no clear directions regarding inclusion of suicide prevention in social work curriculum. An analysis of suicide-related education within 33 Australian universities with accredited social work qualifying degrees revealed that 1484 subjects are offered across all pre-service qualifying awards, only one currently offers standalone suicide focused subject. The focus on standalone suicide prevention reflects that suicide is not always connected to a mental ill-health presentation. Seeking to explore if targeted training to Social Work students on suicide intervention, postvention, and prevention occurs including recommendations for curriculum development.