Adolescent suicide prevention: Acceptability of school-based programs among secondary school principals

High school principals' acceptability ratings of three school-based program s for the prevention of adolescent suicide were examined. From a random sam ple of members from the 1994-1995 membership directory of the National Asso ciation of Secondary School Principals (NASSP), a total of 185 (40%) respon dents completed the Suicide Prevention Program Rating Profile (SPPRP), a me asure designed to evaluate the acceptability of suicide prevention programs , after reading a description of a particular prevention program. Programs evaluated for their acceptability included (1) curriculum-based programs pr esented to students, (2) in-service presentations to school staff, and (3) student self-report screening measures. The results indicated that the curr iculum-based and staff in-service programs were significantly more acceptab le to principals than was the schoolwide student screening program. No sign ificant differences between the acceptability of curriculum-based and inser vice programs were found. Limitations of the study and implications for pra ctice and research are discussed.