An educational intervention for front-line health professionals in the assessment and management of suicidal patients (The STORM Project)

Background. Suicide prevention is a health priority in many countries. Impr oved management of suicide risk may improve suicide prevention. This study aimed to assess the feasibility of health district-wide training in the ass essment and management of people at risk of suicide; and to assess the impa ct of training on assessment and management skills. Methods. Staff in three health care settings, namely primary care, accident and emergency departments and mental health services (N = 359), were offer ed suicide risk management training in a district-wide programme, using a f lexible 'facilitator' approach. The main outcomes were the rate of attendan ce at training, and changes in suicide risk assessment and management skill s following training. Results. It was possible to deliver training to 167 health professionals (4 7 % of those eligible) during a 6 month training period. This included 95 p rimary care staff (39 %), 21 accident and emergency staff (42 %) and 51 men tal health staff (78 %). Of these, 103 (69 %) attended all training. A volu nteer sample of 28 staff who underwent training showed improvements in skil ls in the assessment and management of suicide risk. Satisfaction with trai ning was high. The expected costs of district-wide training, if it were abl e to produce a 2.5 % reduction in the suicide rate, would be pound 99 747 p er suicide prevented and pound 3391 per life year gained. Conclusions. Training in the assessment and management of suicide risk can be delivered to approximately half the targeted staff in primary care, acci dent and emergency departments and mental health services. The current trai ning package can improve skills and is well accepted. If it were to produce a modest fall in the suicide rate, such training would be cost-effective. However, a future training programme should develop a broader training pack age to reach those who will not attend.