Graduate School of Social Service, Fordham University, West Harrison, NY, USA.
Department of Social Work, Suleyman Demirel University, Isparta, Turkey.
Int J Soc Psychiatry. 2022 Mar;68(2):281-287. doi: 10.1177/0020764020983860. Epub 2020 Dec 24.
Resources for mental healthcare are lacking in Guatemala, yet rates of mental illness and suicide are quite high. Mental healthcare providers often lack the knowledge needed to effectively work with young at-risk of suicide. To address this gap, we developed a training program for mental health professionals focused on increasing knowledge and understanding of engaging and working with youth at risk of suicide and present its acceptability and preliminary effectiveness.
Mental health providers ( = 17) from a low SES community participated in the training, Formacion CUIDAR (Comunidades Unidos para Individuales De Alto Riesgo; CARE Training; Communities United for Individuals at High Risk). Mixed methods were used to explore outcomes including, self-reported knowledge and understanding of warning signs; risk and protective factors; effective risk assessment; and, techniques for working with at-risk youth.
Findings indicate that the training was effective at increasing all targeted domains of knowledge ( = 2.46, < .05, Cohen's = .56). Acceptability was also rated as high.
Scarcity of mental health specialists and lack of training on suicide assessment and management have resulted in inadequate resources for at-risk youth in need of mental health services in Guatemala. Results of our study demonstrate that our training is an acceptable, effective program for practicing mental health providers to address their lack of specialized training on how to work with individuals at risk of suicide. Further examination of the training in a larger RCT is required to attain more robust indictors of effectiveness and to assess long-term impact.
危地马拉的精神卫生资源匮乏，但精神疾病和自杀率相当高。精神卫生服务提供者通常缺乏与有自杀风险的年轻人有效合作所需的知识。为了解决这一差距，我们为精神卫生专业人员开发了一项培训计划，重点是提高对与有自杀风险的年轻人接触和合作的知识和理解，并介绍其可接受性和初步效果。
来自低社会经济地位社区的精神卫生服务提供者（ = 17）参加了培训，即 Formacion CUIDAR（Comunidades Unidos para Individuales De Alto Riesgo；关怀培训；社区联合高危个体）。采用混合方法探讨了包括自我报告的危险信号、风险和保护因素、有效风险评估以及与高危青年合作的技巧等方面的知识和理解。
研究结果表明，培训在增加所有目标知识领域方面是有效的（ = 2.46， < .05，Cohen's = .56）。可接受性也被评为很高。
精神卫生专家的稀缺和缺乏自杀评估和管理方面的培训导致危地马拉有自杀风险的青年在需要精神卫生服务方面资源不足。我们的研究结果表明，我们的培训是一种可接受的、有效的方案，可为从事精神卫生工作的专业人员提供服务，以解决他们在如何与有自杀风险的个人合作方面缺乏专门培训的问题。需要在更大的 RCT 中进一步检查培训，以获得更有力的效果指标，并评估长期影响。
