TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2019//
TI  - Short- and long-term impact of an undergraduate suicidology course
JO  - Suicide and life-threatening behavior
A1  - Muehlenkamp, Jennifer J.
A1  - Thoen, Sophia K.
SP  - ePub
EP  - ePub
VL  - ePub
IS  - ePub
N2  - OBJECTIVE: Suicide prevention models emphasize the importance of education as a foundational element for success. Yet, courses on suicidology are rare and those that do exist focus on clinical intervention skills at the graduate level, missing a critical population of undergraduate students. The current study evaluated the short and long-term impact of a semester long liberal education undergraduate course in suicidology. <br><br>METHOD: Students enrolled in either the experimental (Understanding Suicide) or control course completed pre- post- and 4-month follow-up surveys assessing objective knowledge about suicide, suicide stigma, attitudes towards suicidal persons, and suicide prevention advocacy. <br><br>RESULTS: Mixed repeated measures ANCOVAs indicated significant interactions between course enrollment over time for all the outcome variables. Students in the suicidology course showed significant pre- to post- increases in knowledge and suicide prevention advocacy, alongside reductions in suicide stigma and negative attitudes compared to students in the control course, who showed no significant pre-/post changes. All effects were maintained over time. <br><br>CONCLUSION: Providing general education undergraduate courses in suicidology may be an important avenue for building a motivated and informed public that can sustain suicide prevention efforts in their communities.<br><br>© 2019 The American Association of Suicidology.<p />  <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 0363-0234
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/sltb.12552
ID  - ref1
ER  -