Objective:

The aim of this study was to assess the effectiveness of Question, Persuade, Refer (QPR) gatekeeper suicide prevention training on individuals’ ability to recognise the warning signs of suicide, intention to question someone they think is suicidal, persuade the suicidal person to stay alive, and know how and where to get help for the person. We also examined whether QPR training increased an individual’s intention to intervene with a suicidal individual.

Design:

A pretest–posttest online survey, based on the theory of planned behaviour, was employed before and after the face-to-face QPR training.

Setting:

The study was conducted on a small regional college campus in the Midwest USA.

Method:

Faculty, staff, and students at a regional campus completed two online questionnaires (pretest, n = 108, and posttest, n = 79) answering questions about attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioural control regarding suicide intervention, as well as their intention to intervene with someone who was suicidal. They also completed a 1-hour QPR gatekeeper training event.

Results:

QPR training significantly improved attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioural control regarding suicide intervention, and intention to intervene. It was also effective at increasing intention to question, persuade and refer (the three core goals of QPR).

Conclusions:

QPR training has been shown to be effective in the short-term at increasing intention to intervene within a US college community.

Search results

The effectiveness of QPR suicide prevention training

Search results

The effectiveness of QPR suicide prevention training