Ethics approval number: S191275
The aim of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of an organisation wide, multi-level, suicide prevention strategy. General awareness training (GAT), gatekeeper training (SafeTALK), mental health first aid training (MHFA), and Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training (ASIST) will be administered to organisational employees. In addition, organisational policy and procedure will be adapted or constructed to optimise the primary outcome of suicide prevention.
To achieve this goal, we need local organisations and businesses to participate in the project.
Participant eligibility
- a Sunshine Coast based organisation
- participating staff and volunteers must be 18 years or older
- proficient in spoken and written English
Contact the Alliance if you are unsure if you are eligible to participate.
What the project involves
An organisation can become involved in this research project through an interest to implement a suicide prevention strategy as part of their employee well-being responsibilities. The Workplace Integrated Suicide Prevention model includes a tiered approach whereby participants will be given the option of self-selecting to participate in higher levels of gatekeeper and mental health training.
In sequential order, the following training programs will be implemented in coordination with the participating organisation:
- General Awareness Training (1 hour)
- SafeTALK (3 hour)
- ASIST and/or Mental Health First Aid (2 day)
All participation is voluntary and in accordance with the resourcing approval of the participating organisation.
Prior to the commencement of the scheduled training program at each tier, participants who consent to participate will be invited to complete the pre-training evaluation of their preparedness, knowledge, efficacy, and reluctance in regards to identifying and responding to suicidal thoughts and behaviours.
The gatekeeper training program will then be delivered as per normal.
At the conclusion of the training program, participants will be invited to complete the post-training evaluation survey, which will assess any changes in participants’ preparedness, knowledge, efficacy, and reluctance in regards to identifying and responding to suicidal thoughts and behaviours.
Follow up evaluations will be sent to participants via email 6 and 12 months following their last completed training session.
Participants are reminded that they may withdraw from the study at any time without penalty or consequence.
A representative from the participating organisation will also be requested to complete a survey pre-post to outline the overall profile, organisational culture towards mental health and current training levels and initiatives.
Project results
Organisations will be provided a report on the results of their staff and volunteers participation in the research project. Results of the research study will be utilised to determine a ‘best practice’ for workplace integrated suicide prevention and industry benchmarks.
Individual participants will not be able to request information about individual data but are welcome to request a summary of the collective research findings on completion of the study by contacting the research team.
Latest news and collective results will be disseminated through the Alliance News.
Privacy and confidentiality
By participating in this project, a participant gives consent for their assessment results (called ‘data’) to be used in this project and related future projects. A consent form will be signed at the beginning of the program participation. Only non-identifiable data is used. Non-identifiable data is data that has had all personal details removed (so there is no way to link a participant to the data). Any identifiable information provided will remain confidential, and will not be disclosed without permission.
A participant will not be named in any reports or publications resulting from the research project. Any publications based on the research project will include only pooled results from all the participants, so results will not be singled out.
Informed consent
For more information refer to the Research Project Information Sheet (PDF 193KB) *
* For PDF documents you must have the free Adobe Acrobat Reader, which can be downloaded from the Adobe Download Page.