Review of the Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training Program ...

Preface
There are no easy answers to the problem of suicide. It kills almost one million people a year, injures many
more, and leaves countless survivors—friends, family, and loved ones of those who have died—emotionally
devastated.
The Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training program (ASIST) provides one solution to this problem by
training caregivers to identify and intervene with those at risk for suicide.
Although the ASIST program has been the subject of numerous evaluations, there has been, to this point,
no compilation of these reports. Therefore, the purpose of this report is to provide a comprehensive
review of ASIST evaluation results. To this end, the report is organized into four sections:
An overview of the problem of suicide
A description of the ASIST program
A review of ASIST evaluation results
Suggestions for future ASIST evaluations
By compiling the results of ASIST evaluations, a better understanding of the impact of ASIST can be
known. This knowledge can aid program improvement, guide future evaluation efforts, and increase our
knowledge of suicide prevention generally.
This review is limited to training outcomes; particularly, satisfaction with training, knowledge and attitudes,
intervention-related skills, intervention-related behaviors, and suicidal behaviors (suicide attempts or
deaths). The methods used to collect data for this review were standardized; however, the methods and
measures used by the ASIST evaluations cited in this report varied widely. This variability prevented the
mathematical aggregation of results typically found in reviews. Therefore, results are listed singularly by
evaluation. Not all results from all evaluations are reported here. Complete results from evaluations
cited in this report can be found in the separately published Data Extraction Tables.
While this review focused on ASIST, it should be noted that suicide is a complex behavior that defies simple
solutions. A multifaceted approach to suicide prevention, which includes programs like ASIST, is most likely
to be effective in reducing suicide deaths.
2 Review of the Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training Program (ASIST) LivingWorks Education