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

“There remains the classic question of whether the intervention procedures taught are effective in actually
reducing suicidal behavior” (p. 75).
General Notes
• Contains three studies: #1 The Intervention Abilities Study (pre/post design), #2 The Attitudes Study
(quasi-experimental), and #3 the Knowledge Study (quasi-experimental).
• The author notes that a possible ceiling effect inhibited change in study #1’s SIRI pre/post scores.
• Compared voluntary ASIST trainees v. college students; the former group perhaps had greater
motivation.
Country Design Highest Outcome Published Classification
Canada Pre/Post Skills No 3D
Author Year Title
Walsh & Perry 2000
Youth Based Prevention Strategies in a Rural Community, Quesnel, BC: A Community
Suicide Prevention Study.
Population Studied
Setting Community
Addit’l
Components?
Community service, school personnel, private sector,
healthcare workers.
No. ASIST
Studied
No. Comp.
Studied
None, although there were numerous other suicide prevention efforts in the community
Domain Name of Instrument # Items Notes
Satisfaction
Knowledge &
Attitudes
Skills
Behaviors
Suicide Attempts
Suicide Deaths
Awareness of community resources 1
Comfortable talking about suicide 1
Able to recognize warning signs 1
Very skilled in assessing risk 1
Very skilled in intervention 1
12 Review of the Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training Program (ASIST) LivingWorks Education
49
N/A
Used on a Likert scale. Only extreme
frequencies were reported (i.e., “not at all
knowledgeable” v. “very knowledgeable”).
Middle points (2 or 3?) were not reported.
Questions were retrospective.