Author

Julie Honey

Date of Award

Summer 8-2019

Document Type

Capstone

Degree Name

Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP)

Department

Nursing

Program Affiliation

Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP)

First Advisor

Dr. Kris Hendrickx

Abstract

This DNP project was an effort to address the rising trend of suicide on college campuses. The aim of the project was to increase the number of faculty gatekeepers through implementation of an online audience-specific gatekeeper training program. Participants included 24 graduate and undergraduate nursing faculty at two private liberal arts colleges. An online audience-specific training program was implemented to improve faculty preparedness, likelihood of engagement, and self-efficacy in order to assist students in distress. The program trained participants as gatekeepers utilizing Question, Persuade, Refer (QPR) strategies and incorporated audience-specific information related to suicide risk in nursing students. Participants completed the Gatekeeper Behavior Scale (GBS) prior to and after the training. In addition, participants responded to narrative questions related to audience-specific training components at the completion of the training. Overall, Participants from Institution A showed statistically significant increases in all but one GBS response with a range of p = 0.005 - 0.038. Participants from Institution B showed statistically significant increases in all but three GBS responses with a range of p = 0.023 – 0.039. At a rate of 92%, participants found the audience-specific content that addressed risk of suicide in nursing students beneficial. The online audience-specific gatekeeper training exhibited effective increases in nursing faculty preparedness, likelihood of engagement, and self-efficacy in assisting students at risk for suicide. This audience-specific approach to gatekeeper training holds promise for institutions of higher education and their efforts to reduce student death by suicide.

Keywords: suicide prevention training, gatekeeper, QPR, Gatekeeper Behavior Scale, college students

Included in

Nursing Commons

COinS