Suicide prevention education in social work education: What do MSW deans, directors and faculty have to say?

Suicide is a significant public health problem. Although social workers are the leading providers of mental health services in the country, little is known about suicide prevention and intervention (SPI) training in MSW education. The majority of social workers reported inadequate training in a national survey of social workers on SPI (Feldman & Freedenthal, 2006). Recent exploratory research on one program found that students and field supervisors reported minimal SPI training (Ruth, Muroff, McLaughlin & Gianino, 2008). To our knowledge, there has been no inquiry into the perspectives of MSW deans/directors or faculty on this issue.

To better understand the challenges of SPI integration, two 44-question online surveys, one for deans/directors (DD), and one for faculty members (FM), were developed and administered in 2008-2009. The samples were constructed using CSWE accreditation lists; DD (n=208) and FM (n= 2200?) email addresses were compiled from university websites and participants invited by email.

Findings: The DD response rate was 22% (n=46 of 208). Some 67.5% of (n=40) DDs reported that students received less than 4¬ hours of SPI training and 65% (n=28) indicated satisfaction with this. While 84.4% (n=38) indicated that SPI training was “somewhat/very important,” 88% (n=38) had no plans to increase it. Obstacles cited were “having other priorities,” “a crowded curriculum,” and “lack of faculty expertise.” FM responses are being collected and will be compared to DD.

Implications: Given their crucial role in shaping curricula, MSW deans/directors and faculty perspectives are essential to surmounting barriers to SPI integration in MSW programs.