Evidence map›Paper›PMID 39351789›Full record

ReviewSuicide & life-threatening behavior2025

What is known about suicide prevention gatekeeper training and directions for future research.

Sarah G Spafford, Morton M Silverman, Peter M Gutierrez

Erratum issuedAbstract readReview
In one paragraph

Review in Suicide & life-threatening behavior, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 2 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
2citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

2 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

3 authors.

Sarah G SpaffordUniversity of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon, USA.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8339-9501
Morton M SilvermanMedical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA.
Peter M GutierrezLivingWorks Education, Calgary, Alberta, Canada.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

introductionSuicide prevention training that teaches skills to support a person experiencing thoughts of suicide and create community support networks, often termed, "gatekeeper" training (GKT), has been a longstanding pillar of international, national, and local suicide prevention efforts. GKT aims to improve knowledge, attitudes, and self-efficacy in identifying individuals at risk for suicide, hopefully enhancing one's willingness and ability to intervene with a person experiencing a crisis. However, little is known about GKT's effectiveness in creating the essential behavior change (e.g., increase in intervening behaviors) it sets out to accomplish.

methodsThis paper explores the history and theoretical background of GKT, reviews the current state of research on GKT, and provides framing and recommendations for next steps to advance research and practice around GKT. RESULTS &

conclusionThrough positioning GKT appropriately within the field of suicide prevention, we argue that the field of suicide prevention needs more rigorous research around GKT that includes long-term follow-up data on usage of skills learned during training, data on outcomes of those who have received an intervention from a trained gatekeeper, and the integration of implementation science to further our understanding of which trainings are appropriate for which helpers.

Indexed as

Suicide PreventionHealth Knowledge, Attitudes, PracticeHumansgatekeeper trainingsuicide interventionsuicide prevention training

Identifiers

PMID39351789
PMCPMC13542454

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.