TY - JOUR

T1 - Supporting general practitioners in the assessment and management of suicide risk in young people

T2 - an evaluation of an educational resource in primary care

AU - Michail, Maria

AU - Cairns, Aimee

AU - Preece, Emma

AU - Mughal, Faraz

PY - 2022/8/31

Y1 - 2022/8/31

N2 - Aim:To conduct a local evaluation of the use of the educational resource: Suicide in Children and Young People: Tips for GPs, in practice and its impact on General Practitioners (GPs)’ clinical decision making.Background:This Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) resource was developed to support GPs in the assessment and management of suicide risk in young people.Method:The dissemination of the educational resource took place over a nine month period (February 2018–October 2018) across two Clinical Commissioning Groups in West Midlands. Subsequently, a survey questionnaire on GPs’ experiences of using the resource was sent to GPs in both Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs).Findings:Sixty-two GPs completed the survey: 21% reported that they had used the resource; most commonly for: (1) information; (2) assessing a young person; and (3) signposting themselves and young people to relevant resources. Five out of thirteen GPs (38.5%), who responded to the question about whether the resource had an impact on their clinical decision making, reported that it did; four (30.7%) responded that it did not; and four (30.7%) did not answer this question. Twenty out of thirty-two GPs (62.5%) agreed that suicide prevention training should be part of their NHS revalidation cycle. The generalizability of the findings is limited by the small sample size and possible response and social desirability bias. The survey questionnaire was not validated. Despite the limitations, this work can be useful in informing a future large-scale evaluation of the RCGP online resource to identify barriers and facilitators to its implementation.

AB - Aim:To conduct a local evaluation of the use of the educational resource: Suicide in Children and Young People: Tips for GPs, in practice and its impact on General Practitioners (GPs)’ clinical decision making.Background:This Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) resource was developed to support GPs in the assessment and management of suicide risk in young people.Method:The dissemination of the educational resource took place over a nine month period (February 2018–October 2018) across two Clinical Commissioning Groups in West Midlands. Subsequently, a survey questionnaire on GPs’ experiences of using the resource was sent to GPs in both Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs).Findings:Sixty-two GPs completed the survey: 21% reported that they had used the resource; most commonly for: (1) information; (2) assessing a young person; and (3) signposting themselves and young people to relevant resources. Five out of thirteen GPs (38.5%), who responded to the question about whether the resource had an impact on their clinical decision making, reported that it did; four (30.7%) responded that it did not; and four (30.7%) did not answer this question. Twenty out of thirty-two GPs (62.5%) agreed that suicide prevention training should be part of their NHS revalidation cycle. The generalizability of the findings is limited by the small sample size and possible response and social desirability bias. The survey questionnaire was not validated. Despite the limitations, this work can be useful in informing a future large-scale evaluation of the RCGP online resource to identify barriers and facilitators to its implementation.

KW - Suicide - prevention & control

KW - General Practitioners - education

KW - Humans

KW - Adolescent

KW - general practice

KW - Child

KW - suicide

KW - Clinical Competence

KW - medical education

KW - young people

KW - primary care

KW - youth mental health

KW - Primary Health Care

KW - Attitude of Health Personnel

U2 - 10.1017/S1463423622000433

DO - 10.1017/S1463423622000433

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 36043372

VL - 23

SP - 1

EP - 5

JO - Primary Health Care Research and Development

JF - Primary Health Care Research and Development

SN - 1463-4236

M1 - e50

ER -