Addressing Suicide in Entry-to-Practice Occupational Therapy Programs: A Canadian Picture

Abstract

Worldwide, over 800,000 people die each year by suicide, leaving many behind to grieve the loss. Preventing suicide involves reaching people before they are in crisis (prevention), helping them to navigate a crisis that could result in suicide (intervention), and addressing the aftermath of a suicide loss or attempt (postvention). Healthcare professionals, including occupational therapists, unitedly acknowledge the lack of skills, knowledge, and competence in all facets of suicide awareness and prevention in their professional training and in practice. To improve this situation, suicide prevention skills must be taught in entry to practice programs, so they will filter into the practice of all occupational therapists. Thus, the purpose of this study was to discover how competencies related to suicide prevention are currently taught to student occupational therapists in Canadian universities. A cross-sectional descriptive design was used to survey the 14 Canadian university occupational therapy programs. 12/14 programs responded. All endorsed the use of a range of pedagogical approaches, but there was little similarity from one university to another. Learning activities mainly related to mitigating imminent suicide risk (intervention) and illustrated a lack of attention to the continuum of suicidal behavior (prevention, intervention, and postvention). All universities showed a clear willingness to improve their approach, but there is no current gold standard to strive for. Future initiatives can support research in this regard to ensure student occupational therapists are better prepared to address the full continuum of prevention, intervention, and postvention with explicit attention to an occupational perspective.

Keywords

• suicide
• occupational therapy
• curriculum
• pedagogy