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The Suicide Prevention Resource Center (SPRC), funded by SAMHSA/CMHS, is a national training and technical assistance (TA) center. Since 2005, the SPRC has been tasked with increasing the knowledge and expertise of suicide prevention practitioners serving people at risk for suicide. Among its client groups, the SPRC serves state, tribal, and campus grantees funded for multiple years under the Garrett Lee Smith (GLS) Memorial Act. To date, the SPRC has provided services to over 360 GLS grantees. In 2010, the SPRC developed a set of Core Competencies for Suicide Prevention. The core competencies were derived from SPRC’s past work with GLS grantees and others implementing suicide prevention programs and represent areas in which higher levels of capacity are expected to lead to implementation of higher quality suicide prevention practices. The model includes 11 core competency areas (e.g., partnerships and collaboration, data and surveillance, strategic planning) with 70 sub-competencies that outline specific knowledge, practices, and skills within each broad area.
Methods
Starting in 2012, the SPRC initiated an online Scan of Grantee Needs (SOGN) with all newly funded GLS grantees. All grantees that have been funded since that time (n=90) have taken part in the SOGN at the end of their fourth month (baseline) and annually thereafter. The SOGN asks grantees to report on their current level of capacity in each of the 11 core competency areas and to report on their level of TA need across the 70 sub-competencies. These data are used to generate site-specific TA plans and aggregate data are used to inform cross-center planning. In addition to the SOGN, the SPRC maintains a database that tracks all instances of TA provided to grantees and grantees take part in an annual online customer satisfaction and assessment survey. The current study examines changes in grantee prevention capacity over time using data from the SOGN and some of the potential literature-informed factors that may be associated with changes in capacity. The latter is accomplished by linking the SOGN with TA database records and with the annual client survey.
Results/Implications
Repeated measures analyses using multi-level modeling revealed a statistically significant main effect for 9 of the 11 core competencies over a three year period and for a composite competency variable. This session will present on these results and on additional analyses exploring potential contributors such as dosage of TA, baseline need, client satisfaction with services, and perceived utility of services. The findings have the potential to contribute to the very sparse literature base that currently exists on the value and effectiveness of prevention-related TA services.