Abstract
To evaluate the effectiveness of Conversations on Access to Lethal Means for the General Public (CALM-GP), a training for the public focusing on reducing access to lethal means during a crisis. The program adapted Counseling on Access to Lethal Means (CALM), developed for mental health practitioners and physicians. Participants completed pre/post surveys and follow-up surveys three months afterward. Measures included comfort and confidence in talking to a suicidal individual about access to lethal means, the likelihood of follow-up, and the number of lethal means conversations before and after the program. Surveys showed improvement in comfort and confidence talking about safely storing firearms and other lethal means and the likelihood of follow-up with that individual regarding access to lethal means. Results also indicated increased conversations participants had regarding suicide and lethal means at three-month follow-up. This evaluation suggests that CALM-GP is an effective suicide prevention and lethal means program for the public.
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Acknowledgements
The authors wish to thank all participants whose participation in the evaluation was critical. They also wish to thank Julie Matthews and Suzanne McCudden with the Missouri Institute of Mental Health for their work on evaluation design, data management, study administration, and data analysis. Additionally, they wish to thank Elaine Frank, co-developer of the Counseling on Access to Lethal Means (CALM), Elizabeth Makulec, Kids Under Twenty One and Richard Strait, Community Counseling Center, for their participation in the development of the CALM-GP with the authors.
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Funding was provided by the Missouri Foundation for Health through a contract with the Missouri Institute of Mental Health, University of Missouri-St. Louis.
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Kathleen Ellison, study design, writing, and editing; Hannah Schleicher, data collection and cleaning, writing, and editing; Elizabeth Sale, study design, data analysis, writing & editing. All authors approved the final version of the article.
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Ellison, K., Schleicher, H. & Sale, E. Effectiveness of a Suicide Prevention Lethal Means Training Program for the General Public. Community Ment Health J 60, 552–561 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10597-023-01206-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10597-023-01206-x