Background and Aims:
To examine the association between gatekeeper training and suicide-related knowledge among a diverse set of health care workers (psychiatrists, nurses, psychologists, and educators) and students enrolled in medical and psychological schools who took part in the International Symposium on Suicidology and Public Health 2015-2017 conferences.

Methods:
670 (511 women) health care workers (psychologists > psychiatrists > nurses > educators > Other) and students were administered the Suicide Knowledge and Skills Questionnaire (SNSQ; Smith et al., 2014), a 13-item survey questionnaire assessing participants’ knowledge about suicidal behavior and comfort dealing with suicidal clients.

Results:
44.5% of health care workers who gave a valid answer reported a past patient suicide behavior (psychiatrists > educators > nurses > psychologists > others). In 67.5% of the times, the suicide behavior occurred in a setting other than the psychiatric department (22.1%) or a private setting (10.1%). Health care workers who reported a suicide among their patients reported negative consequences (anger > guilty feelings > poor self-esteem) from having experienced a suicide among their patients. Around 30% of the health care workers reported to be confident in their skills (32.9%), training (28.4%), or support/supervision they receive (29.4%) when treating a patient at risk of suicide.
Conclusions:
Suicide assessment knowledge should be part of continuing education activities of health care professionals as well as be part of education curricula of students of medical and psychological schools. Differences exist between analyzed groups, which may help in tailoring suicide prevention education in different settings.

18 - MAKING SENSE OF SUICIDE-RELATED KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS IN A SAMPLE OF HEALTH PROFESSIONALS AND STUDENTS