“Suicide CARE” (Standardized Suicide Prevention Program for Gatekeeper Intervention in Korea): An Update

Objective@#In 2011, “Suicide CARE” (Standardized Suicide Prevention Program for Gatekeeper Intervention in Korea) was originally developed for the early detection of warning signs of suicide completion, since there is a tendency to regard emotional suppression as a virtue of Korean traditional culture. A total of 1.2 million individuals completed the training program of “Suicide CARE” in Korea. @*Methods@#More sophisticated suicide prevention approaches according to age, sex, and occupation have been proposed, demanding for a more detailed revision of “Suicide CARE.” Thus, during the period from August 2019 to February 2020, “Suicide CARE” has been updated to version 2.0. The assessments on domestic gatekeeper training programs for suicide prevention, international gatekeeper training programs for suicide prevention, psychological autopsy interview reports between 2015 and 2018, and the evaluation of feedback from people who completed “Suicide CARE” version 1.6 training were performed. @*Results@#We describe the revision process of “Suicide CARE,” revealing that “Suicide CARE” version 2.0 has been developed using an evidence-based methodology. @*Conclusion@#It is expected that “Suicide CARE” version 2.0 be positioned as the basic framework for many developing gatekeeper training programs for suicide prevention in Korea in the near future.

Contents of the Standardized Suicide Prevention Program for Gatekeeper Intervention in Korea, Version 2.0

Objective@#Suicide is a huge nationwide problem that incurs a lot of socio-economic costs. Suicide also inflicts severe distress on the people left behind. The government of the Republic of Korea has been making many policy efforts to reduce suicide rate. The gatekeeper program, ‘Suicide CARE’, is one of the meaningful modalities for preventing suicide. @*Methods@#Multidisciplinary research team collaborated to update the ‘Suicide CARE’ to version 2.0. @*Results@#In the ‘Introductory part’, the authors have the time to think about the necessity and significance of the program before conducting full-scale gatekeeper training. In the ‘Careful observation’ part, trainees learn how to understand and recognize the various linguistic, behavioral, and situational signals that a person shows before committing suicide. In the ‘Active listening’ part, trainees learn how to ask suicide with a value-neutral attitude as well listening empathetically. In the ‘Risk evaluation and Expert referral’ part, trainees learn intervening strategies to identify a person’s suicidal intention, plan, and past suicide attempts, and connect the person to appropriate institutes or services. @*Conclusion@#Subsequent studies should be conducted to verify the efficacy of the gatekeeper program.