The Professional Counselor | Volume 14, Issue 1 103 does not focus on how best to teach for improved self-efficacy related to suicide assessment and intervention in the online setting. Specifically, it is not clear how counselor educators can best teach suicide screening, assessment, or intervention skills online. Two recent studies in counselor education programs have tried to better explain self-efficacy in suicide training during online learning (Elliott & Henninger, 2020; Gallo et al., 2019). Elliott and Henninger (2020) showed that different online teaching strategies (e.g., a combination of a written module, role-plays/observations, and a facilitated discussion) in an online counselor education program showed no between-group differences, while all teaching strategies showed significant improvements in self-efficacy of CITs. Another study found that a 15-hour youth suicide prevention course that included didactic and experiential activities in a master’s counseling program increased participants’ knowledge and perceived ability to help clients who experienced suicidal ideations, as well as increased their self-efficacy in screening, assessment, and intervention (Gallo et al., 2019). Purpose of the Study With the influx of online counselor education programs, it is essential to determine how to improve suicide training and intervention skills (Allen & Seaman, 2014) so that CITs are better prepared to address the topic of suicide. The current quantitative study examined the influence of an online counseling practice model on CITs’ self-efficacy when it came to the utilization of suicide assessment and intervention with clients. The research question was: Do CITs’ perceived levels of self-efficacy in suicide assessment and intervention change because of practicing these skills through role-plays in an online counseling course? By better understanding these findings, implications can be made for how counselor educators can teach suicide screening, assessment, and intervention skills online. Method Procedures Prior to beginning this study, our research team received full approval from the IRB. Participants were then recruited from an online clinical mental health counseling program. Only students enrolled in the online basic counseling skills course were recruited to ensure that all participants were at the same place in the program regarding knowledge and skills learned. An electronic announcement was posted in the 10 online basic skill course shells. The announcement included a hyperlink directing participants to an informed consent document, which detailed their requirements and rights and allowed them to indicate their consent to participate. Before completing any survey questions, the participants created a username for data comparison in the pre- and posttests, which was also an avenue for dropping participants if they requested to leave the study. After providing their username, participants completed a brief demographic questionnaire and the Counselor Suicide Assessment Efficacy Survey (CSAES; Douglas & Wachter Morris, 2015). To protect participant anonymity, no additional identifying information was collected. Structure of the Basic Skills Class Once students completed the pretest consent form, demographic questionnaire, and assessment, the counselor educators (i.e., faculty) started the class by providing participants with a variety of technology-assisted counseling experiences and activities (e.g., role-play demonstrations, best practices in telemental health counseling, lecture videos on specific counseling skills, guidelines for a preferred topic for the role-plays). To ensure consistency of content across courses, the faculty made sure to include the same teaching resources in each section of the class and continuously consulted each other to make sure that the classes were taught as similarly as possible. In addition, they decided
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