PMID- 36881461
OWN - NLM
STAT- PubMed-not-MEDLINE
LR  - 20230324
IS  - 1929-0748 (Print)
IS  - 1929-0748 (Electronic)
IS  - 1929-0748 (Linking)
VI  - 12
DP  - 2023 Mar 7
TI  - Statewide Assessment of North Carolina Nurse Practitioners' Knowledge of and 
      Attitudes Toward Suicide Awareness and Prevention: Protocol for a Statewide Mixed 
      Methods Study.
PG  - e39675
LID - 10.2196/39675 [doi]
LID - e39675
AB  - BACKGROUND: Suicide is a major public health problem, which affects people of all 
      ages and ethnicities. Despite being preventable, the rates of suicide have 
      steadily climbed (more than a third) over the past 2 decades. OBJECTIVE: Nurse 
      practitioners (NPs) must be responsible for recognizing suicide risk and 
      providing appropriate treatment referrals in addition to having an important role 
      in suicide prevention. The reasons why NPs may not pursue suicide prevention 
      training are their lack of suicide awareness and prevention, limited experiences 
      with suicidal patients, and the stigma associated with mental illness. Before we 
      begin to address the gaps within suicide awareness and prevention skills, we need 
      to first examine NPs' knowledge of and attitudes (stigma) toward suicide 
      prevention. METHODS: This study will comprise a mixed methods approach. First, 
      quantitative data will be collected using the Suicide Knowledge and Skills 
      Questionnaireand the Suicide Stigma Scale (Brief version) questionnaire. An email 
      will be sent to the NPs explaining the purpose of the study. If they consent, 
      they will click on a link to access the surveys on a secure site. In our previous 
      research with this sample, email reminders to nonresponders after 2 and 4 weeks 
      were sent. The quantitative component will be used to inform the qualitative 
      interviews of this study. The Suicide Knowledge and Skills Questionnaire is a 
      13-item questionnaire comprising 2 subscales: suicide knowledge and suicide 
      skills. All questions are rated on a 5-point Likert scale (1=completely disagree 
      to 5=completely agree). The survey has been shown to differentiate between those 
      with suicide training and those without and has a Cronbach alpha score of .84. The 
      Suicide Stigma Scale (Brief version) is a 16-item survey that assesses stigma 
      regarding suicide. The items are measured on a 5-point Likert scale (1: strongly 
      disagree to 5: strongly agree) and have a Cronbach alpha of .98. RESULTS: This study 
      was funded by the Faculty Research Grants program through the Office of the Vice 
      Chancellor for Research and Economic Development at the University of North 
      Carolina at Charlotte. Institutional review board approval was obtained in April 
      2022. Recruitment occurred between summer and winter 2022. Interview conduction 
      began in December 2022 and will conclude in March 2023. Data will be analyzed 
      during spring and summer 2023. CONCLUSIONS: The study results will add to the 
      literature on NPs' knowledge of and attitudes (stigma) toward suicide prevention. 
      It represents a first step in addressing gaps within suicide awareness and 
      prevention skills, among NPs in their respective practice settings. INTERNATIONAL 
      REGISTERED REPORT IDENTIFIER (IRRID): PRR1-10.2196/39675.
CI  - (c)Charlene Whitaker-Brown, Judith Bacchus Cornelius, Jaleesa Smoot, Anjala Khadka, 
      Arundhati Patil. Originally published in JMIR Research Protocols 
      (https://www.researchprotocols.org), 07.03.2023.
FAU - Whitaker-Brown, Charlene
AU  - Whitaker-Brown C
AUID- ORCID: 0000-0001-7174-7652
AD  - School of Nursing, College of Health and Human Services, University of North 
      Carolina at Charlotte, Charlotte, NC, United States.
FAU - Cornelius, Judith Bacchus
AU  - Cornelius JB
AUID- ORCID: 0000-0003-0022-3346
AD  - School of Nursing, College of Health and Human Services, University of North 
      Carolina at Charlotte, Charlotte, NC, United States.
FAU - Smoot, Jaleesa
AU  - Smoot J
AUID- ORCID: 0000-0001-5641-653X
AD  - Department of Public Health, College of Health and Human Services, University of 
      North Carolina at Charlotte, Charlotte, NC, United States.
FAU - Khadka, Anjala
AU  - Khadka A
AUID- ORCID: 0000-0002-8948-9601
AD  - Department of Public Health, College of Health and Human Services, University of 
      North Carolina at Charlotte, Charlotte, NC, United States.
FAU - Patil, Arundhati
AU  - Patil A
AUID- ORCID: 0000-0001-9465-6542
AD  - William States Lee College of Engineering, University of North Carolina at 
      Charlotte, Charlotte, NC, United States.
LA  - eng
PT  - Journal Article
DEP - 20230307
PL  - Canada
TA  - JMIR Res Protoc
JT  - JMIR research protocols
JID - 101599504
PMC - PMC10031437
OTO - NOTNLM
OT  - United States
OT  - awareness
OT  - knowledge and skills
OT  - mental illness
OT  - metal health
OT  - mixed methods
OT  - nurse
OT  - nurse practitioner
OT  - prevention
OT  - public health
OT  - skills
OT  - stigma
OT  - suicide
OT  - suicide awareness
OT  - suicide prevention
OT  - treatment
COIS- Conflicts of Interest: None declared.
EDAT- 2023/03/08 06:00
MHDA- 2023/03/08 06:01
PMCR- 2023/03/07
CRDT- 2023/03/07 11:54
PHST- 2022/05/20 00:00 [received]
PHST- 2022/12/31 00:00 [accepted]
PHST- 2022/12/29 00:00 [revised]
PHST- 2023/03/07 11:54 [entrez]
PHST- 2023/03/08 06:00 [pubmed]
PHST- 2023/03/08 06:01 [medline]
PHST- 2023/03/07 00:00 [pmc-release]
AID - v12i1e39675 [pii]
AID - 10.2196/39675 [doi]
PST - epublish
SO  - JMIR Res Protoc. 2023 Mar 7;12:e39675. doi: 10.2196/39675.