BACKGROUND
The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has extensively impacted the mental health of university students, resulting in increased depressive symptoms and suicidal ideation. In response, we developed a 48 min video to train suicide gatekeepers among university students and expanded it to a campus-based mental health support program.
OBJECTIVE
This study aimed to examine the usefulness of a 48 min video developed to address suicidal ideation among university students.
METHODS
Pre-video viewing procedures were conducted through web-based platforms, in which students participated by accessing QR codes posted on electronic bulletin boards on campus and classroom websites. Using a open label randomized controlled trial, 293 students (mean age, 20 years) from a national university were allocated into two groups using block randomization: a video-viewing group (n=120) and a control group (no viewing group, n=131). The participants were asked to answer a questionnaire immediately after allocation (t1). A follow-up survey was conducted six months later (t2, n=103 vs. n=116).
RESULTS
At t1, the presence of insomnia according to the International Classification of Sleep Disorders, third edition; Patient Health Questionnaire; and Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 scores were generally insignificantly different between the two groups. Significantly large proportion of students in a video viewing group compared to control were more likely to be confident on being a gatekeeper at campus (64.2% vs. 40.5%, P < .001), have higher levels of basic knowledge about depression (4/5 items, all Ps < .05), have detection skills of friend’s mental ill-health (4/5 items, all Ps < .05), select one best choice of how to treat with suicidal ideation (65% vs. 15%, P < .001), and select correct meaning of active listening of “accepting own's worry, sorrows, hardships with general open mind (90.8% vs. 83.2%, P = .07).” At t2, the subjective assessment item "I am confident in being a gatekeeper" no longer demonstrated statistical significance (57.3% vs. 50%, P < .29). However, we still observed marked differences in the objective assessment items; students in the video viewing group compared to control were more likely to have higher levels of basic knowledge about depression (3/5 items, all Ps < .05), detection skills of friend’s mental ill-health (3/5 items, all Ps < .05), and selection of best option for how to treat with suicidal ideation (49.5% vs. 19.8%, P < .001).
CONCLUSIONS
Our study suggests that a video-based suicide prevention program may be useful for training suicide gatekeepers among university students for a relatively long period, such as 6 months.
CLINICALTRIAL
The present trial was registered at Akita University under the registration number UMIN000047234.