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

Abstract

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.