39-1 Challenges to Suicide Prevention and Intervention: From the Perspectives of College Counseling Centers
The present study aimed to investigate the challenges encountered in suicide prevention and intervention programs by examining the perspectives of professional counselors in different college counseling centers. To collect data, semi-structured interviews were conducted with thirteen professionals. Data were analyzed based on grounded theory and processed by the sequential extractions of open coding, axial coding and selective coding, which produced five major challenges. First, the challenge came from a lack of sufficient professional training and practical experience. Second, counseling centers faced the challenge to identify suicidal students, in spite of the centers' diverse promotional activities for crisis prevention. Third, there was the challenge of establishing consensual understanding in school-based cross-divisional collaboration on suicide prevention and intervention. Fourth, the challenge came from the communication and actual operation of a school-based crisis-responding procedure. Lastly, the challenge lied in the promotion of concepts and practice about postvention. Based on the findings, the researchers offered suggestions on three major areas to counteract: training for helping professionals, promotions by counseling centers, and integration of on-campus collaboration.
Keywords
challenge ； college counseling center ； crisis intervention ； suicide
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