Fostering gatekeepers has been considered important as a suicide prevention measure; however, effective educational programs for it are limited in Japan. Medical staff are also gatekeepers, and the author and colleagues tested whether case management intervention would be effective to prevent suicide reattempts in strategic research for suicide prevention, named ACTION-J. As a result, the ACTION-J intervention program was proved to be significantly effective during a certain period. Social work services based on adequate psychosocial evaluation are pivotal in the ACTION-J intervention program, which involve planning, coordination, assessment, and feedback. In addition, case managers who conduct the program try to foster the self-care ability of suicide attempters. The intervention program became covered by the medical payment system in Japan in 2016. It is expected that other effective intervention methods will build upon the successful outcome of the ACTION-J study.
<Authors' abstract>
Assertive Case Management Intervention Prevents Suicide Reattempts
Department of Neuropsychiatry, Sapporo Medical University Graduate School of Medicine
Psychiatria et Neurologia Japonica
119: 422-427, 2017
<Keywords:case management, gatekeeper, suicide, suicide attempt, randomized controlled trial>