Journal of Telemedicine and Telecare (07/21/25) Liu, Allison; Otero, Sebastian; Laiteerapong, Neda; et al.

A recent study evaluated a Project ECHO program focused on suicide prevention. The ECHO-Chicago Suicide Prevention program includes a series of 1-hour sessions for behavioral health providers, primary care providers, and pediatric primary care providers. The sessions, which included expert-led didactics and participant-led case discussions, focused on such issues as suicide epidemiology, secondary stress, zero suicide model, screening, cultural competency, and safety planning. In all, 79 of 106 participants completed pre- and post-series surveys, which demonstrated that mean self-efficacy scores increased to 5.4 from 4.1 among the behavioral health providers and primary care providers series and to 5.2 from 3.3 in the pediatric primary care providers series. In particular, learners noted an increased ability to manage complex cases and an improved quality of care. The researchers concluded that their "novel curriculum has the potential to improve suicide prevention knowledge and practices amongst pediatric, adult, behavioral health, and interdisciplinary providers."

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