Interview Guide

SCHOOL ADMINISTRATOR AND GUIDANCE COUNSELOR INTERVIEW GUIDE

1. I’d like to start by getting a sense for your role at the school.

Probe for:

• Length of time associated with school

• Role in school

• How would you describe your school’s community? What is it like for students? What is student’s class load, extracurricular activities, etc.? Teachers? Staff? How are parents involved?

• What challenges are present for school administration? Teachers? Students?

• What assets are present for school administration? Teachers? Students?

2. How large of a problem is suicide in your school? How about your community? Do you think this problem is larger, smaller, or similar to other schools and communities?

3. Has your school been affected by the recent suicides in the community? How?

4. How do people in the community respond when a young person dies by suicide?

1. How does the media respond?

2. How does the community respond?

3. How do schools respond?

4. How do parents respond?

5. How do you young people respond?

2. What are issues in the school that you think increases the risk for youth suicide?

3. What are issues in the school that you think decrease the risk for youth suicide?

4. What are issues in the community that you think increases the risk for youth suicide?

5. What are issues in the community that you think decrease the risk for youth suicide?

6. Is there something about this community that affects the way people think about or respond to suicide?

7. What resources are available for helping youth who might be depressed, anxious, or thinking about suicide?

1. At school?

2. In the larger community?

8. What kind of resources or people do you think might help prevent youth suicide?

1. At school?

2. In the larger community?

9. What are the barriers to seeking and accessing mental health care and other resources? Anything particular to youth?

   1. At school?

   2. In the larger community?

10. What role, if any, has social media played in the recent suicides in the community?

11. What role, if any, had traditional media (newspapers, TV, radio) played in the recent suicides in the community?

12. Has your district or school implement activities or policies in response to suicide/suicide-related behaviors among youth in the community? Tell me about the activities and policies and how that process unfolded.

1. What activities/policies do you believe has been most effective for your school in working to prevent youth suicide?

13. What resources have you received to implement suicide prevention activities? [probe about financial, personnel, and material. Probe about source…who provided this resource? How did you access this resource? What partnerships/other community organizations are involved?]

14. Are activities in your school similar to others across the district? Have tailored any activities to respond to the needs of your school?

15. What suicide prevention activities that are being implemented do you think are the most effective? Why?

16. Are suicide prevention approaches unique or the same relative to other affected schools or the district as a whole?

17. What barriers have you encountered in carrying out these suicide prevention activities? How has the school worked to resolve the barriers?

18. What do you see as the next step in your school/district’s implementation of suicide prevention strategies?

19. What additional information do you need in order to integrate suicide prevention strategies into your school(s)?

20. Finally, my last question is, do you have anything else you’d like to add or is there anything else you think is important for us to know?