Gatekeeper training develops individuals' abilities to recognize psychological distress, approach those they are concerned about, and refer them to mental health support services.

Design · All designs
Evidence · 3 claims (3 for) · 1 study (1 causal), q2 · 0 of 1 report an effect size · 3 claims rest on one study

Description

The article defines gatekeeper training as "teaching individuals to recognize the signs of psychological distress in others and to be able to approach and talk with those they are concerned about for the purpose of making a referral to mental health support services." The United Nations has recommended it as an important part of an effective suicide-prevention strategy. In this study, faculty, staff, and administrators completed an online simulation teaching them to recognize distress in student veterans, engage them in conversation, and motivate them to seek mental health support services.

Design Implications

Context

Requirements

• Gatekeepers must have easy access to information about where to refer the individual they are concerned about, or they may not be as likely to engage in gatekeeper behaviors.

Constraints

Target Learners

• college and university faculty
• staff
• administrators

Learning Goals

• recognize signs of psychological distress in student veterans
• engage distressed students in supportive conversation
• refer students to appropriate mental health support services

Claims

• Game-based virtual-human role-play training significantly increases faculty self-efficacy and behavioral intent to support student veterans, with sustained gains at 3-month follow-up. [+W]
• College faculty, staff and administrators rated their preparedness to support student veterans in psychological distress significantly higher after game-based virtual-human role-play training, and still above baseline at 3-month follow-up, in a pre/post study with no control group. [+W]
• Self-reported gatekeeper behaviors (identifying, approaching, and referring distressed student veterans) trended upward after training but did not reach statistical significance on the composite measure. [+W]

Related Designs

Examples

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Key Sources

• Cate, C. A., & Albright, G. (2015). Supporting Student Veterans: Utilizing Game-Based Role-Plays with Virtual Humans to Build Military Cultural Competency and Helping Behaviors in Faculty and Staff. Online Learning, 19(1). https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1074245

Page metadata

Field	Value
type	design
id	gatekeeper-training-framework
title	Gatekeeper training develops individuals' abilities to recognize psychological distress, approach those they are concerned about, and refer them to mental health support services.
description	The article defines gatekeeper training as "teaching individuals to recognize the signs of psychological distress in others and to be able to approach and talk with those they are concerned about for the purpose of ma...
status	review
generated	by process:settle-candidates on 2026-11-03
trust	unverified — no one has confirmed this page's content
sources	1 — cate-2015

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