Degree Name
Nursing Practice, DNP
Publication Date
2-16-2026
First Advisor
Sandra King
Second Advisor
Beatrice Bailey
Abstract
Suicide remains one of the leading causes of death worldwide, underscoring the critical need for consistent, evidence-based suicide risk screening in mental health facilities. Despite being a validated, evidence-based tool, the use of the Columbia Suicide Severity Rating Scale (C-SSRS) is often hindered by inadequate provider training. The purpose of this Doctor of Nursing Practice quality improvement project was to evaluate the impact of provider education on self-efficacy and utilization of the C-SSRS in an outpatient mental health clinic. This quality improvement project used a quasi-experimental, one-group pretest-posttest design guided by the Health Belief Model, Lewin’s Change Theory, and the Plan-Do-Study-Act framework to implement a training intervention at an outpatient clinic involving six full-time mental health providers. The intervention consisted of a 45-minute training session focused on C-SSRS administration, interpretation, and documentation. Outcomes included provider self-efficacy and C-SSRS utilization, measured using the General Self-Efficacy Survey and de-identified chart-audit data. Post-intervention analysis demonstrated a statistically significant increase in provider self-efficacy, with mean scores increasing from 30.00 (SD = 2.76) to 39.50 (SD = 0.84), t(5) = -10.30, p < 0.001. Utilization of the C-SSRS increased from 0% at baseline to 32% by week four, t(5) = 6.64, p < 0.001. These findings demonstrate that, despite a short duration and small sample size, targeted provider education can significantly enhance self-efficacy and promote the adoption of standardized, evidence-based suicide risk screening, advancing the quality of care and patient safety within outpatient mental health clinics.
Rights Management
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Recommended Citation
Nwaogwugwu, Doreen, "Quality Improvement Project: The Influence of Education on Provider Self-Efficacy and Utilization of the Columbia Suicide Severity Rating Scale (C-SSRS)" (2026). Doctor of Nursing Practice Projects. 299.
https://arch.astate.edu/dnp-projects/299
