Exploring the Impact of Cultural Beliefs and Suicide Response Training on School Counselors’ Multicultural Assessment Self-Efficacy

Youth suicide remains a pressing issue impacting students from minoritized and marginalized backgrounds disproportionately. School counselors play a pivotal role in addressing suicide risk through prevention, assessment, and postvention efforts in PreK-12 educational settings. This study examines how culturally informed suicide response training and counselors’ beliefs about the impact of culture on suicidality influence their multicultural assessment self-efficacy. Surveys were completed by 995 school counselors across various school types to investigate these relationships and identify disparities in self-efficacy based on systemic factors such as caseload, school type, and counselor staffing. Results indicate that culturally informed training significantly improves counselors’ self-efficacy, while systemic barriers, such as inadequate training access, may limit counselors’ capacity to perform equitable, culturally responsive assessments. Findings underscore the need for systemic changes in training and resource allocation to support school counselors in meeting the mental health needs of PreK-12 students from diverse backgrounds. Recommendations are provided to promote equity and justice through culturally responsive suicide response practices in schools.