Abstract
In recent years, gatekeeper interventions have become a more common intervention format for university students. Kognito, a dynamic AI-driven gatekeeper intervention, may offer improvement over traditional static knowledge dissemination interventions in identifying and assisting at-risk students. However, like many mental health interventions, Kognito focuses primarily on suicide prevention and provides no educational content on nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI). Nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI), defined as the deliberate, self-inflicted damage of body tissue without suicidal intent and for purposes not socially or culturally sanctioned (ISSS, 2018) is a growing public health concern among college students. Prevalence of NSSI in college students is high, with one of every five students engaging in NSSI at some point during their lifetime, and 15% self-injuring during their first two years at university. The current study implemented a dynamic online suicide-prevention gatekeeper intervention, Kognito, combined with additional NSSI-based content, in comparison to a static intervention format, in an effort to examine which format yields better knowledge retention and skill implementation at follow-up. Ninety undergraduates were randomized to a dynamic or static intervention group or a waitlist control and completed a survey that assessed mental health knowledge, attitudes, and gatekeeper behaviors. At follow-up, knowledge retention and skills were assessed via open-ended questions on how the participant would respond to a peer in distress based on two vignettes. Although a general college student sample, on average participants were experiencing mild depressive symptoms, and over 75% of the sample reported knowing someone who engaged in NSSI and approximately 80% knew someone who attempted suicide. Results suggested that both dynamic and static intervention groups significantly increased compared to the control group in perceived preparedness at follow-up, improved beliefs in suicide’s predictability, and scored significantly higher in utilizing active listening for one of the two peer vignette activities. There were no significant changes in self-efficacy, attitudes towards NSSI, or other skills discussed in the trainings (i.e., assessing NSSI or suicide risk, referral to counseling).