Scoping review of 30 years of suicide prevention in university students around the world: efficacy, effectiveness, and cost-effectiveness

A scoping review of systematic reviews was carried out to identify evidence of efficacy, effectiveness, and cost-effectiveness of universal and selective suicide prevention programs among university students worldwide. Five databases were reviewed using terms in English, Spanish, and Portuguese. The following were the inclusion criteria: systematic review or meta-analysis or meta-synthesis, suicide prevention in college students, evaluation of the efficacy, effectiveness and/or cost-effectiveness of interventions, and peer-reviewed studies. The quality of reviews was assessed. The field of study features three decades of publication in high-income countries. The strategy used, the components of the program, and the target audience to which they are delivered interfere with efficacy. In the psychoeducation strategy, the experiential and didactic components are more efficacious in the knowledge about suicide. And the motivational enhancement component promotes greater self-efficacy in suicide prevention. Programs that take a multimodal approach are effective in increasing short-term attitudes related to suicide and reducing rates of completed suicide. The gatekeeper strategy delivered to peer counselors is the most effective one in the outcomes, including short-term and long-term knowledge about suicide and its prevention and self-efficacy in suicide prevention. A greater number of evaluated studies of gatekeeper interventions were identified, indicating a trend in this research field. No review addressed the effects on subgroups that were classified based on sex, racial or sexual minorities, and special (indigenous) populations. Only one study addressed cost-effectiveness, pointing out that the psychoeducation and gatekeeper strategies have relevant net benefit rates, but the gatekeeper strategy has a higher cost–benefit ratio compared to the psychoeducation strategy. The findings indicate that psychoeducation and gatekeeper interventions tend to be more efficacious when they combine education and skills training to intervene in suicidal behavior. The components of the intervention and the target audience to which it is delivered influence efficacy. Multimodal interventions evaluate completed suicide outcomes, but require greater implementation efforts, in terms of human and financial resources and more time for the evaluation. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s41155-022-00227-x.