• Korean Journal of Culture and Social Issue
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.97-117
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• 2007

The goal of this study was to find out how prepared Korean high school teachers are to identify suicidal students and connect them to appropriate resources. This study surveyed 390 high school teachers in terms of their level of knowledge on youth suicide and their misconception on suicide. In addition, this study examined what kind of actions they usually take once they identify suicidal students. Results indicated that high school teachers in Korea did not have sufficient knowledge to identify suicidal students and they did not think they are capable of identifying those students. Although their misconception on youth suicide was not as pervasive as expected, some of the misconception were still problematic in relation to suicide intervention. Furthermore, their intervention strategies for suicidal students were quite limited, focusing on isolated individual efforts. It is critical to develop and implement teacher training programs for youth suicide prevention which address suicide risk factors, warning signs, crisis response, and referral procedures.