Factors Associated with Teachers’ Suicide Literacy and Self-Efficacy: A Scoping Review

In suicide prevention, gatekeepers are community members who interact with many individuals, can be trained to recognize signs of suicidality, and facilitate referral to support services. Teachers are considered natural gatekeepers who play an important role in identifying and supporting students, yet require adequate knowledge and self-efficacy beliefs to engage in suicide intervention behaviors. The aim of the current scoping review was to investigate what factors are associated with teachers’ suicide literacy and self-efficacy in identifying and helping students with suicidal ideations and behaviors. Search terms were entered in Web of Science, Scopus, PubMed, and ERIC in March 2025, followed by a forward/backward search, and an updated search in April 2026. For inclusion, journal articles needed to report on factors associated with schoolteachers’ suicide literacy and/or self-efficacy with quantitative data in English. Articles were excluded if they reported on non-suicidal self-injury, did not report data specifically for teachers, or presented qualitative studies/summarized data. 20 articles were included in the narrative synthesis and evaluated with the QuADS checklist. In addition to program participation and professional development, various individual (e.g., experiences with suicidality) and contextual factors (e.g., crisis intervention team at school) were examined. These provide insights for the development and refinement of future gatekeeper programs and teacher education. However, the limited number of studies examining the range of factors represents an important limitation. Future research should prioritize replication and alleviate methodological limitations, such as employing larger sample sizes and psychometrically validated instruments.