Toward a standard of care for treating suicidal outpatients: a survey of social workers' beliefs about appropriate treatment behaviors.

This study attempts to establish what reasonable, prudent professionals, named in the standard of care, believe is appropriate treatment for suicidal outpatients. We hope to move toward establishing a standard of care based on actuarial data, rather than after the fact evaluation by experts, judges, and lawyers. Previously, Greaney (1995, doctoral dissertation, Pacific Graduate School, Palo Alto, CA) empirically examined the beliefs of psychologists in appropriately treating suicidal outpatients. Our goal is to broaden the perspective of existing empirical data by examining the beliefs of clinical social workers in treating suicidal outpatients.