An interventional study of Lethal means counseling training and skills practice in Lethal Means Counseling Skill, sponsored by University of Washington. Completed at 1 site in United States. Open to participants aged 18 Years and older. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-10-14.
Sponsored by University of Washington · Not applicable, Interventional, and Prevention
The goal of this study was to compare the effectiveness of practicing lethal means counseling skills with an artificial intelligence (AI)-powered client compared to practice with a live actor.
This project will bring Pathways 2 Safety (P2S) to UW social work (undergraduate and graduate) nursing (graduate) students. P2S is a 3-hour interdisciplinary training to teach clinicians to have firearm safety conversations with clients. After the training, students will be randomized to practice counseling skills using either AI-based clients or trained standardized clients (i.e., live actor) to compare the two practice modalities.
AI-based clients include a coaching agent that provides individualized feedback. Standardized client encounters will have parallel debriefing protocols. We will have three main evaluation outcomes: (1) effectiveness through pre/post surveys and observed standardized client assessments, (2) modality acceptability based on student engagement and feedback and (3) pragmatic comparison of modality time and cost.
Because participation is voluntary, this project provides a low-stakes opportunity to examine the educational value and acceptability of AI-supported learning relative to traditional methods, generating evidence to inform responsible, scalable use of AI across UW.
714 studies on the registry are indexed under Suicide; 184 are open to participants now.
This study's enrollment of 82 is below the median of 103 across 572 interventional studies indexed under Suicide.
Browse Suicide studies →University of Washington is the lead sponsor of 1,431 studies on the registry; 226 are open to participants now.
Of its 158 completed or terminated interventional studies of FDA-regulated products, 136 (86%) have results posted.
Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.
Go through the criteria one by one — yes, no or not sure — and take the list to your doctor or the study team. Kept in this browser only.
Exclusion Criteria:
Students in this arm practice lethal means counseling skills with an AI-powered client
Other: Lethal means counseling training and skills practice
Students in this arm practice lethal means counseling skills with a live actor
Other: Lethal means counseling training and skills practice
Students in this arm do not practice lethal means counseling skills
P2S is a 3-hour interdisciplinary training to teach clinicians to have firearm safety conversations with clients. After the training, students will be randomized to practice counseling skills using either AI-based clients or trained standardized clients (i.e., live actor) to compare the two practice modalities, compared with no practice.
Lethal means counseling skills
The primary outcome is lethal means counseling skills as observed and rated by reviewers then calculated as a percent out of 100, where 100% is a perfect score.
Time frame: 2-4 weeks after baseline lethal means counseling assessment
Knowledge about lethal means counseling
6-item multiple choice survey questions scored 0-6 correct, where 6 is a perfect score
Time frame: 1 week after completing P2S training
Confidence to conduct lethal means counseling
Five Likert-style questions (scored 1-4) assessing confidence performing specific lethal means counseling skills, where a lower score indicates stronger agreement
Time frame: 1 week after completing P2S training
Perceived value of AI-practice clients
Likert-style self-rated perceived value (scored 1-4) of AI-practice clients for acquiring clinical skills, where a lower score indicates stronger agreement
Time frame: 1 week after completing P2S training
Comfort using AI to acquire clinical skills
Likert-style self-rated (scored 1-4) comfort using AI practice clients to acquire clinical skills, where a lower score indicates stronger agreement
Time frame: 1 week after completing P2S training
Documents are hosted by the registry — open the source record to download them.
Plan to share: No — Not possible to de-identify recordings used for data.
Ran from Apr 2026 to primary completion in May 2026, 1 month.
Of 353 non-industry interventional studies with no phase under Suicide, half reached primary completion within 30 months of starting (the median), counting those still running; a quarter within 14 and three quarters within 53. This study's 1 month is below that.
Counting every sponsor, half of 366 studies reached it within 30 months; a quarter within 14 and three quarters within 53.
How these figures are worked out, and which studies are left out of them.
From the registry record's own update history. This site started tracking changes on Sep 25, 2026; for anything earlier, see the record history on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
This study is completed, as verified in Oct 2026. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.
Get an email when the registry record changes — status, dates, results — or when someone posts here.
Sign in to followQuestions and observations about this study, from anyone following it. Not medical advice, and not a channel to the study team — their contact details are on the registry record.
Sign in to join the discussion. Reading takes no account; posting does. You choose a display name, and a pseudonym is the default.
Nothing here yet. If you are running this trial, taking part in it, or weighing whether to, this is the place to say so.