2026 Volume 25 Issue 2 Pages 231-247
The purpose of this study was to examine the potential for advancing help-seeking and help-giving education as part of school-based suicide prevention by integrating perspectives from optimal individual learning and collaborative learning. A psychoeducational program on help-seeking and help-giving was implemented with upper elementary school students. After completing the program, students freely described what they would want to learn further in a web-based survey, assuming opportunities to continue learning individually or collaboratively with greater self-direction. Free-response data were obtained from 408 students (308 fifth-graders and 100 sixth-graders) and analyzed using quantitative text analysis. The results showed that students identified diverse learning needs based on their consideration of complex real-life situations. They expressed interests in a wide range of content and learning methods that they perceived as necessary for themselves. The findings suggested that broadening learning options and allowing students to take greater ownership of their learning may foster richer and more meaningful learning processes in help-seeking and help-giving education. Implications for practice, anticipated challenges, the roles of educators, and directions for future research were discussed.
