Translated research studies

The relationship between mental health reforms and general population suicide rates in Australia over the past three and a half decades: 1987–2021

by Samantha Sijing Wang, Valsamma Eapen and Ping-I Lin

Published May 2024

This study investigates the evolving National Mental Health Plans (NMHPs) in Australia and their potential relationship with suicide rates, offering insight into the complex interplay between mental health interventions and suicide prevention efforts.

Suicidal Emotions, Motivations and Rationales in Australian Men: A Qualitative Exploration

by Diane Macdonald, Ally Nicolopoulos and Katherine Boydell

Published 2 April 2024

In this research, the experiences of suicidal thoughts and behaviours in males resulted in them undertaking a range of complex emotional work to understand and express their distress and suicidality. Themes emerged describing men’s emotions, rationale, motivations for suicide, motivations to stay alive, and what might have helped. Descriptions included a mix of typical masculine traits and emotional accounts that challenged constructions of gendered emotions.

Risk and Protective Factors of Self-harm and Suicidality in Adolescents: An Umbrella Review with Meta-Analysis

by Rebecca Richardson, Tanya Connell, Mandie Foster, Julie Blamires, Smita Keshoor, Chris Moir and Irene Suilan Zeng

Published 2 April 2024

Researchers examined risk and protective factors for suicide in young people in the context of New Zealand, undertaking an umbrella review and meta-analysis of the literature.

The analysis found a higher number of research studies sharing risk factors for youth suicide and self-harm, and less research sharing protective factors for youth suicide and self-harm.

Co-design communities of practice in community-based mental health and rural suicide prevention

by Lia Bryant, Bridget McFarland and Jane Andrew

Accepted 21 February 2024

• Research suggests that co-design can be supported by an outer circle of people who can help capture messages of lived and living experience across through other formats besides written or speaking communications. The research points to the value of an outer circle of support in co-design practice, such as the inclusion of influencers, artists, bridge builders, testers and other helpful traits that people possess. When these supports join with a core group of lived and living experience representatives who part of a co-design process, we then create a ‘community of practice’. Communities of practice are informal social learning systems that comprise of participants whose membership is defined by a shared commitment to engaging with the co-design process.
• Communities of practice can support engagement between mental health and suicide prevention professionals, researchers, and lived and living experience representatives, supporting growth and capability for learning.
• In this research paper, Australian researchers highlight the findings from two case studies that use a community of practice co-design approach to the development of mental health and suicide prevention initiatives.
• Researchers drew on two case studies in which mental health co-design work was undertaken that oriented towards creating and producing innovative approaches to community-based mental health and suicide prevention.
• The community of practices featured in both case studies provided opportunity for growth, healing and expression by those with lived and living experience.
• Capturing lived and living experiences through creative mediums as part of the co-design project can increase understanding of lived and living experiences by the mental health professionals and researchers involved, and the wider community.

A systematic review of psychosocial protective factors against suicide and suicidality among older adults

by Myung Ki, Sylvie Lapierre, Boeun Gim, Minji Hwang, Minku Kang, Luc Dargis, Myoungjee Jung, Emily Jiali Koh and Brian Mishara

Published 2 February 2024

• Suicide prevention for older persons in Australia is a priority area. Statistics released annually by the Australian Bureau of Statistics
  show that males aged over 85 years have the highest suicide rate of all age groups (32.7 deaths per 100,000 persons in 2022). This is considerably higher than the suicide rate for all males, which was 18.8 per 100,000 persons.
• Understanding perceptions of death, suicide and suicidal ideation in older adults is paramount to prevention.
• Researchers from South Korea and Canada conducted a systematic review of the literature with the aim of synthesising knowledge on protective factors in older adults, and to examine their predictive associations with a reduced suicide risk in older adults.
• The results showed that purpose in life was found to have a protective effect against suicidal ideation in older adults along with strong levels of resilience.
• The protective factors for older adults against suicidal ideation are similar to other age groups across the lifespan, however having a purpose in life and levels of resilience were found to have the highest impact on preventing suicidal ideation. These findings suggest potential value in including both purpose-in-life and resiliency when developing interventions for vulnerable older adults. The researchers also suggest variables such as character strengths (perseverance, creativity, gratitude, hope, humour, bravery, zest) might be considered as protective factors that can contribute to resilience.
  

Suicide prevention during disasters and public health emergencies: a systematic review

by Lennart Reifels, Karolina Krysinska and Karl Andriessen

Published 6 February 2024

• Researchers conducted a systematic review to examine the outcomes of suicide prevention strategies implemented in the context of disasters and public health emergencies.

• From the search results, only 11 reports relating to 10 studies were used in the systematic review.
• Most of the studied interventions were not specifically designed for periods of disaster or public health emergencies, but were coexisting at the times of disaster or public health emergencies.
• Several intervention studies with favourable outcomes addressed known risk and protective factors for suicide of relevance to disasters and public health emergencies through prevention strategies aimed at enhancing economic security, health care access, means restriction, psychosocial support, and green space access of affected populations.
• Prevention strategies that addressed known risk and protective factors for suicide appeared to have the best outcomes in prevention of suicide.

Involving young people with lived and living experience of suicide in suicide research

by Marianne Webb, Charlie Cooper, Laura Hemming, Alex Dalton, Emily Unity, Magenta B. Simmons, Sarah Bendall and Jo Robinson

Published 14 February 2024

• The involvement of young people in suicide prevention research is important to improve our understanding of young people's experiences of suicidal thoughts and behaviours to help inform tailored prevention approaches.
• Currently, there is limited research available to provide guidance for involving young people with a lived and living experience of suicide in research.
• The researchers worked to create a set of guidelines to support the involvement of young people with a lived and living experience of suicide in research through scoping reviews and a Delphi study.
• The research found the majority of young people wanted clinicians to be involved and have an active role in supporting them, however researchers felt they had a general lack of resources to do so, or limited access to include clinicians as part of the research team.
• There is a great benefit to include young people with lived and living experience in suicide prevention research to help us better understand their experiences and identify the best prevention practices and supports. Guidelines about how to do this effectively, ensure the voices and valuable contribution of young people contribute to suicide prevention in Australia.

Self-harm and suicidality among trans and gender diverse youth from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds - A scoping review

by Davi Macedo, Monica McEvoy, Tim Crowley, Mark Loughhead and Nicholas Procter

Published 30 January 2024

• Trans and gender diverse (TGD) youth have an increased risk of experiencing discrimination and poor mental health outcomes and as well as increased rates of self-harm and suicidality (suicidal thoughts and behaviour) when compared to cisgender counterparts.
• CALD TGD youth may be placed at increased risk of developing mental health conditions or experiencing suicidal thoughts and behaviours if they experience additional race-based discrimination, transgenerational refugee or migrant trauma, or feel they have unsupportive family and social networks.
• Researchers examined studies related to drivers of self-harm and suicidal thoughts and behaviours in young TGD people from CALD backgrounds.
• Some of the findings from the research include:
  • Experience of stigma and discrimination was identified as a contributing factor for mental health concerns and suicidal thoughts and behaviours.
  • Experience of physical harm and parental pressure due to LGBTQI+ identities were associated with higher rates of suicidal behaviour.
  • Perceived cultural barriers to receiving care prevented TGD youth from CALD backgrounds from seeking support.

• Researchers suggest seven recommendations to implement to improve cultural and gender-based understanding and practices of people working with TGD youth from CALD backgrounds.

Best practice for integrating digital interventions into clinical care for young people at risk of suicide: a Delphi study

by Eleanor Bailey, India Bellairs-Walsh, Nicola Reavley, Piers Gooding, Sarah Hetrick, Simon Rice, Alexandra Boland and Jo Robinson

Published 24 January 2024

• In Australia, suicide is the leading cause of death for young people aged 15 to 25 years.
• The emerging evidence shows promise for the use of digital technologies as an intervention supporting the prevention of suicidal thoughts and behaviours in young people when delivered alongside standard clinical care.
• There is limited knowledge or guidance available on how to incorporate digital interventions safely and effectively into clinical care for young people at risk of suicide.
• Researchers developed a set of best practice guidelines for integrating digital interventions into clinical care for young people who experience suicidal thoughts and/or engage in suicide-related behaviour (including self-harm).

Attributable risk of suicide for populations in Australia

By Piumee Bandara, Andrew Page, Lennart Reifels, Karolina Krysinska, Karl Andriessen, Marisa Schlichthorst, Anna Flego, Long Khanh-Dao Le, Cathrine Mihalopoulos, Jane Pirkis

Published 8 January 2024

• The population attributable fraction (PAF) is one way that we can determine which populations are disproportionately impacted by suicide.
• Researchers found large PAF values were associated with:
  • Men
  • People bereaved by suicide
  • People with a mental health or behavioural condition
  • People with a chronic physical condition
  • Adults aged 25–64 years
  • Lesbian, gay and bisexual populations
  • People employed in blue collar occupations.
• Research findings highlight the need for targeted approaches for specific population groups identified as being disproportionately impacted by suicide and having a large PAF.

Why Do We Agree to Disagree? Agreement and Reasons for Disagreement in Judgements of Intentional Self-Harm from Coroners and a Suicide Register in Queensland, Australia, from 2001 to 2015

By Stuart Leske, Bridget Weir, Ghazala Adam and Kairi Kõlves

Published 30 December 2023

• Coronial data systems are known to underestimate suicides in Australia as practices are not standardised between coroners and jurisdictions.
• The Queensland Suicide Register reported 510 more suicides than the NCIS over the 15 years.
• The study suggests multiple factors may predict discrepancies in judgements between the two systems.
• Groups that die by suicide at lower rates (such as females) or in more complex circumstances (such as people with dementia) seemed to be more likely to have a discrepancy in judgements.

“What Do I Say? How Do I Say it?” Twitter as a Knowledge Dissemination Tool for Mental Health Research

By Erin Madden, Katrina Prior, Tara Guckel, Sophia Garlick Bock, Zachary Bryant, Siobhan O’Dean, Smriti Nepal, Caitlin Ward & Louise Thornton

Published 13 November 2023

Social media platforms such as ‘X’ (previously known as Twitter), offer alternative ways to communicate research to large audiences and help close this research-to-practice gap. However, little is known about how the platform can be most effectively used to share mental health research.

Madden et al. aimed to gain a better understanding of how written text and content features (e.g. hashtags, hyperlinks, media) in Tweets are associated with user engagement.

A randomized wait-list controlled trial of Men in Mind: Enhancing mental health practitioners’ self-rated clinical competencies to work with men

By Seidler, Z. E., Wilson, M. J., Benakovic, R., Mackinnon, A., Oliffe, J. L., Ogrodniczuk, J. S., Kealy, D., Owen, J., Pirkis, J., Mihalopoulos, C., Le, L. K.-D., & Rice, S. M. (2023)

Published 27 November 2023

Evidence suggests that there are increasing numbers of males seeking support for mental health and suicidal thoughts and behaviours through therapy with mental health practitioners.

There are a number of barriers that may impact the ability for mental health practitioners to identify signs of suicidal thoughts and behaviours in males, or provide support that is suitable for males.

Practitioners may have difficulty in responding appropriately to men experiencing suicidal thoughts and behaviours, with many mental health practitioners not possessing specialised skills to respond to this.

Previous studies have shown the benefit of specialised suicide prevention training for practitioners, but more research was recommended to evaluate the benefit of male-specific suicide prevention training.

This study aimed to determine the benefit of male specific training, titled Men in Mind to improve clinical competencies of practitioners to respond to male clients in therapy which included identifying male-specific warning signs of suicidal thoughts and behaviours.

By Ying Xu, Sarah Ann Wheeler and Alec Zuo

Published 15 September 2023

Suicide rates are higher in rural areas compared to metropolitan areas in Australia, with farmers, in particular, identified as being at higher risk. Extreme weather events such as floods or droughts are forecast to increase due to climate change. These events can negatively impact the mental health of rural communities and farmers, potentially leading to an increase in suicide rates.

By Christiane Klinner, Nick Glozier, Margaret Yeung, Katrina Conn, and Alyssa Milton

Published 13 October 2023

Young people in rural communities may experience additional stressors to mental health, such as the impact of adverse environmental events like drought. However, there is limited research about the types of support, programs and education that help to facilitate help-seeking.

Feasibility Study for Identifying Suicide Clusters Using Real-time Coronial Data

by Leo Roberts, Angela Clapperton, and Matthew Spitta

Published 28 September 2023

Statistical software can help to detect suicide clusters in real time
Early detection of clusters can allow us to respond and implement prevention strategies to prevent further deaths.

A qualitative analysis of self-reported suicide gatekeeper competencies and behaviour within the Australian construction industry

by Kylie E. King, Sarah K. Liddle, and Angela Nicholas

Published 4 October 2023

• Gatekeeper training is an informal peer-to-peer approach to mental health and suicide prevention support. Bluehats is one of the gatekeeper training programs in the construction industry.
• Social factors influencing the ability of Bluehats to support colleagues included differences in culture, language and gender, as well as the presence of stigma in the workplace and masculine workplace culture.
• Physical factors negatively impacting the ability of Bluehats to support others included lack of privacy, lack of time, transient nature of the work, and too few Bluehats to meet workplace needs.
• Determining the barriers to why Bluehats cannot implement their training in the workplace is important to improve the efficacy of the Bluehats program and other gatekeeper training programs in the construction industry.

by Alison Calear, Alyssa Morse, Helen Christensen, Sonia Mccalluma, Aliza Werner-Seidler, Rebecca Alexander, and Philip Batterham

Published 8 July 2023

• Improving suicide literacy can reduce stigma and encourage help-seeking in young people.
• Males and people who spoke languages other than English at home were found to have lower suicide literacy and higher suicide stigma. They were less likely to understand the links between suicide and isolation or depression.
  

by Alexandr Kasal, Roksana Táborská, Laura Juríková, Alexander Grabenhofer-Eggerth, Michaela Pichler, Beate Gruber, Hana Tomášková, and Thomas Niederkrotenthaler

Published 13 March 2023

• Knowing what helps and hinders the implementation of suicide prevention interventions can help to adapt them to different settings.
• Implementation is facilitated when interventions meet patient needs, are affordable, adaptable and have a high relative advantage.
  
• On the other hand, barriers to implementation arise when interventions do not reflect patient needs, are overly complex, expensive, and lack relative advantage.
  

by Verity Reeves, Mark Loughhead, Matthew Anthony Halpin, and Nicholas Procter

Published 18 August 2023

• Peer support workers are considered integral to systems reform and adopting recovery-oriented practices for mental health concerns and suicidality.
• Research shows that the peer support workforce has faced challenges surrounding integrating peer support into health organisations.
• Peer support workers identified that barriers to integrating the peer support workforce into organisations included culture, the role of leadership, actions to support integration, acceptance, and sustainability of the peer support role.

By Eileen Goldberg, Cindy Peng, Andrew Page, Piumee Bandara, and Danielle Currie

Published 31 May 2023

• A systems approach to suicide prevention is multiple prevention intervention activities conducted simultaneously.
• Systems dynamic modelling can aid in identifying which interventions provide the most effective reductions in suicide.
• Using the dynamic modelling system, researchers found that applying early and indicated interventions could prevent 6.3% of cases of attempted suicide and 6.8% of cases of suicide in NSW.

By Christopher Rainbow, Peter A Baldwin, Warwick Hosking, Grant Blashki

Published 12 April 2023

Preferences for help-seeking are different in the Australian population. The researchers identified four key preferences for help-seeking: Help negaters, professional help-seekers, family help-seekers, and help-affirmatives.

The study found that 42% of the sample preferred not to seek help for mental health concerns or suicidal ideation. This sample section was more likely to have experienced very high psychological distress. Promoting various types and avenues of support may help encourage/facilitate help-seeking behaviours for those experiencing mental health concerns or suicidal ideation.

By Karolina Krysinska, Ingrid Ozols, Anna Ross, Karl Andriessen, Michelle Banfield, Martina McGrath, Bronwen Edwards, Jactina Hawgood, Kairi Kõlves, Victoria Ross and Jane Pirkis

Published 11 July 2023

• Involving people with lived or living experience of mental health concerns and suicide can have a positive impact on research processes, and research outcomes.
• The created guidelines provide a basis for researchers to work with people with lived and living experience of suicide that support active engagement.
• Researchers used a Delphi methodology to determine important inclusions for a set of guidelines for active engagement of lived and living experience of mental health concerns and suicide in research.

By Adam Skinner, Nathaniel D. Osgood, Jo-An Occhipinti, Yun Ju Christine Song, and Ian B. Hickie

Published 12 July 2023

Suicide mortality is significantly impacted by underemployment or unemployment, and it is recommended that a holistic approach that includes an individual's employment status should be adopted when determining the risk of suicide.

By Megan L. Steele, Lisa Wittenhagen, Carla Meurk, Jane Phillips, Bobbie Clugston, Peter Heck, Elissa Waterson & Ed Heffernan

Published 2 July 2023

Police negotiators are in a position to prevent suicide through timely, tactful and appropriate communication with individuals experiencing suicidal distress.

By Kairi Kõlves, Stuart Leske and Diego De Leo

Published 2 June 2023

• Suicide surveillance can help to identify patterns, high-risk populations, suicide clustering, and common locations.
• Suicide rates began to decline in 2012 after Lifeline phones and cameras were installed. Rates continued to drop close to zero after barriers were introduced in 2015.
• The study shows how real-time surveillance can help to inform effective means restriction interventions that reduce suicide rates.

By Simon Tyler, Kate Gunn, Bob Clifford and Nicholas Procter

Published 12 May 2023

• Challenges specific to working in the Australian construction industry may drive suicidal thoughts and distress (e.g. job demands, job pressures, job insecurity, work hours).
• Personal challenges may also drive suicidal thinking in Australian construction industry workers (e.g. relationship issues, social disconnection, financial hardship).
• Industry changes and focused suicide prevention strategies could address industry-specific and personal challenges.

By Tania King, Humaira Maheen, Yamna Taouk, Anthony D. LaMontagne

Published 6 March 2023

• Evidence shows that mining workers are at a greater risk of suicide than other sectors.
• More research is required to determine the best approach to suicide prevention for mining workers in Australia.

By Tamara Reynish , Ha Hoang , Heather Bridgman, and Bróna Nic Giolla Easpaig

Published 6 February 2023

Context

In Australia, LGBTIQA+ people report higher mental illness and distress rates than heterosexual, cisgender people. Higher rates of mental illness and distress in LGBTIQA+ people can be due to a range of factors, including but not limited to stigma, exclusion, and limited appropriate social and professional support.

By Samantha Colledge-Frisby, Nicola Jones, Louisa Degenhardt, Matthew Hickman, Prianka Padmanathan, Thomas Santo Jr, Michael Farrell and Natasa Gisev

Published 23 March 2023

Context

Opioids are drugs that act on opioid receptors in the brain and are often known for their pain-relieving qualities. People who use opioids outside the bounds of medical prescription die by suicide at nearly eight times the expected rate. Evidence also suggests people with opioid use disorder are over 23 times as likely to present to the hospital with self-harm compared to matched controls.

By Laura J. Biggs, Bonnie Jephcott, Kim Vanderwiel, Imogen Melgaard, Shannon Bott, Mitzi Paderes, Julie Borninkhof, and Melanie Birks

Published 23 March 2023

Context

Suicide is one of the leading causes of maternal deaths in Australia and other high-income countries. Several factors have been identified as contributing to suicide risk in perinatal women, including the presence or history of mental health disorders or being exposed to domestic violence.

By Adam O Hill, Teddy Cook, Ruth McNair, Natalie Amos, Marina Carman, Ellis Hartland, Anthony Lyons, and Adam Bourne

Published 14 February 2023

Context

Trans and gender diverse people have been identified as one of the most at-risk populations globally for suicidal ideation, attempts and death by suicide. Recent Australian research has found that 43-44% of trans people who have attempted suicide in their lifetime compared to 3.2% of people in the general population. Exposure to gender-based violence, exclusion and discrimination have been linked to lower psychological wellbeing and a higher likelihood of suicidal behaviour in trans and gender diverse people. In contrast, protective factors associated with lower suicidal ideation and attempts include feelings of community and family support, relative life stability, respectful environments, as well as guidelines and policies that affirm and support trans people. Although there has been a growing body of research in this area, there remains a lack of knowledge about other factors that may increase rates of suicidality and suicide attempt in trans people.

By Kabir Ahmad, Amanda Beatson, Marilyn Campbell, Rubayyat Hashmi, Byron W. Keating , Rory Mulcahy, Aimee Riedel, Shasha Wang

Published 5 January 2023

Context

Suicide is the fourth largest cause of death in children aged 15-19 years worldwide.

Prevention of suicide and self-harm amongst adolescents in Australia is a national priority.

Existing research suggests that bullying, both victimization and perpetration, has been associated with self-harm and suicide related behaviours among adolescents, although not all adolescents who are bullied or bully others will self-harm or consider suicide. Bullying, in both the victim and perpetrator, can impact on adolescent self-harm and suicide indirectly bt undermining self-esteem, mental health and social connectedness.

By Lisa N. Sharwood, Alison L. Calear, Phillip J. Batterham, Michelle Torok, Lauren McGillivray, Demee Rheinberger, Stephanie Zeritis, Tuguy Esgin and Fiona Shand

Published 31 January 2023

Context

There is no single reason a person attempts or dies by suicide; there are many complex and interwoven factors. A number of sociodemographic factors are known to affect risk of suicidal thoughts and behaviours such as age, sex, sexual identity and preference, and Indigenous status. Stigma surrounding suicide can also have an impact on suicide risk by increasing distress and reducing help-seeking or help-offering behaviour. This study examines sociodemographic factors that correlate with increased suicide stigma.

By Ross, A. M., Morgan, A. J., & Reavley, N. J.

Published 5 January 2023

Context

SANE Australia’s StigmaWatch program promotes responsible reporting of mental-ill health and suicide in the Australian media by monitoring media reporting and contacting media professionals about portrayals that breach the Mindframe guidelines.

An evaluation of StigmaWatch has found that over half of published media items submitted to the program over a four-year period contained stigmatising or inaccurate content.

By Zac Seidler, Michael Wilson, John Oliffe, David Kealy, John Ogrodniczuk, Andreas Walther and Simon Rice

Published 14 December 2022

Context

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to increased social, economic and political pressures that have significantly impacted men's mental health and in turn, has resulted in an uptake of telemental healthcare. Many barriers to men accessing telemental health services, such as restrictive opening hours, fixed service locations and waiting rooms may be ameliorated by telemental health services. No previous study has explored men’s experiences of telemental health care.

By Humaira Maheen, Yamna Taouk, Anthony D. LaMontagne, Matthew Spittal and Tania King

Published 23 November 2022

Context

The construction industry employs approximately 10% of the Australian population. Construction workers in Australia have been identified as having a higher suicide risk compared to other workers and international evidence has suggested higher suicide rates are among low-skilled constructions workers. A number of job characteristics have been identified that may impact on mental distress and suicidality on construction workers such as limited job control, job insecurity, workplace bullying, under or overemployment, long hours and periods away from home for construction work.

Research led by Associate Professor Lianne Schmaal, with 78 co-authors

Published 7 September 2022

Context

High rates of suicide among young people are of high concern and understanding of the factors and mechanisms underlying suicidal thoughts and behaviours in young people are needed. One way of doing this is through neuroimaging studies to identify whether any biological risk markers or indicators exist. Few previously published studies have focused on youth and studies often involved small sample sizes.

By Dale D. Woolford, Matthew F. Smout, Deborah Turnbull and Kate M. Gunn

Published 27 September 2022

Context

Researchers from the Department of Rural Health, Freemasons Centre for Male Health and Wellbeing, UniSA Justice and Society, and the School of Psychology at the University of South Australia have examined the self-management strategies that Australian male farmers use to maintain a high level of psychological wellbeing and their views on what would assist them to overcome barriers to seeking professional mental health assistance.

By Victoria Bridgland, Payton Jones & Benjamin Bellet

Preprint published August 2022

Context

A trigger or content warning aims to alert someone that the material they’re about to consume contains potentially distressing themes. Anecdotally, these warnings are thought to help people emotionally prepare or avoid material. However, in recent years, there has been a increase in studies investigating how well trigger warnings actually work.

Bridgland, Jones and Bellet (2022) conducted a meta-analysis of available literature to determine what individual effects look like when combined.

By Katherine Trail, Michael J. Wilson, Simon M. Rice, Tara Hunt, Jane Pirkis and Zac E. Seidler

Published 27 July 2022

Context

Men are a priority population for suicide prevention in Australia, accounting for approximately 75% of those who die by suicide.

Little work on examining men’s use of helplines for distress exists. On the one hand, helplines are accessible, anonymous and affordable. However, self-reliance and complexities in building rapport are known to act as unique barriers for this population.

This research study combines quantitative and qualitative methods to examine helpline use amongst men during the COVID-19 pandemic.

By Sharna Mathieu, Alice Treloar, Jacinta Hawgood, Victoria Ross and Kairi Kõlves

Published 6 July 2022

Context

Economic factors such as recession, unemployment or financial hardship are known social determinants of health and recognised as risk factors for suicide. This study reviews the recent published literature to examine the role of economic factors on suicidal behaviours and what available evidence there is for interventions addressing economic factors in reducing suicidal behaviours.

By Carla Meurk, Susan Roberts, Michael Lam, Lisa Wittenhagen, Leonie Callaway, Katherine Moss, Jayne Lucke, Ruth Barker, Elissa Waterson, Catherine Rawlinson, Natasha Malmstrom, Edward Weaver, Elisabeth Hoehn, Emma Bosley, Shelby Watson and Ed Heffernan

Published 2 June 2022

Context

Suicide is one of the leading causes of maternal mortality, having significant impacts on families and children. Maternal mental health and wellbeing is an important contributor to infant development, and both current and future wellbeing of their child. However, there is a lack of evidence to guide service delivery and a lack of tailored, appropriate services for women to access.

This paper examines prevalence, demographic characteristics and timing of initial contact with first responders and health services for a cohort of women who experienced suicidality during and around the time of pregnancy.

By Jessica Ingram, Bronte Lyford, Amanda McAtamney and Sally Fitzpatrick

Published 14 May 2022

Context

Refugees and asylum seekers are exposed to a unique set of circumstances and experiences that are associated with an increased suicide risk, and experience higher suicide rates than the general population. Suicide prevention training has been recognised as a useful early intervention component of a comprehensive approach to suicide prevention. Limited literature exists exploring the role of suicide prevention training for health and support staff working with refugee and asylum seeker consumers, who are well placed to identify mental illness and suicidality in refugee clients.

By Piumee Bandara, Jane Pirkis, Angela Clapperton , Sangsoo Shin, Lay San Too, Lennart Reifels, Sandersan Onie, Andrew Page, Karl Andriessen, Karolina Krysinska, Anna Flego, Marisa Schlichthorst, Matthew J Spittal, Cathrine Mihalopoulos, Long Khanh-Dao Le

Published 1 April 2022

Context

Installation of barriers at bridge and cliff sites has been shown to reduce suicides at these sites. But, there is often considerable resistance to installing barriers, with one key argument being cost.

By Olivia J Kirtley, Kasper van Mens, Mark Hoogendoorn, Navneet Kapur, Derek de Beurs

Published March 2022

Context

Use of machine learning in suicide research has the potential to improve prediction and prevention of suicidal thoughts and behaviours. But, while exciting and innovative, machine learning research often overlooks the practical and clinical implementation issues that might restrict its use in predicting and preventing suicide.

By Todd R. Heard, Katherine McGill, Jaelea Skehan and Bronwyn Rose

Published 7 February 2022

Context

Suicide is a leading cause of death for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders in Australia. However, there is very little published research exploring effectiveness of approaches to reduce the risk of suicide in Aboriginal communities. There is an urgent need to actively engage with Aboriginal communities to better understand these issues and to develop solutions together to prevent deaths by suicide in Aboriginal communities.

By Dr Victoria Ross, Dr Sharna Mathieu, Ms Rachmania Wardham, Mr Jorgen Gullestrup, Dr Kairi K lves

Published 15 January 2022

Context

Suicide rates within the construction industry are disproportionately high and there is accumulating evidence suggesting that young apprentices working in this industry may be particularly vulnerable.

There is a lack of research examining factors related to suicidal ideation in Australian construction industry apprentices specifically, with other studies focused more on other psychosocial and mental health variables or correlates of workplace bullying.

By Lauren McGillivray, Demee Rheinberger, Jessica Wang, Alexander Burnett & Michelle Torok

Published 4 January 2022

Context

Prevalence of suicidal ideation increases rapidly in adolescence, and many choose not to seek help and disclose their ideation. Young people who do disclose suicidal ideation, prefer to do so with peers and family compared to mental health professionals, who are best placed to provide evidence-based treatment. This study aimed to identify key factors associated with young people’s decision to, or not to disclose suicidal thoughts to their mental health practitioner.

by Phillip Cheuk Fung Law, Lay San Too, Nicole T.M. Hill, Jo Robinson, Madelyn Gould, Jo-An Occipinti, Matthew J. Spittal, Katrina Witt, Mark Sinyor, Benedikt Till, Nathaniel Osgood, Ante Prodan, Rifat Zahan and Jane Pirkis

Published 29 December 2021

Context

An estimated 6% of suicides occur in clusters; 6% of suicides by young people and 2% of those by adults. “Contagion”, the social transmission of suicidal behaviour following exposure to the suicide of another, is a mechanism by which suicide clusters are thought to occur. There is strong evidence that media can play a role in contagion, but little is known about how social media may play a role in suicide clusters.

By Mandy Gibson, Jaimee Stuart, Stuart Leske, Raelene Ward, Yogi Vidyattama

Published 11 November 2021

Context

The rate of suicide of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people is more than two times higher than non-Indigenous Australians, with young people particularly overrepresented. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people are more likely to reside in communities that experience known risk factors to suicide more generally, such as socioeconomic disadvantage, rural areas, and discrimination.

There is evidence that cultural connectedness may buffer the relationship between risk factors and suicide behaviours, but it is unknown whether cultural connectedness protects against suicide mortality even in communities experiencing the most social disadvantage.

By Demee Rheinberger, Diane Macdonald, Lauren McGillivray, Myfanwy Maple, Michelle Torok, Alexandra Nicolopoulos and Fiona Shand

Published 29 September 2021

Context

For Australians experiencing a suicide crisis, the emergency department (ED) is the recommended point of contact for support, intervention and to ensure personal safety. But, negative ED experiences can compound the problem and deter individuals from returning, thus impacting future suicide risk.

By Jacinta Hawgood, Mandy Gibson, Martina McGrath, Jo Riley, Katherine Mok

Published 15 September 2021

Context

Those with lived experience of suicide have a critical role in suicide prevention through the design, delivery and evaluation of programs and raising awareness. However, there were no evaluated training models to support this population in undertaking their important roles safely and effectively.