What are the perspectives of suicide prevention in Australia?

What’s the issue?

Suicide is a major global health issue, with 703,000 people dying by suicide each year, affecting families and communities worldwide.

In Australia, despite investing in prevention programs, the suicide rate hasn’t decreased and was in the mid-range among wealthy nations in 2019.

Recent research highlights the complexity of suicidal behaviour, leading to a shift towards a public health approach that considers various influencing factors, including social determinants like unemployment, financial problems and lack of social support. However, since there is limited proof that individual national suicide prevention strategies are effective, there has been growing interest in using a public health approach. This approach looks at different levels of systems working together to prevent suicide.

A public health approach recognises that many different factors, such as biological, psychological, social and environmental, can influence suicidal behaviour. For example, a recent study on Australian suicide prevention research showed a shift in focus from preventing suicide to preventing suicide attempts. Future research will concentrate on areas like suicide attempts, protective factors, social influences, community support and improving how research is used in practice.

This study provides insights from policy and organisational leaders to inform the development of a new comprehensive national suicide prevention strategy.

What was done?

Researchers interviewed 24 people who work in the suicide prevention sector across government agencies, researchers, and peak body and lived and living experience representatives.

The researchers then analysed what people said in the interviews to find common themes or topics.

One limitation of the study is that it only focused on the views of industry leaders and experts.

What was found?

Stakeholders were asked about the successes, challenges and opportunities in relation to their agency’s suicide prevention approach.

Successes included:

• Strong government leadership and funding – however, a possible bias may be present as the survey was conducted among government staff regarding government-led initiatives
• Increased recognition of the importance of engaging people with lived experience of mental health concerns and suicidal distress in suicide prevention efforts
• Shift towards whole-of-government approaches
• Heightened community and political awareness of suicide prevention.

Challenges included:

• Difficulty defining the suicide prevention sector
• Limited services and resources
• Lack of workforce including an exhausted existing workforce due to COVID-19 and challenges in retaining staff
• Difficulties in measuring suicide prevention work while maintaining data privacy.

Opportunities included:

• Encouraging collaboration across stakeholders
• Shifting to proactive wellness models such as early intervention and universal care approaches
• Incorporating lived and living experience and co-design throughout all stages of policy and service delivery
• Improving data collection, research and evaluation.

Why are the findings important?

The study’s findings highlight key perspectives on the successes and challenges of government-led suicide prevention efforts in Australia. While progress has been made, significant challenges remain that need to be addressed to lower the suicide rate. The research highlights the need for a coordinated approach to improve the suicide prevention sector, use wellness and early intervention models of care, and strengthen the evidence base. These insights will inform the development of Australia’s new national suicide prevention strategy and may apply to other high-income countries.