Immediate Impact of a Brief Suicide Prevention Training for Veteran Volunteers

Introduction. The concern that talking about suicide may intensify suicidal ideation is a common fear that has been dispelled by research, yet still lingers in popular consciousness. The aim of the current initiative was to develop a brief suicide prevention training for volunteers in a peer support program for veterans, given that layperson-facing approaches are critical to the U.S. national strategy for suicide prevention. Method. The study team adapted existing pedagogical approaches for use in a brief training and for a veteran population, and implemented the training with five new volunteer groups over 5 months ( N = 45). Results. Anonymous pre- and posttraining questionnaires indicated immediate statistically significant improvements in self-reported preparation to talk openly about suicide, likelihood of asking about suicide, confidence in recognizing warning signs of suicide, and confidence in intervening and involving the National Suicide Hotline. Discussion. The project begins to demonstrate that self-reported suicide prevention knowledge and skills show immediate improvements after a brief training module nested within a broader new volunteer training. This work should support efforts to develop and implement research studies on brief suicide prevention training approaches in order to determine the extent to which they change behavior longitudinally and, ultimately, reduce rates of suicide.

No evidence of increase in suicide in Greece during the first wave of Covid-19

Background and ObjectiveMental health outcomes have reportedly worsened in several countries during the Covid-19 pandemic and associated lockdowns. In the present study we examined whether suicides increased in Greece during the first wave of the pandemic.MethodsWe used daily suicide estimates from a Suicide Observatory in Greece from 2015-2020 and followed three methodologies: A descriptive approach, an interrupted time series analysis, and a differences-in-differences econometric model.ResultsWe did not find any empirical evidence of any increase in suicides during the first wave of Covid-19 and the lockdown in any of the three approaches used.ConclusionsSuicides did not seem to increase during the first wave of covid-19 and lockdown in Greece. However, this does not mean that mental health did not deteriorate, or that we will not observe an increase in suicides during the second wave. Protective factors for Greece during the first wave may include working from home (for those able to tele-work), strong family ties, advertising of a suicide hotline and income support for the unemployed.

Trends of online news media reported suicides in Ghana (1997–2019)

Background Suicides have become headline news in most developing countries and often feature on front pages with accompanying graphic pictures on prominent news portals. There has been an increased reportage of suicides by the Ghanaian news media. This study aims to shed light on the trend of online news media reporting of suicides, and the epidemiology of media reported suicides in Ghana. Methods An online search was conducted for news media reports of suicides committed in Ghana. One hundred and forty-two (142) news media reported suicides spanning 1997 to 31st July 2019 were retrieved and included in the analyses. Results The victims of suicides were predominantly male (85.92%), young (mean age = 34.81 ± 15.71 years; range 10-86 years). Suicide by hanging (67.94%), the use of firearms (18.32%), and self-poisoning (8.93%) were the common methods used by the victims. There has been increased online news media reportage of suicides in Ghana in the last 3 years; 2017 witnessed the highest reportage of 30 (21%) cases. Marital or relationships and family problems were commonly cited as the reasons for the commission of suicides; mental disorders, and financial problems were also cited as immediate triggers of the suicides by close relations of the victims. Conclusion There is an increased media reportage of suicides in Ghana, although this cannot be linked to a corresponding increase in suicide incidence. Interventions to decrease the risk of suicide among vulnerable populations (young adults) such as the identification of suicidal behavior, making mental healthcare services more accessible by integrating into the general healthcare service, public education, establishing a suicide hotline will be critical programs to help reduce suicide incidence in Ghana.

Jane: A Screenplay on the Importance of Letting Go of Stigma Towards Mental Illness

Many people with mental illness face the double challenges. Not only do they struggle with the symptoms of their illness, they also struggle with the stigma that the society has towards their illness. Through this creative project, I would like to discuss how stigma towards mental illness affects those who suffer from it negatively, and how letting go of stigma benefits those who are mentally ill and those who are not. I use Erving Goffman’s theory on social stigma, and another theory regarding self-stigma by Patrick W. Corrigan and Deepa Rao. These theories helped me understand how a stigma can be internalized by people with mental illness, and how it further worsens their symptoms. Moreover, the theories helped me create my story and my characters as realistically as possible and suggest a plausible solution for the problem through my story. My project is in the form of a romance drama short film screenplay. It tells the story of Jae-in Kim, a counselor in a suicide hotline, who is falling for a guy named Jon-young Park. They have been talking on Facebook for months, and when they are about to meet for the first time, she suddenly finds some similarities between him and a depressed guy who often makes suicidal calls to the hotline. It makes her reluctant to build a deeper relationship with him, which becomes a barrier for their relationship, and also challenges her perceptions towards people with mental illness. At the end, when she finally lets go of her stigma, their relationship gets better, and she becomes more inspired to help the mentally ill through her job.

Compassion Fatigue and Applied Anthropology: Lessons from a Suicide Hotline

Compassion fatigue is a problem many frontline workers face. It presents in the form of sleep troubles, intimacy issues, and general anxiety and depression as a result of working with individuals who have experienced trauma firsthand. As applied anthropology becomes more involved on the frontlines, researchers risk experiencing symptoms similar to those that others who work in these fields have faced. I explain how I encountered compassion fatigue through the literature as well as through real-world experience in an internship with a suicide hotline and domestic violence shelter. I then provide solutions for preventing compassion fatigue in applied anthropological research, suggesting that we might be able to impact other frontline workers as well.

Does a TV Public Service Advertisement Campaign for Suicide Prevention Really Work?

Background: One of the critical measures in suicide prevention is promoting public awareness of crisis hotline numbers so that individuals can more readily seek help in a time of crisis. Although public service advertisements (PSA) may be effective in raising the rates of both awareness and use of a suicide hotline, few investigations have been performed regarding their effectiveness in South Korea, where the suicide rate is the highest among OECD countries. Aims: The goal of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a television PSA campaign. Method: We analyzed a database of crisis phone calls compiled by the Korean Ministry of Health and Welfare to track changes in call volume to a crisis hotline that was promoted in a TV campaign. We compared daily call counts for three periods of equal length: before, during, and after the campaign. Results: The number of crisis calls during the campaign was about 1.6 times greater than the number before or after the campaign. Relative to the number of suicide-related calls in the previous year, the number of calls during the campaign period surged, displaying a noticeable increase. Conclusion: The findings confirmed that this campaign had a positive impact on call volume to the suicide hotline.