None listed
Conditions
Brief summary
The largest mortality risk facing young men is suicide, and their unwillingness to seek help for their mental health troubles greatly exacerbates this problem. Rather than blame men for their poor attitudes, some organisations are changing the nature of the public health message directed at young men to make it more male friendly. It is not known whether these interventions are having a positive effect on mens help-seeking attitudes and intentions, particularly among young men with indicated mental health problems, those with more stigmatising attitudes, or those who conform more strongly to gender norms. The current research project seeks to evaluate one such existing intervention, the Silence is Deadly Program, which has been delivered in ACT schools since 2014. This intervention is delivered by not-for-profit organisation Menslink in partnership with the state representative rugby league team (the Canberra Raiders) and uses role-modelling and social norming, as well as male-tailored vocabulary, to influence young mens help-seeking attitudes and intentions. The proposed research project will be conducted in 2017-2018, and will comprise a cluster randomised wait-list control trial that involves 8 ACT schools, totalling 800 male students who will be surveyed pre, post and three months after the intervention. The primary aim of the study is to determine the effectiveness of this tailored approach to suicide prevention and identify if it is differentially effective for participants with different levels of mental health symptoms, suicidal thoughts, stigmatizing attitudes towards seeking help and adherence to gender role norms. This analysis will be complemented by a qualitative investigation into the interventions effect on the culture of helping seeking in the school through semi-structured interviews with staff members. The research team has a strong track record of research in schools, service evaluation, stigma and help-seeking for mental health issues and suicide.
Interventions
Silence is Deadly: a young male tailored intervention
Silence is Deadly is a multicomponent intervention delivered in schools that consists of a one-hour presentation to groups of students, supporting website, videos, informational handouts and wristbands to show support for the cause. The program will be delivered by a Menslink staff member. Participants are not instructed or required to access the Silence is Deadly website. However, they are free to access the website at any time. The inform
Silence is Deadly: a young male tailored intervention Silence is Deadly is a multicomponent intervention delivered in schools that consists of a one-hour presentation to groups of students, supporting website, videos, informational handouts and wristbands to show support for the cause. The program will be delivered by a Menslink staff member. Participants are not instructed or required to access the Silence is Deadly website. However, they are free to access the website at any time. The informational handouts are designed specifically for the Silence is Deadly intervention by Menslink. This program has been delivered in Australian Capital Territory schools since 2014 by the organisation Menslink, which was established in 2002. Similar to other programs in this field, it employs a psychoeducational design in which key statistics are presented which normalise the existence of mental health issues and identify the issue of low help-seeking rates among men. Importantly, it also includes components of contact, role modelling and social norming. These additional components are delivered in partnership with the local state representative rugby league team (the Canberra Raiders). Their involvement comprises a video, in which celebrity players discourage the existing male norms that prevent positive help-seeking attitudes and instead support the importance of communicating about personal issues. Further, junior players attend the intervention (classroom session) in person and speak about their positive help-seeking behaviours in response to personal experiences of dealing with tough times (sub-clinical or undiagnosed mental health issues which resulted from incidents such as bullying, injuries, relationships and other circumstantial stressors). The topic of how to help a mate (i.e., start a conversation), is also discussed and there is a question and answer session at the conclusion of the session which lasts 5-15 minutes. Overall, the effectiveness of the intervention is thought to consist of normalising the occurrence of mental health issues and altering attitudes towards them by reframing them in the context of broader help-seeking norms for personal problems, which are less stigmatised and less gender-role conflicting. Participants will receive one group, face-to-face, 45-60 minute session of the Silence is Deadly program at their high school.. Adherence and fidelity will not be assessed. Adherence is unlikely to be an issue as the intervention is a single session presented as a school activity. Silence is Deadly is delivered by experienced presenters who are co-developers of the program content, this maintains the fidelity of the program at each presentation session.
Sponsors
The Centre for Mental Health Research, The Australian National University
Study design
Allocation
Non-randomised trial
Intervention model
Parallel
Primary purpose
Prevention
Masking
Open (masking not used)
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
Male
Age
12 Years to 18 Years
Healthy volunteers
Yes
Inclusion criteria
Male high school students in years 7-12
Exclusion criteria
Female students will be excluded
Outcome results
None listed