Public Suicide Stigma
Conditions
Keywords
Suicide, Stigma, General public, Suicide prevention
Brief summary
There is growing evidence that negative attitudes towards persons affected by suicide (i.e. persons who experience suicidality, persons who lost a loved one to suicide), so called public suicide stigma, is harmful for suicide prevention, for example by reducing social support, inhibiting help-seeking for suicidality and increasing distress as well as suicidality among stigmatized persons. Reducing public suicide stigma could therefore be an important factor of successful suicide prevention. However, reducing public suicide stigma could also be harmful, for example by increasing attitudes that suicidal behaviour is a normal and acceptable solution for crisis situations, which could decrease help-seeking for suicidality and encourage suicidal behaviour. This project will (1) develop four interventions (contact-based vs. education based, video vs. text) hypothesized to reduce public suicide stigma, (2) determine the efficacy of the four interventions with regard to reducing public suicide stigma, (3) identify additional harmful (e.g. normalization of suicidal behaviour) and beneficial intervention effects (e.g. improved attitudes to seek help) and (4) investigate pathways explaining intervention effects.
Interventions
OTHERContact Video
No additional information necessary.
OTHERContact Text
No additional information necessary.
OTHEREducation Video
No additional information necessary.
OTHEREducation Text
No additional information necessary.
Sponsors
University of Ulm
Study design
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
OTHER
Masking
SINGLE (Subject)
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
18 Years to No maximum
Healthy volunteers
Yes
Inclusion criteria
Participants need to be at least 18 years old, speak German and provide online informed consent.
Exclusion criteria
Persons who self-report to have experienced suicidality within three months before baseline will be excluded.
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Stigma subscale of the Stigma of Suicide Scale short form (SOSS-SF) | Immediately after the intervention (t1) | Batterham al. (2013) The Stigma of Suicide Scale. Psychometric properties and correlates of the stigma of suicide. Crisis 34(1):13-21 |
Secondary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Literacy of Suicide Scale (LOSS) | Immediately after the intervention (t1); Two weeks after the intervention (t2) | Batterham et al. (2013) Correlates of suicide stigma and suicide literacy in the community. Suicide Life Threat Behav 43(4):406-417 |
| Cognitions Concerning Suicide Scale (CCSS) | Immediately after the intervention (t1); Two weeks after the intervention (t2) | Cwik et al. (2017) Measuring attitudes towards suicide: Preliminary evaluation of an attitude towards suicide scale. Compr Psychiatry 72:56-65 |
| General help-seeking questionnaire suicidal ideation subscale (GHSQ-SI) | Immediately after the intervention (t1); Two weeks after the intervention (t2) | Wilson et al. (2005) Measuring help-seeking intentions: Properties of the General Help-Seeking Questionnaire. Canadian Journal of Counselling 39(1):15-28 |
| Stigma subscale of the Stigma of Suicide Scale short form (SOSS-SF) | Two weeks after the intervention (t2) | Batterham al. (2013) The Stigma of Suicide Scale. Psychometric properties and correlates of the stigma of suicide. Crisis 34(1):13-21 |
| Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS), negative affect subscale | Immediately after the intervention (t1); Two weeks after the intervention (t2) | Breyer & Bluemke (2016) Deutsche Version der Positive and Negative Affect Schedule PANAS (GESIS Panel). ZIS - GESIS Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences |
| Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-2) | Two weeks after the intervention (t2) | Löwe et al. (2005) Detecting and monitoring depression with a two-item questionnaire (PHQ-2). Journal of Psychosomatic Research 58(2):163-171 |
| Current suicidality | Immediately after the intervention (t1); Two weeks after the intervention (t2) | One item adapted from the PHQ-9 (Kroenke et al. 2001; Do you currently experience thoughts that you would be better off dead or of hurting yourself? response scale from 1 (not at all) to 7 (very much) |
Countries
Germany
Outcome results
None listed