An analysis of the impact of suicide prevention messages and memorials on motorway bridges

Abstract

Recently, there has been activity at public locations where people have died by suicide, including the erection of suicide prevention messages and memorials (decorations). This research looks at the impact of these decorations and associated media coverage of the decorations on suicidal behaviour at bridges. Incidents (n = 160) of suicidal behaviour on 26 bridges across motorways in England were analysed. Overall, there was no significant difference in the proportion of incidents pre‐decoration versus post‐decoration (p‐value = .55). The incident rates were not significantly different pre‐ and post‐decoration (p = .46). Only one bridge had statistically significantly more incidents post‐decoration and media reporting (p = .03). However, following correction for multiple testing there was no significant difference in pre‐ and post‐incident rates at any of the bridges. In total, 58% of bridges had a greater frequency of incidents when decorations were absent; however, this proportion was not statistically significant (p = .41). Further research is required to establish how suicide prevention messages are perceived. There does not appear to be any benefit, but it often generates media coverage which has been shown to increase risk.

O efeito Werther e sua relação com taxas de tentativas de suicídio: uma revisão narrativa

“…De sua parte,(O'Neill et al, 2021) investigam se os memoriais (em sua maioria feitos por parentes enlutados) e outros elementos informativos nesses locais onde ocorreram suicídios), tem efeito positivo na redução dos casos ou, pelo contrário, estimulam o efeito contágio. Umas destas estratégias é a de disponibilizar números de telefone de emergência, com atendimento imediato.…”

“…Houve 93 incidentes antes de decorações e 56 após. Mais 11 incidentes ocorreram após a mídia reportar as decorações nas pontes (O'Neill et al, 2021)…”

“…No total, 58% das pontes tiveram maior incidência pré-decoração (15 de 26) contra 11 de 26. Esta variação não foi considerada significativa(O'Neill et al, 2021). Os resultados não são conclusivos, portanto.…”