Helping actions given and received in response to suicide risk: Findings from an Australian nationally representative telephone survey

Abstract

We conducted a nationally representative telephone survey of 3000 Australian adults. We assessed helping responses toward people in severe distress and experiencing suicidal thoughts by asking whether respondents had undertaken 15 specified helping actions (10 recommended and 5 non-recommended actions) to support such a person. We also asked respondents who had experienced suicidal ideation in the last 12 months whether the most helpful person at that time had undertaken the 15 specified helping actions. We weighted the data to represent the Australian adult population, calculated percentage frequencies for the helping actions and used logistic regression to analyse whether sociodemographic and exposure variables related to helping actions taken. Recommended supportive actions consistent with best practice were most commonly undertaken (e.g., listened to their problems without judgement: 96.5%, 95% CI 94.6–97.7); however, some non-recommended actions (e.g., reminded the person what they have they going for them: 91.6%, 95% CI 89.1–93.5) were also very common. Suicide risk assessment actions such as asking if they had a plan for suicide (39.8%; 95% CI 35.0–44.9), and encouraging professional help (e.g., helped make an appointment with a health professional: 61.3%, 95% CI 57.4–65.2) were relatively uncommon. Age, gender, level of education, language spoken at home, own suicidal ideation and suicide prevention training were shown to affect the odds of carrying out various helping actions. Australian adults need to be educated to ask direct questions about suicide risk and to encourage others in distress to seek professional help. There may also be a place for discouraging certain behaviours that oppose best practice in suicide prevention. While most previous studies have assessed intentions to help a person at risk of suicide, this study makes a unique contribution to the literature by assessing ‘real-world’ helping behaviour, including the occurrence of helping actions undertaken that oppose best practice in suicide prevention.

Belief in suicide prevention myths and its effect on helping: a nationally representative survey of Australian adults

“…We report here on results from those sections of the survey that included questions about attitudes to suicide prevention (belief in 'suicide prevention myths'), intentions to help a person at risk in severe distress or at risk of suicide and actions taken to help a person in severe distress or at risk of suicide. Findings from other sections of the survey are reported elsewhere [22,23].…”

“…We commissioned Roy Morgan Research Ltd. to conduct the survey. More detail about the sampling method can be found in other publications from our research program [22,23].…”

“…The nonrecommended actions oppose current best practice in suicide prevention [30,31]. More detail regarding the selection of the 13 actions and allocation to subscales is provided elsewhere [22]. The three items on the talking and listening subscale relate to asking the person in distress how they are feeling, listening to their problems without judgement, and asking them 'how you can help'.…”

“…We conducted a national survey of Australian adults to assess their confidence, intentions, behaviors and attitudes toward assisting a person they know well who is in severe distress or considering suicide. Findings of this and other studies in our research program [22,23] were conducted to inform suicide prevention messages for a national suicide prevention campaign aimed at family members and friends of people at risk of suicide (https://www.lifeinmindaustralia.com.au/youcantalk).…”

Help Seeking and Engagement for Young Men aged 18 to 30 years in Suicidal Crisis: a Prospective Cohort Study

“…From a preventive perspective, there is an alarming call to go beyond the medical model and explore the signs that might indicate danger of suicide in the near term, including resistance against help-seeking among young men [21][22][23]. Psychological autopsy studies have highlighted the association of mental health disorders for many youth suicides however they also report low rates of contact with mental health services prior to death [24][25]. Young men have been reported to seek help from primary or specialist healthcare services less than other population groups prior to suicide [20,26].…”