Online interactive suicide support services: quality and accessibility

Abstract

Purpose -Little research has focused on the quality and availability of interactive online support services retrieved through search engines. The purpose of this paper is twofold; first, to review and assess the availability and accessibility of interactive online support available to individuals in suicidal crisis. Second, to field test a new tool developed specifically to evaluate both the quality of online information and the quality of interactive support. Design/methodology/approach -A collection of six terms relating to suicidal distress were generated and inputted across three major search engines (Google, Yahoo and Ask). Following initial exclusions, the remaining web sites were analysed using the SPAT (Site, Publisher, Audience and Timeliness) tool and recently developed COSAT (Crisis and Online Support Appraisal Tool) tool.Findings -The quality of web sites retrieved was variable, with only 1.9 per cent deemed as high-quality interactive support resources. Google had the greatest precision of searching, but ease of access through search engines was generally limited. No significant difference was found in the quality of web sites located on pages 1 or 2 of search engine results. Overall, community and voluntary sector web sites averaged higher quality and interactive support rating's compared to publicly funded web sites.Research limitations/implications -The newly developed COSAT tool may provide a positive first step towards a standardised measure of online quality and interactive support, although further testing and validation is required with a larger sample size. Originality/value -To the authors knowledge little research has focused on the quality and availability of interactive online support services retrieved through search engines.

Help-seeking needs and gaps for preventing child sexual abuse: a report for the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

“…The literature highlights that individuals usually engage in informal help-seeking with friends and family, and formal helpseeking with professionals such as counsellors, health professionals and teachers. More recently, literature has described the use of technology such as online counselling, self-help apps and computerassisted programs (Best, Foye, Taylor, Hazlett and Manktelow, 2013).…”

A formative evaluation of online information to support abortion access in England, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland

“…The researchers sought to replicate a search pattern similar to that of an individual wishing to access abortion services (therefore an individual who has made the decision to access abortion) using an established methodological approach 12 13. Data collection reflected our user-centred approach.…”

Social Work and Social Media: Online Help-Seeking and the Mental Well-Being of Adolescent Males

“…In spite of this, we know relatively little of the mental well-being outcomes of online help-seeking. Best et al (2013, p. 2) note that online "support services may serve to reduce the potential emasculating consequences of stigmatising face-to-face help seeking, thus appealing to males in particular". This suggests that young males may favour this form of service yet in the same study the authors produced evidence suggesting a dearth of high quality online support.…”

“…In samples from 26 countries Cronbach's alpha's for this scale ranged from 0.76 -0.90 with the majority in the high 0.80s (Schwarzer and Jerusalem, 1995). services (Best et al, 2013) as no suitable tool could be identified for this domain.…”

“…The evidence gathered suggests that young males value mental health services run by trained professionals such as social workers available 24 hours a day -a difficult task to achieve. These types of services are currently lacking within statutory health and social care websites (Best et al, 2013). As a consequence young males tend to rely on search engines and social networking sites to steer them towards appropriate resources.…”