JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

There is an increasing interest in engaging people with lived experience in suicide prevention research. However, young people with suicidal thoughts have been described as a “hard-to-include” population due to time, distance, stigma, and social barriers. This study investigates whether synchronous online focus groups through web conferencing technology (W-OFG) is a successful method to engage young people aged between 18 and 25 with lived experience of suicidal thoughts and/or behaviours. Specifically, this study aims to: (1) determine whether the W-OFG is feasible for suicide prevention research by analysing participants’ response rate, attendance, and feedback; (2) report researchers’ reflections about how to effectively implement the W-OFG; and (3) discuss the ethical implications with regard to privacy and safety of the W-OFG in suicide prevention research. In this study, thirty-seven (92.5%) young people (N = 40) preferred to attend the online focus group rather than the face-to-face focus group. Of the fifteen participants who indicated they would attend the online focus group, around 70% (5 of 7, and 6 of 8) attended each focus group. Feedback from participants suggested that online focus groups could be an effective way of engaging young people in research. Potential ethical and pragmatic challenges in using this method are discussed in this study.