Accepted for/Published in: JMIR Human Factors
Date Submitted: Nov 22, 2022
Date Accepted: Mar 9, 2023
Using social media as part of a suicide postvention response: A pilot study examining the acceptability and potential impact of the #chatsafe intervention with young people who have been exposed to suicide
ABSTRACT
Background:
Young people are more likely to be affected by suicide contagion and there are concerns about the role social media plays in the development and maintenance of suicide clusters or in facilitating imitative suicidal behaviour. However, social media also presents an opportunity to provide real-time and age-appropriate suicide prevention information which could be an important component of suicide postvention activities.
Objective:
The aim of the current study was to test an intervention designed to equip young people to communicate safely online about suicide (#chatsafe) with a sample of young people who had recently been exposed to a suicide or suicide attempt, with a view to determining what role social media can play as part of a postvention response.
Methods:
A sample of 266 young people from Australia aged 16–25 years was recruited to take part in the study. They were eligible if they had been exposed to a suicide or knew of a suicide attempt in the past two years. All participants received the #chatsafe intervention, which comprised six pieces of social media content which were sent to participants on a weekly basis via direct message through Instagram, Facebook, or Snapchat. Participants were assessed on a range of outcome measures (social media usage, willingness to intervene against suicide, internet self-efficacy, confidence and safety when communicating on social media platforms about suicide) at baseline, immediately post-intervention, and four weeks’ follow-up.
Results:
After the 6-week #chatsafe intervention, participants reported significant improvements in their willingness to intervene against suicide online, their internet self-efficacy, and their perceived confidence and safety when communicating online about suicide. Overall, participants reported that it was appropriate to receive the #chatsafe intervention via social media and no iatrogenic effects were recorded.
Conclusions:
The findings suggest that it is safe and acceptable to disseminate suicide prevention information entirely via social media with young people who have recently been exposed to suicide. Interventions such as #chatsafe could potentially mitigate the risk of distress and future suicidal behaviour by other young people by improving the quality and safety of online communication about suicide, and as such, can be an important component of delivering a postvention response to young people. Clinical Trial: N/A
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