Social media and youth suicide prevention
Social media presents a unique opportunity to reach young people with effective and youth-friendly approaches to suicide prevention. However, little is known about the potential efficacy of the role of social media in suicide prevention.
In 2018 we developed the #chatsafe guidelines to facilitate safe online communication about suicide. We also launched a 12-week nation-wide media campaign, which shared content that was co-designed by young people and included information about safe language, help-seeking, supporting a friend, and self-care. Simultaneously, over 500 young people were recruited into a study to evaluate the #chatsafe campaign content and explore whether engagement with the content resulted in safer communication online. A final sample of 189 participants completed three questionnaires measuring patterns of social media usage, willingness and capacity to intervene against suicide online, and perceived self-efficacy, confidence and safety when communicating about suicide online. Each week during the campaign, participants were sent a piece of content to their nominated social media account and were asked to respond to three short questions measuring acceptability and iatrogenic effects.
This presentation will discuss the findings of this study which suggest that not only did young people find the campaign to be acceptable, but they also reported improvements in their willingness to intervene against suicide, and their perceived self-efficacy, confidence and safety when communicating on social media about suicide.
The broader implications for safe online communication and the next steps for the #chatsafe project will also be discussed.
Presenter: Jo Robinson
Associate Professor Jo Robinson leads Orygen’s suite of research programs around suicide prevention. She currently coordinates several research projects in collaboration with Australian and overseas universities.
Some of the projects underway include a randomised controlled trial of an internet-based program for at-risk secondary school students, a study examining the role of social media in suicide prevention, and the development of a surveillance system for self-harm presentations to emergency departments.
Jo’s work focuses on improving our knowledge about the best approaches to reduce suicide risk among young people. This includes developing programs, testing novel approaches that specifically target at-risk youth, and translating the research evidence into practice and policy.
Jo has also been involved in the development of several government-commissioned community resources and has contributed to numerous advisory panels and expert committees.
She has been a member of advisory committees on suicide prevention for both the state and federal government. She is also the Vice-President of the International Association for Suicide Prevention.