Calls to helplines in Australia following media reports of Robin Williams' suicide.
Journal
Suicide & life-threatening behavior
ISSN: 1943-278X
Titre abrégé: Suicide Life Threat Behav
Pays: England
ID NLM: 7608054
Informations de publication
Date de publication:
12 2020
12 2020
Historique:
received:
02
09
2019
revised:
09
02
2020
accepted:
25
02
2020
pubmed:
25
7
2020
medline:
28
4
2021
entrez:
25
7
2020
Statut:
ppublish
Résumé
In the United States, there was an increase in calls to helplines following media reporting of Robin Williams' suicide. We aimed to determine whether this was the case in Australia. The helpline services Lifeline and Beyond Blue provided us with weekly data on calls received for 2013-2015. We conducted interrupted time series regression analyses to determine whether there was an increase in the average weekly number of calls received by each helpline in two periods after the story about Williams' suicide broke (1 week and 4 weeks). We found strong evidence of an increase in calls to Lifeline (incidence rate ratio [IRR] =1.13; 95% confidence interval [CI] =1.02-1.25; p = 0.016) and Beyond Blue (IRR = 1.32; 95% CI = 1.09-1.59; p = 0.004) in the week after Williams' suicide was first reported. We found no evidence of higher than normal call volumes for Lifeline (IRR = 1.04; 95% CI = 0.99-1.10; p = 0.104) or Beyond Blue (IRR = 1.10; 95% CI = 1.00-1.22; p = 0.058) over the four weeks following Williams' death, however, suggesting that calls leveled out over this period. Suicide prevention experts and media professionals must work together to minimize the negative impacts of reports on suicide and maximize their positive ones. In cases where the story is likely to receive extensive international coverage, it may be important for local media to encourage help-seeking.
Types de publication
Journal Article
Langues
eng
Sous-ensembles de citation
IM
Pagination
1115-1120Informations de copyright
© 2020 The American Association of Suicidology.
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