Resource Tag: ETHICS

Objective To explore the drivers, objectives and challenges for ethical artificial intelligence-based suicide prevention in a technologically evolving clinical and societal context. Method Narrative selected literature review. Results There is an ethical need for more effective suicide prevention that is aware of the limitations of prediction. AI research needs to recognise the importance of clinical […]

Objective: Develop a stakeholder-informed ethical framework to provide practical guidance to health systems considering implementation of suicide risk prediction models. Methods: In this multi-method study, patients and family members participating in formative focus groups (n = 4 focus groups, 23 participants), patient advisors, and a bioethics consultant collectively informed the development of a web-based survey; survey results (n = […]

Aim: Research is imperative to advance our understanding of suicidal behavior and its prevention. Suicide prevention research involves various ethical issues, many of which are not straightforward to address. Hence, suicide prevention researchers sometimes face particular issues when designing their research studies. This expert consensus study aimed to identify the most important ethical issues to consider […]

Background: While high-quality and ethically sound research is needed to better understand and respond to the needs of those bereaved by suicide, there is a concern that ethical boards internationally raise unreasonable objections to research with those bereaved by suicide. Aims: This pilot study was conducted to examine the issues faced by suicide bereavement and postvention researchers […]

Background: Our laboratory recently confronted this issue while conducting research with undergraduate students at the University of Waterloo (UW). Although our main objective was to examine cognitive and genetic features of individuals with schizotypal personality disorder (SPD), the study protocol also entailed the completion of various self-report measures to identify participants deemed at increased risk for […]

Background: Ethical issues have been raised about using the psychological autopsy approach in the study of suicide. The impact on informants of control cases who participated in case-control psychological autopsy studies has not been investigated. Aims: (1) To investigate whether informants of suicide cases recruited by two approaches (coroners’ court and public mortuaries) respond differently to the […]

Important ethical challenges arise from features that are central to suicide research, such as the involvement of participants who might have an increased risk of suicide and asking suicide-related questions of participants.

The loss of a family member or friend can have profound psychological and physical implications, particularly for individuals without bereavement support services. Online support groups can be an effective means of extending services beyond the traditional modes of delivery. This is especially true for populations that include isolated individuals and those with limited support networks, […]

The suicide rate is increasing and gaining attention in several developed countries, but in most developing countries, it is often ignored. Society should have a valve that can withstand various problems that occur in the community. The valve is a family. There has been a deterioration in family function in recent years. The existence of […]

Background When a patient commits suicide while hospitalized in the psychiatric ward, the mental healthcare professionals (MHCPs) who have had the patient in their care encounter the family members immediately following the suicide. Professionals who encounter the bereaved in this first critical phase may have a significant impact on the grieving process. By providing ethically […]

Aim: Research is imperative to advance our understanding of suicidal behavior and its prevention. Suicide prevention research involves various ethical issues, many of which are not straightforward to address. Hence, suicide prevention researchers sometimes face particular issues when designing their research studies. This expert consensus study aimed to identify the most important ethical issues to consider […]

Technological advancements have brought multiple and diverse benefits to our human existence. In suicide prevention, new technologies have spurred great interest in and reports of the applicability to assessing, monitoring, and intervening in various community and clinical populations. We argue in this article that we need to better understand the complexities of implementation of technological […]

It is essential that investigators in clinical research settings follow ethical guidelines for monitoring, assessing, and responding to suicide risk. Given the unique considerations associated with suicide risk assessment in a research context, resources informing the development of research-specific suicide risk management procedures are needed. With decades of collective experience across heterogeneous contexts, we discuss […]

Background: Healthcare workers are at elevated risk for suicide; though it has yet to be studied, this risk may be exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. News media coverage of high-profile suicide is associated with an increased risk of subsequent suicides. No analysis has yet been published of US media practices for reporting on healthcare worker suicides […]

Background: Euthanasia and assisted suicide (EAS) are practices that aim to alleviate the suffering of people with life-limiting illnesses, but are controversial. One area of debate is the relationship between EAS and suicide rates in the population, where there have been claims that availability of EAS will reduce the number of self-initiated deaths (EAS and […]

Despite a plethora of existing literature on the topic of suicide, very little attention has been given to research ethics in practice in research on suicide. When suicide research does pay attention to the ethical issues researchers are likely to face, the focus is on the roles institutional human ethics review committees fulfil to ensure […]

Internet-guided self-help (IGSH) programs have proliferated recently to treat common mental health problems such as anxiety and depression. However, technology has outpaced the development of ethical guidelines for this mode of delivery. We examine ethical challenges in this new space, including defining the role “guides” play in treatment, crisis management, and user selection and screening. […]

The purpose of this paper is to explore the conviviality between practices of narrative therapy and the emerging field of critical suicide studies. Bringing together ideas from narrative therapy and critical suicide studies allows us to analyze current suicide prevention practices from a new vantage point and offers us the chance to consider how narrative […]

Many have expressed concerns about the safety and ethics of conducting suicide research, especially intense suicide research methods that expose participants to graphic depictions of suicidality. We conducted two studies to evaluate the effects of one such method called virtual reality (VR) suicide. Study 1 tested the effects of VR suicide exposure over the course […]

Participation in suicide-related research is generally associated with more positive than negative outcomes. However, sparse research has examined the longevity of any effects of participation. Here, we report the first qualitative examination of both the immediate and long-term views of participating in suicide-related research interviews. Thematic analysis indicated that participants had positive experiences, including increased […]

Suicide occurs in people of all ages and backgrounds, which negatively affects families, communities, and the health care providers (HCPs) who care for them. The objective of this study was to better understand HCPs’ perspectives of everyday ethical issues related to caring for suicidal patients, and their perceived needs for training and/or support to address […]

Objective Digital monitoring technologies (e.g., smartphones and wearable devices) provide unprecedented opportunities to study potentially harmful behaviors such as suicide, violence, and alcohol/substance use in real‐time. The use of these new technologies has the potential to significantly advance the understanding, prediction, and prevention of these behaviors. However, such technologies also introduce myriad ethical and safety […]

One obstacle potentially hindering research on suicide is the assumption that assessing suicide may make individuals more likely to engage in suicidal thoughts or behaviours; a concern expressed by ethics committees, researchers, and clinicians. However, decisions which are overly cautious and restrictive when approving research proposals will hinder important research in this area. The present […]