Resource Tag: MEDIA COVERAGE OF SUICIDE

An association between sensationalized media reporting and subsequent increase in suicidal behavior has been documented, and adolescents are especially vulnerable to imitative influences. The aims of this study were to examine the characteristics of the articles reporting adult and adolescent (under age 18) suicides in the Italian press and to assess adherence to the World […]

International studies and the World Health Organization call for collaboration between media and mental health professionals to reduce the risk of imitative suicidal behaviour after suicide reporting – known as the Werther effect – and encourage individuals at risk to seek help. This study explores Portuguese psychiatrists’ perceptions of the practices of journalists, their interaction […]

A considerable number of studies have shown that sensationalist portrayals of suicide in the media trigger imitational suicides, often referred to as Werther effect. In order to prevent harmful media effects, media recommendations  for suicide reporting have been developed and implemented by national and international organizations in order to change the conversation on suicide and […]

Objective: Coverage and public communication about suicide represent a major public health concern given the potential for identification and imitation. Yet when celebrities survive a suicidal crisis, it presents an opportunity to model adaptive coping. Tennis star Jelena Dokic’s June 2022 Instagram post recounting her experience overcoming suicidal thoughts represents a unique natural experiment to […]

Objective Responsible media reporting is an accepted strategy for preventing suicide. In 2015, suicide prevention experts launched a media engagement initiative aimed at improving suicide-related reporting in Canada; its impact on media reporting quality and suicide deaths is unknown. Method This pre–post observational study examined changes in reporting characteristics in a random sample of suicide-related […]

Background Media guidelines for reporting on suicide recommend that journalists should avoid monocausal explanations of suicide, but it is unclear if media items with monocausal explanations elicit different effects as compared to multicausal portrayals. Method Using a web-based randomized controlled trial (n = 969), we tested five versions of a news article about the suicide of a […]

Objective. To determine if suicide news reports broadcasted by Peruvian television channels comply with the World Health Organization (WHO) recommendations for reporting suicide news. Materials and methods. Quantitative and descriptive study. The unit of analysis was the suicide news broadcasted by eight Peruvian television channels during the years 2020 and 2021. News were classified into three categories: news […]

Many international studies describe a relation between prominent and sensational suicide reporting and subsequent rises in suicide rates – the Werther effect –, especially when involving celebrities, but that relation has never been investigated in Portugal. In this article, we intend to examine whether there were increases in suicides in Portugal in the 3 and […]

Aim: To analyse recommended interventions for the safe and responsible dissemination of suicidal behaviour in the media for preventive purposes. Background: Suicide is a serious public health problem that leads to more than 700,000 deaths per year, which translates into one death every forty seconds. The media play a significant role in shaping public perceptions […]

Rising social media use over the past decade has been linked with increasing suicide rates among young people. Previous studies that assessed the impact of social media on suicide have typically focused on single social media platforms, such as Twitter, and assumed unidirectional associations, where social media posts leads to suicide. Our study focused on […]

Numerous studies have been conducted globally to assess the compliance level of newspapers with the World Health Organization’s (WHO) media guidelines for responsible suicide reporting. To identify and review such studies conducted in Muslim-majority countries between 2014 and 2022, we searched PubMed and Google Scholar databases. We identified 12 eligible studies from Pakistan (n=4), Bangladesh […]

This study investigated whether media articles from a postsecondary institution could influence students’ stigma toward suicide after a student dies by suicide. Undergraduate participants (N = 425) read a fictitious scenario about a student suicide and were randomly assigned to a control article (no mention of the suicide) or one of three intervention articles that acknowledged […]

Background The nature of newspaper coverage of suicide events can impact suicide risk. Thus, the World Health Organization published recommendations for reporting suicide in the media. To date, Israel has no data regarding adherence to these media guidelines and no indication of the influence of the Israeli National Suicide Prevention Program (NSPP) on adherence. Aiming […]

We examined whether media coverage of suicides and frequencies of searching for suicide methods or suicide pacts predicted the number of users posting tweets seeking others for a suicide pact. Analyses of 6,119 tweets containing “suicide pact” posted on Twitter during a 6-month period revealed that the number of users posting tweets seeking others for […]

Background: There is substantial variability, by culture, in suicide rates, and also in suicide beliefs and attitudes. Suicide beliefs and attitudes predict actual suicidality. They also are elements of cultural scripts of suicide. Most suicide-scripts research has been conducted in Anglophone countries. Aims: This study investigates women’s and men’s suicide scripts in Italy. Methods: Italy’s suicide scripts, including beliefs about […]

Objectives: Suicide rates in India are amongst the highest in the world, resulting in an estimated 250,000 suicide deaths annually, and suicide rates in the state of Chhattisgarh are more than double the national average. Responsible media reporting is one of the few  population-level suicide prevention interventions. To inform media interventions, the objective of our […]

At least five NCAA student athletes died by suicide in spring 2022. The deaths generated national news media attention while underscoring the stressors student-athletes face in relation to mental health. Journalists play an important role in shaping public understanding of issues, including mental health and suicide. By framing issues, journalists can shape the way audiences […]

Objectives: When journalists report on the details of a suicide, the way that they contextualize the meaning of the event (i.e. the ‘narrative’) can have significant consequences for readers. The ‘Werther’ and ‘Papageno’ narrative effects refer to increases and decreases in suicides across populations following media reports on suicidal acts or mastery of crises, respectively. […]

Background The suicide rate in Korea was the highest among the member countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development(OECD) for 2013–2016 and 2018–2020. In korea, suicide was the leading cause of death among individuals aged 10–39, and the second leading cause of death for aged 40–59. Thus, this study aimed to examine the […]

Suicide is a global phenomenon with about 79% of suicides occurring in low and middle-income countries. This study investigated current trends, demographics, and characteristics of completed suicides based on reports from leading Pakistani Newspapers. This study performed a qualitative analysis of completed suicides in Pakistan’s four newspapers from January 1st, 2019, through December 31st, 2020. […]

Objective: There is limited knowledge about the effects of a workshop intervention on responsible reporting on suicide (RRS) by media professionals. The study aimed to test how a workshop can shape reporting-relevant attitudes and beliefs among media professionals. Method: A pre-postintervention survey of Swiss media professionals (N = 26, 55.7% male, Mage = 38.1, SDage = 12.8, all Swiss nationals) was conducted. All […]

Background: Associations between sensational news coverage of suicide and increases in suicidal behavior have been well documented. Amid growing concern over the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on suicide rates, it is especially important that news coverage adheres to recommended standards. Method: We analyzed the quality and content of print and online UK news reports […]

Context: Despite an increase in research evidence on media compliance with suicide reporting guidelines globally, evidence from Nigeria seems to be relatively limited. Aim: This study assessed the prevalence of World Health Organization (WHO) helpful/harmful suicide reporting cues in suicide stories reported by Nigerian newspapers in 2021. Setting and Design: The setting is the entire […]