Cross-cultural generalizability of suicide first aid actions: an analysis of agreement across expert consensus studies from a range of countries and cultures

Anthony F Jorm,Erminia Colucci,Anna M Ross

doi:10.1186/s12888-018-1636-8

Anthony F Jorm, Erminia Colucci + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1186/s12888-018-1636-8

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Journal: BMC Psychiatry	Publication Date: Mar 1, 2018
Citations: 16	License type: open-access

Affiliation: University of Melbourne, Middlesex University

Abstract

BackgroundA number of Delphi expert consensus studies have been carried out with different countries and cultural groups to develop guidelines on how a member of the public should provide assistance to a person who is suicidal. The present study aimed to determine whether cross-culturally generalizable suicide first aid actions are possible by comparing agreement across these Delphi studies.MethodsData on endorsement rates for items were compared across six Delphi studies. These studies involved panels of professionals and consumer advocates from English-speaking countries, professionals from Sri Lanka, professionals from Japan, professionals from India, professionals from the Philippines, and professionals and consumer advocates in refugee and immigrant mental health. Correlations were calculated between item endorsement rates across panels.ResultsThere were 18 items that were highly endorsed across all eight of the Delphi panels and an additional 15 items highly endorsed across the panels from the three lower middle-income countries (India, Philippines and Sri Lanka). Correlations across panels in item endorsement rates were all 0.60 or above, but were higher between panels from countries that are socioeconomically similar.ConclusionsThere is broad agreement across the diverse expert panels about what are appropriate suicide first aid actions for members of the public, indicating that cross-cultural generalizability is possible. However, there is also some cultural specificity, indicating the need for local tailoring.

Highlights

A number of Delphi expert consensus studies have been carried out with different countries and cultural groups to develop guidelines on how a member of the public should provide assistance to a person who is suicidal
The aim of the present study is to explore the feasibility of having cross-culturally generalizable suicide first aid guidelines
The English-speaking Delphi study included a panel of consumers and the Refugee and Immigrant study included a panel of consumer advocates

Summary

Introduction

A number of Delphi expert consensus studies have been carried out with different countries and cultural groups to develop guidelines on how a member of the public should provide assistance to a person who is suicidal. Because it is not feasible to carry out trials in which family and friends are randomly allocated to carry out specific actions to assist a suicidal person, expert consensus has been used to determine what are likely to be helpful actions in this area This approach involves systematically gathering ‘practice-based evidence’. In the initial Delphi study on this topic, Kelly and colleagues [2] did a systematic search of advice on how to assist a suicidal person and used this to construct a questionnaire of 114 statements This questionnaire was presented to a panel of 22 professionals and 16 people with lived experience (they had been suicidal or had cared for someone who had been suicidal in the past) who were from developed English-speaking countries. The guidelines were made available for free download online, and a survey of people who downloaded them found that some users made positive use of the guidelines to assist a suicidal person [4]

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