Representações do suicídio na imprensa generalista portuguesa

Introduction Globally, over 700,000 people die by suicide yearly, and 77% of the suicide global burden is reported in Low middle-income countries, including Nigeria (1). Community pharmacists are often the most visited healthcare providers for locals in Nigeria. However, there is sparse knowledge about their contributory role in suicide prevention (2). Aim To explore key informants’ perspectives on the potential contribution of community pharmacists in Nigeria to suicide prevention and gain insight into the potential barriers and facilitators in incorporating a suicide prevention programme within community pharmacies. Method Online semi-structured interviews were conducted with global key informants. The key informants were recruited based on their expertise in suicide prevention, public health, mental health, and pharmacy practice from low- and high-income countries. In addition, key informants were either author from literature reviews or referred by the informants. All key informants were contacted through emails, agreed informants gave both verbal and written consent. The topic guide questions were modified according to each key informant’;s professional role and country. The recruitment and interviews were done from March 2022 to September 2022. The interviews were audio, and video recorded, transcribed verbatim and thematically analysed using NVivo software.Codes were generated by the lead researcher and reviewed by the study team. Results A total of 22 key informants consisting of 6 pharmacists, 5 researchers, 4 mental health consultants, 2 policy makers, 2 cognitive behavioural therapists, 2 psychiatrists and 1 suicide and self-harm analyst with different geographical background participated in this study. Each key informant presented perspective on how suicide prevention effort is being handled in their country and how the potential community pharmacist’s role in Nigeria could work. The major themes identified are :(i) The need for a suicide prevention programme in community pharmacies, and this includes (ii) Restricting access to means. This could be achieved by (iii) Education and Training, (iv) Pharmacy service reimbursement and (v) a referral system with other health professionals. (vi) stigma and (vii) pharmacy environment were highlighted as barriers. Conclusion Global Key informants were open to the community pharmacist’;s role in suicide prevention, expecting it would help fill the psychiatric professional gap in Nigeria’;s mental health system. However, some expressed concerns about community pharmacists’ lack of knowledge and awareness in this area and where they could distinctively fit in suicide prevention strategies. Perceptions of stigma underpinned much of key informants’ discussion. All key informants indicated the high existence of cultural and professional stigma and its impact on suicide prevention. This is the first study to explore a broad global perspective on community pharmacists’ role in suicide prevention. However, some key informants are registered pharmacists, and others have a particular interest in suicide prevention and training, thus may be biased towards community pharmacists’ role in suicide prevention. To further explore the practical implication of any recommendations about this role, our identified themes will help to develop our Delphi study to determine consensus on the scope of the future contribution of community pharmacists to suicide prevention efforts in Nigeria.

Introduction: In Flanders, the Flemish Pharmacists Network (VAN), in collaboration with the Flemish Centre of Expertise in Suicide Prevention (VLESP), wants to explore how pharmacists and pharmacist assistants in the public pharmacy can play an active role in suicide prevention in collaboration with other health care providers. Background: Mental health is an important area of focus in health care. Numbers from the Care and Health Agency tell us that nearly 1,000 people die of suicide in Flanders every year. By 2030, the Flemish Health objective is to reduce deaths by suicide by 10% compared to 2020. Poisoning is a common method of suicide and medication is used in the majority of suicide attempts. There is strong scientific evidence that when commonly used methods are made less lethal or accessible, the number of suicides using that method as well as other methods decreases. Restricting access to substances for suicide is a very effective prevention method. Pharmacists occupy a crucial role in society regarding the distribution of medication and are among the most trusted professions. Thus, they are pre-eminent key figures who can play a role in suicide prevention. Who is it for? The objective is to assessing and questioning actively the suicide risk of citizens in pharmacy. Who did you involve and engage with? In 2022 VAN launched a project among Flemish pharmacists in collaboration with VLESP and with the support of the Flemish government. What did you do? In the first phase, a literature review was conducted and a large group of experts from different healthcare professions was assembled. A survey was launched and the results are being analyzed by VLESP. These will be used for the further elaboration of the training and the launch of a pilot project in early 2023. Knowledge improvement within the sector is crucial to take an active role in suicide prevention. Pharmacists should be aware of existing help and support possibilities and referral options to other health care providers. Agreements with other health care providers should be made for this purpose. Pharmacists must be taught the tools to recognize and question signs of suicidal behavior so that they can then raise awareness about medication management, provide appropriate advice, make appropriate delivery and referrals. What results did you get? Around 50 pharmacies will start the pilot project in early 2023, which will be evaluated on a regular basis. Conclusions and recommendations will be written out by the end of 2023. What is the learning for the international audience? For the international audience, it is interesting to know how pharmacies can play an active role and what elements are necessary to promote this. The conclusions and recommendations can serve as a guide for application in other countries. This project can be an important step to a more integrated approach around this topic What are the next steps? After the pilot project, the objective is to extend the active role within all Flemish pharmacies and then within Belgium.

The World Health Organization (WHO)—a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN)—is a global organization that stimulates international action on global health issues, with the ultimate goal of having the highest possible level of health attained by all people. In 1993, the UN and WHO International Expert Meeting on Guidelines for the Formulation and Implementation of Comprehensive National Strategies for the Prevention of Suicidal Behaviour was held, which resulted in a set of guidelines that encourage national suicide prevention strategies. Moreover, suicide prevention became a global health priority and was integrated into the WHO Mental Health Action Plan 2013–2020. This text will discuss the WHO’s key roles in suicide prevention, such as: establishing international and interdisciplinary partnerships; collecting, compiling, and disseminating essential information; providing sound, clear, and reliable guidance; and establishing effective, cost-effective, and innovative services for suicide prevention.

The suicidal process is a complex phenomenon involving multiple intertwined factors, which makes its prevention particularly challenging. As evidence-based suicide prevention interventions evolve and consolidate, it becomes increasingly important to ensure that effective interventions are efficiently implemented in practice and translated into the quality programs and care that benefit people at risk of suicidal behavior.

Teachers are identified as frontline participants in school-based suicide prevention efforts. However, their training and roles in these efforts are often not clearly defined. Because 25 states currently mandate suicide prevention training for teachers and 14 other states encourage this training, teachers’ perceptions about their role in suicide prevention are important to consider. As such, this study assessed secondary teachers’ (N = 74) perceptions of their role in suicide prevention, barriers to participating in suicide prevention, and their perceived levels of comfort and confidence in identifying and intervening with suicidal youth. Participating teachers overwhelmingly agreed that they should have a role in suicide prevention. In comparison with untrained teachers, those with previous suicide prevention training were twice as likely to have had a suicidal student or peer of a suicidal student approach them to talk about suicide. Surprisingly, years of teaching were not correlated with teachers’ comfort and confidence in identifying and supporting suicidal youth. Overall, teachers agreed that limited training, fears of making the situation worse, and fears of legal repercussions were barriers that kept teachers from intervening with potentially suicidal students. In order to help teachers effectively perform their gatekeeper role, training efforts must consider teachers’ perceptions, address perceived barriers, and facilitate teacher–student interactions that would increase the likelihood of students coming to teachers for assistance with suicidal concerns. To help schools in providing suicide prevention training for teachers, a list of recommended resources is provided.

Suicide Prevention in an International Context.

ABSTRACTInternational concern about youth suicide has led to a growing consensus that schools are a potentially important location for suicide prevention efforts. The present study investigated the experiences and perceptions of teachers regarding a role in youth suicide prevention through semi-structured interviews which were analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. Three themes are reported which contribute to an understanding of the construction of teacher efficacy in relation to a role in suicide prevention: baseline mastery, threats to efficacy and tension between personal and professional identities. The results indicate a mix of positive and negative experiences relating to personal, process and systemic factors. Positive elements were associated with the pastoral role. Negative experiences related to referral pathways and broader systems of care. Implications for the development of school-based suicide prevention programmes and for conceptualising processes of change in school systems are discussed.

BackgroundThe use of information and communication technology (ICT) in suicide prevention has progressed rapidly over the past decade. ICT plays a major role in suicide prevention, but research on best and promising practices has been slow.ObjectiveThis paper aims to explore the existing literature on ICT use in suicide prevention to answer the following question: what are the best and most promising ICT practices for suicide prevention?MethodsA scoping search was conducted using the following databases: PubMed, PsycINFO, Sociological s, and IEEE Xplore. These databases were searched for articles published between January 1, 2013, and December 31, 2018. The five stages of the scoping review process were as follows: identifying research questions; targeting relevant studies; selecting studies; charting data; and collating, summarizing, and reporting the results. The World Health Organization suicide prevention model was used according to the continuum of universal, selective, and indicated prevention.ResultsOf the 3848 studies identified, 115 (2.99%) were selected. Of these, 10 regarded the use of ICT in universal suicide prevention, 53 referred to the use of ICT in selective suicide prevention, and 52 dealt with the use of ICT in indicated suicide prevention.ConclusionsThe use of ICT plays a major role in suicide prevention, and many promising programs were identified through this scoping review. However, large-scale evaluation studies are needed to further examine the effectiveness of these programs and strategies. In addition, safety and ethics protocols for ICT-based interventions are recommended.

Suicide is not only a personal tragedy, but a serious international public health problem. The majority of suicides in the world (85 per cent) occur in low- and middle-income countries (Krug et al. 2002). Suicide is among the top three causes of death in the young population aged 15–34 (World Health Organization 2001).Whereas national data about completed suicide exists for many countries, similar statistics on attempted suicide are largely missing, reflecting a lack of official or systematic national data collection. Hence, the scale of suicide attempts is not clearly known. Relying on hospital records and population surveys, it is estimated that attempted suicides are 10–20 times more frequent than completed suicides (Wasserman 2001).The Secretary-General of the United Nations in his report to the General Assembly in 1991 drew attention to the fact that suicide was a significant and growing problem, particularly among youth. The ensuing monitoring process revealed a lack of comprehensive national strategies for preventing suicide and, in many countries, rapidly rising suicide rates. In 1993, a United Nations (UN) and World Health Organization (WHO) International Expert Meeting on Guidelines for the Formulation and Implementation of Comprehensive National Strategies for the Prevention of Suicidal Behaviour was held in Canada, which culminated in a report (United Nations 1996) that included a comprehensive set of guidelines, together with a case study of the Finnish national strategy. These guidelines encouraged the development of national suicide-prevention strategies around the world, for instance, in the United States (US Department of Health and Human Services 2001), where suicide was recognized as a national problem, and suicide-prevention as a national priority, as well as in Europe (WHO 2002b; Wasserman et al. 2004). In 1999, WHO launched the worldwide initiative for suicide prevention (SUPRE) with the overall goal of reducing the mortality and morbidity of suicidal behaviours.The WHO, a specialized agency of the UN, is an intergovernmental organization, established by the formal agreement of, and ultimately governed by, 193 Member States. As the directing and coordinating authority on international health work, WHO stimulates international action on health issues of global concern with the ultimate objective of the attainment by all people of the highest possible level of health (WHO 2003). The WHO’s normative function and advocacy role, as well as its convening power in establishing global partnerships, places it in a unique position to provide leadership at global, regional and country levels.

This study aimed to explore suicide prevention in juvenile detention centers by conducting a case study of one state. Qualitative data from semistructured interviews were synthesized from 10 juvenile detention centers. Analytical techniques included thematic and content analysis and the integration of quantitative information and qualitative themes to illustrate key differences in suicide prevention practices and center characteristics among facilities with varying frequencies of crisis stabilization calls and critical incidents. Although the use of many suicide prevention practices was reported across the sample, the quality with which those practices were implemented was highly variable. The analysis suggests that facilities with higher-quality implementation of suicide prevention practices may have had leaders who acknowledged that their facility plays a role in suicide prevention. Moreover, preliminary evidence suggests that the quality of suicide prevention implementation may be associated with the number of crisis stabilization calls and critical incidents (i.e., variables related to suicidality) a facility experiences. Clear conceptualization of a juvenile detention center's role in suicide prevention may lead to better outcomes in suicide prevention implementation. High-quality implementation may reduce suicidality exhibited by youths in juvenile detention and save lives.

Comparison of the factors for suicidal ideation and suicide attempt: a comprehensive examination of stress, view of life, mental health, and alcohol use.

ABSTRACTObjective. 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 about suicide, attempted suicide and suicide prevention. We used an evaluation instrument composed of WHO recommendations.Results. A total of 126 news reports were analyzed; but none of these complied fully with the WHO recommendations. The news reports on suicide or attempted suicide complied with 4 of 13 recommendations. Most reports complied with avoiding to publish suicide notes (97.4%); on the other hand, educating about suicide and its prevention, and not disseminating myths was the recommendation least complied with (0.9%). Suicide prevention news reports complied with 5 of 7 recommendations.Conclusions. Suicide news reports on Peruvian television in 2020 and 2021 showed low compliance with WHO recommendations. Communication professionals have a fundamental role in suicide prevention, limiting sensitive information and disseminating helpful information. It is essential for communicators to be aware of these recommendations and for the journalism team and mental health professionals to work together in the communication of news related to suicide.

The rising rate of youth suicide in rural Eastern North Carolina reflects the national trend. Although school nurses have been regarded as the gateway professional for mental health services, their role in suicide prevention is not well understood. The purpose of this study was to explore school nursing practice regarding suicide prevention of school-aged children in one vulnerable region of the United States. Focus groups and surveys were collected from 35 school nurses in six school districts. Findings indicate that suicide protocols inclusive of the school nurse can facilitate their role in suicide prevention. Variation of school nursing practice existed between and within districts. These variations in school nursing practice highlight the need for school districts within the state and across the country to examine their policies and practices for mental health equity. Barriers such as higher caseloads, role disconnect, and lack of specialized training contributed to variations in practice.

The purpose of this study is to examine American and Japanese clergy’s perception of their role in the prevention of suicide. The research questions are as follows: (a) How do clergy in the United States and Japan perceive suicide? (b) Do they see suicide differently? and (c) How do they envision the role of suicide prevention? The hypotheses are as follows: (a) Christian clergy think that suicide is an unacceptable “sin”; (b) Buddhist clergy are more accepting of suicide than Christian clergy; (c) there are role differences related to suicide prevention in the Japanese and American religious communities; and (d) American and Japanese religious leaders have a different view of their obligations related to suicide prevention. The investigator sent 400 anonymous mail surveys, respectively, to New York and Tokyo. The surveys asked about the clergy’s personal beliefs and the Church’s role in suicide prevention. The investigator analyzed the responses using both quantitative and qualitative methods. The major findings are that many American Christian clergy consider suicide to be a sin, but that “God’s love is available for people who committed suicide.” Many Japanese Buddhist clergy think how one dies is not the most important issue.

Suicide is a major public health problem, which affects people of all ages and ethnicities. Despite being preventable, the rates of suicide have steadily climbed (more than a third) over the past 2 decades. Nurse practitioners (NPs) must be responsible for recognizing suicide risk and providing appropriate treatment referrals in addition to having an important role in suicide prevention. The reasons why NPs may not pursue suicide prevention training are their lack of suicide awareness and prevention, limited experiences with suicidal patients, and the stigma associated with mental illness. Before we begin to address the gaps within suicide awareness and prevention skills, we need to first examine NPs' knowledge of and attitudes (stigma) toward suicide prevention. This study will comprise a mixed methods approach. First, quantitative data will be collected using the Suicide Knowledge and Skills Questionnaireand the Suicide Stigma Scale (Brief version) questionnaire. An email will be sent to the NPs explaining the purpose of the study. If they consent, they will click on a link to access the surveys on a secure site. In our previous research with this sample, email reminders to nonresponders after 2 and 4 weeks were sent. The quantitative component will be used to inform the qualitative interviews of this study. The Suicide Knowledge and Skills Questionnaire is a 13-item questionnaire comprising 2 subscales: suicide knowledge and suicide skills. All questions are rated on a 5-point Likert scale (1=completely disagree to 5=completely agree). The survey has been shown to differentiate between those with suicide training and those without and has a Cronbach α score of .84. The Suicide Stigma Scale (Brief version) is a 16-item survey that assesses stigma regarding suicide. The items are measured on a 5-point Likert scale (1: strongly disagree to 5: strongly agree) and have a Cronbach α of .98. This study was funded by the Faculty Research Grants program through the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research and Economic Development at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Institutional review board approval was obtained in April 2022. Recruitment occurred between summer and winter 2022. Interview conduction began in December 2022 and will conclude in March 2023. Data will be analyzed during spring and summer 2023. The study results will add to the literature on NPs' knowledge of and attitudes (stigma) toward suicide prevention. It represents a first step in addressing gaps within suicide awareness and prevention skills, among NPs in their respective practice settings. PRR1-10.2196/39675.