IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v9y2012i1p123-138d15521.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Media Roles in Suicide Prevention: A Systematic Review

Author

Listed:
  • Merike Sisask

    (Central Behavior & Health Science, Estonian-Swedish Mental Health and Suicidology Institute (ERSI), 39 Õie, Tallinn 11615, Estonia
    Institute of Social Work, Tallinn University, 25 Narva mnt, Tallinn 10120, Estonia)

  • Airi Värnik

    (Central Behavior & Health Science, Estonian-Swedish Mental Health and Suicidology Institute (ERSI), 39 Õie, Tallinn 11615, Estonia
    Institute of Social Work, Tallinn University, 25 Narva mnt, Tallinn 10120, Estonia)

Abstract

The aim of the current systematic review was to monitor and provide an overview of the research performed about the roles of media in suicide prevention in order to find out possible effects media reporting on suicidal behaviours might have on actual suicidality (completed suicides, attempted suicides, suicidal ideation). The systematic review was performed following the principles of the PRISMA statement and includes 56 articles. Most of the studies support the idea that media reporting and suicidality are associated. However, there is a risk of reporting bias. More research is available about how irresponsible media reports can provoke suicidal behaviours (the ‘Werther effect’) and less about protective effect media can have (the ‘Papageno effect’). Strong modelling effect of media coverage on suicide is based on age and gender. Media reports are not representative of official suicide data and tend to exaggerate sensational suicides, for example dramatic and highly lethal suicide methods, which are rare in real life. Future studies have to encounter the challenges the global medium Internet will offer in terms of research methods, as it is difficult to define the circulation of news in the Internet either spatially or in time. However, online media can provide valuable innovative qualitative research material.

Suggested Citation

  • Merike Sisask & Airi Värnik, 2012. "Media Roles in Suicide Prevention: A Systematic Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 9(1), pages 1-16, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:9:y:2012:i:1:p:123-138:d:15521
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/9/1/123/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/9/1/123/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Niederkrotenthaler, Thomas & Till, Benedikt & Kapusta, Nestor D. & Voracek, Martin & Dervic, Kanita & Sonneck, Gernot, 2009. "Copycat effects after media reports on suicide: A population-based ecologic study," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 69(7), pages 1085-1090, October.
    2. Sonneck, G. & Etzersdorfer, E. & Nagel-Kuess, S., 1994. "Imitative suicide on the Viennese subway," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 38(3), pages 453-457, February.
    3. Tousignant, Michel & Mishara, Brian L. & Caillaud, Aline & Fortin, Veronique & St-Laurent, Danielle, 2005. "The impact of media coverage of the suicide of a well-known Quebec reporter: the case of Gaëtan Girouard," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 60(9), pages 1919-1926, May.
    4. David Moher & Alessandro Liberati & Jennifer Tetzlaff & Douglas G Altman & The PRISMA Group, 2009. "Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses: The PRISMA Statement," PLOS Medicine, Public Library of Science, vol. 6(7), pages 1-6, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Chloe Chang Sorensen & Mego Lien & Vicki Harrison & John J. Donoghue & Jeevanjot Singh Kapur & Song Hi Kim & Nhi Thi Tran & Shashank V. Joshi & Sita G. Patel, 2022. "The Tool for Evaluating Media Portrayals of Suicide (TEMPOS): Development and Application of a Novel Rating Scale to Reduce Suicide Contagion," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(5), pages 1-12, March.
    2. Massimiliano Scopelliti & Maria Giuseppina Pacilli & Antonio Aquino, 2021. "TV News and COVID-19: Media Influence on Healthy Behavior in Public Spaces," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(4), pages 1-15, February.
    3. Jan Domaradzki, 2021. "The Werther Effect, the Papageno Effect or No Effect? A Literature Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(5), pages 1-20, March.
    4. Alpo Vuorio & Tanja Laukkala & Ilkka Junttila & Robert Bor & Bruce Budowle & Eero Pukkala & Pooshan Navathe & Antti Sajantila, 2018. "Aircraft-Assisted Pilot Suicides in the General Aviation Increased for One-Year Period after 11 September 2001 Attack in the United States," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(11), pages 1-10, November.
    5. Girma, Sourafel & Paton, David, 2022. "Is assisted suicide a substitute for unassisted suicide?," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 145(C).
    6. Liliana Dell’Osso & Carlo Antonio Bertelloni & Marco Di Paolo & Maria Teresa Avella & Barbara Carpita & Federica Gori & Maurizio Pompili & Claudia Carmassi, 2019. "Problematic Internet Use in University Students Attending Three Superior Graduate Schools in Italy: Is Autism Spectrum Related to Suicide Risk?," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(7), pages 1-9, March.
    7. Silke Bachmann, 2018. "Epidemiology of Suicide and the Psychiatric Perspective," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(7), pages 1-23, July.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Jan Domaradzki, 2021. "The Werther Effect, the Papageno Effect or No Effect? A Literature Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(5), pages 1-20, March.
    2. Niederkrotenthaler, Thomas & Till, Benedikt & Kapusta, Nestor D. & Voracek, Martin & Dervic, Kanita & Sonneck, Gernot, 2009. "Copycat effects after media reports on suicide: A population-based ecologic study," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 69(7), pages 1085-1090, October.
    3. İlkay Unay-Gailhard & Mark A. Brennen, 2022. "How digital communications contribute to shaping the career paths of youth: a review study focused on farming as a career option," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 39(4), pages 1491-1508, December.
    4. Mahin Ghafari & Vali Baigi & Zahra Cheraghi & Amin Doosti-Irani, 2016. "The Prevalence of Asymptomatic Bacteriuria in Iranian Pregnant Women: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 11(6), pages 1-10, June.
    5. Elizabeth T Cafiero-Fonseca & Andrew Stawasz & Sydney T Johnson & Reiko Sato & David E Bloom, 2017. "The full benefits of adult pneumococcal vaccination: A systematic review," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 12(10), pages 1-23, October.
    6. Santos Urbina & Sofía Villatoro & Jesús Salinas, 2021. "Self-Regulated Learning and Technology-Enhanced Learning Environments in Higher Education: A Scoping Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(13), pages 1-12, June.
    7. Oded Berger-Tal & Alison L Greggor & Biljana Macura & Carrie Ann Adams & Arden Blumenthal & Amos Bouskila & Ulrika Candolin & Carolina Doran & Esteban Fernández-Juricic & Kiyoko M Gotanda & Catherine , 2019. "Systematic reviews and maps as tools for applying behavioral ecology to management and policy," Behavioral Ecology, International Society for Behavioral Ecology, vol. 30(1), pages 1-8.
    8. Nadine Desrochers & Adèle Paul‐Hus & Jen Pecoskie, 2017. "Five decades of gratitude: A meta‐synthesis of acknowledgments research," Journal of the Association for Information Science & Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 68(12), pages 2821-2833, December.
    9. Maryono, Maryono & Killoes, Aditya Marendra & Adhikari, Rajendra & Abdul Aziz, Ammar, 2024. "Agriculture development through multi-stakeholder partnerships in developing countries: A systematic literature review," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 213(C).
    10. Alene Sze Jing Yong & Yi Heng Lim & Mark Wing Loong Cheong & Ednin Hamzah & Siew Li Teoh, 2022. "Willingness-to-pay for cancer treatment and outcome: a systematic review," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 23(6), pages 1037-1057, August.
    11. Xue-Ying Xu & Hong Kong & Rui-Xiang Song & Yu-Han Zhai & Xiao-Fei Wu & Wen-Si Ai & Hong-Bo Liu, 2014. "The Effectiveness of Noninvasive Biomarkers to Predict Hepatitis B-Related Significant Fibrosis and Cirrhosis: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Diagnostic Test Accuracy," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 9(6), pages 1-16, June.
    12. Tosin Philip Oyetunji & SM Yasir Arafat & Famori Stephen Oluwaseyi & Obafemi Oluwasanmi & Michael Afolami & Faith Moyo Ajayi, 2021. "News reporting of suicidal behaviour in Nigeria: Adherence assessment to World Health Organization guidelines," International Journal of Social Psychiatry, , vol. 67(5), pages 448-452, August.
    13. Vicente Miñana-Signes & Manuel Monfort-Pañego & Javier Valiente, 2021. "Teaching Back Health in the School Setting: A Systematic Review of Randomized Controlled Trials," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(3), pages 1-18, January.
    14. Agnieszka A. Tubis & Katarzyna Grzybowska, 2022. "In Search of Industry 4.0 and Logistics 4.0 in Small-Medium Enterprises—A State of the Art Review," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(22), pages 1-26, November.
    15. Obsa Urgessa Ayana & Jima Degaga, 2022. "Effects of rural electrification on household welfare: a meta-regression analysis," International Review of Economics, Springer;Happiness Economics and Interpersonal Relations (HEIRS), vol. 69(2), pages 209-261, June.
    16. Caloffi, Annalisa & Colovic, Ana & Rizzoli, Valentina & Rossi, Federica, 2023. "Innovation intermediaries' types and functions: A computational analysis of the literature," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 189(C).
    17. García-Poole, Chloe & Byrne, Sonia & Rodrigo, María José, 2019. "How do communities intervene with adolescents at psychosocial risk? A systematic review of positive development programs," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 99(C), pages 194-209.
    18. Jie Zhao & Ji Chen & Damien Beillouin & Hans Lambers & Yadong Yang & Pete Smith & Zhaohai Zeng & Jørgen E. Olesen & Huadong Zang, 2022. "Global systematic review with meta-analysis reveals yield advantage of legume-based rotations and its drivers," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-9, December.
    19. Qing Ye & Bao-Xin Qian & Wei-Li Yin & Feng-Mei Wang & Tao Han, 2016. "Association between the HFE C282Y, H63D Polymorphisms and the Risks of Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease, Liver Cirrhosis and Hepatocellular Carcinoma: An Updated Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis o," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 11(9), pages 1-17, September.
    20. Bishal Mohindru & David Turner & Tracey Sach & Diana Bilton & Siobhan Carr & Olga Archangelidi & Arjun Bhadhuri & Jennifer A. Whitty, 2020. "Health State Utility Data in Cystic Fibrosis: A Systematic Review," PharmacoEconomics - Open, Springer, vol. 4(1), pages 13-25, March.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:9:y:2012:i:1:p:123-138:d:15521. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.