The efficacy of community-based interventions for suicide prevention

Abstract

BACKGROUND: In response to the rising concerns about the youth suicide-clustering pattern in a suburb area in Hong Kong, a three-year community-based suicide prevention project (2011-2014) is launched with an aim to reduce the suicide risk in the community. Interventions include raising awareness of mental health literacy; restricting access to suicide means; training gatekeepers of suicide prevention; and strengthening the continuity of care for youth with self-harm behaviors. A multi-disciplinary working group consisted of local stakeholders such as government officials, medical professionals, police officers, social workers and parents, is set up to advise and implement the interventions. METHODS: To capture the changes of suicide risk between the pre- and post-intervention stage, a few evaluation methods are used: 1). Surveillance and monitoring on suicide deaths and attempts through the Geographic Information System; 2). Data-mining from the suicide files retrieved from the Coroner's Court; and 3). A community need assessment using a panel household survey for youth aged between 15 to 29 (N=717; M:F =1:1.2). Results: The suicide rate in this suburb area rises from 2.2 per 100,000 in 2008 to 10.3 in 2010 but reduces to 3.7 in 2011 (the average suicide rate in in Hong Kong is 4.9 in 2008,3.9 in 2010 and 3.3 in 2011).The prevalence of past-year suicide ideation and suicide attempt among the youth was 9.4% and 4.9%, respectively. 27.4% (n=194) of the respondents reported suffering from depression and anxiety symptoms (DASS) while over 80% of them did not seek help for their mental health problems. CONCLUSION: potentials of making use of social work interventions with appropriate use of surveillance systems in providing timely help to youth with suicide risk as well as its associate challenges will be discussed in the presentation.