Elsevier

Journal of Affective Disorders

Volume 279, 15 January 2021, Pages 730-736
Journal of Affective Disorders

Research paper
The impact of a suicide prevention awareness campaign on stigma, taboo and attitudes towards professional help-seeking

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2020.11.024Get rights and content
Under a Creative Commons license
open access

Highlights

  • The national suicide prevention awareness campaign was moderately successful in establishing visibility among the general public, and was most visible among the youngest respondents (< 25 years).

  • Results indicated no influence of gender and educational level on the awareness of the public campaign.

  • Respondents who had seen the public awareness campaign were more likely to be familiar with the Dutch suicide prevention helpline than those who had indicated not having seen the campaign.

  • Respondents who had seen the public awareness campaign scored higher on openness towards seeking professional psychological help.

Abstract

Background: In 2017, the European Alliance against Depression (EAAD) was introduced in The Netherlands through the creation of six Suicide Prevention Action Networks (SUPRANET Community). The intervention was launched with a national suicide prevention awareness campaign. This campaign aims to encourage the general public to talk about suicide. This study aimed to gain insight into the effectiveness of the campaign in achieving attitudinal change in the general public, as stigmas related to mental health disorders and -services are an important reason for insufficient help-seeking.

Methods: A repeated cross-section design, using general population surveys (N = 6,773) to measure key variables over time. The survey includes questions on socio-demographic variables, campaign visibility, brand awareness of the Dutch helpline, perceived taboo on suicide, attitudes towards depression and help-seeking.

Results: The public awareness campaign was predominantly visible among the younger generation. Respondents who indicated having seen the public awareness campaign showed more openness towards seeking professional help and were considerably more likely to be familiar with the Dutch helpline than those who reported not having seen the campaign. Campaign awareness also seemed to relate to a higher perceived taboo on suicide and a lower estimation of the value of professional help.

Limitations: Due to the nature of the intervention, we used a quasi-experimental design. Self-report can lead to desirability bias, especially when measuring attitudes and stigmas.

Conclusions: Our results strengthen the idea that awareness campaigns can make a contribution to informing the general public about mental health services and improving help-seeking behaviour.

Keywords

Suicide prevention
SUPRANET
multi-level intervention
public awareness campaign
attitudinal change
help-seeking behaviour

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