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Suicide and Self-Injury

Assessing the Impact of a Specified Audience Demographic on Perceptions of Online Suicide and Non-Suicidal Self-Injury Resources

(PS11-12) Assessing the Impact of a Specified Audience Demographic on Perceptions of Online Suicide and Non-suicidal Self-injury Resources

Saturday, November 16, 2024
2:30 PM – 3:30 PM EST
Location: Franklin Hall, Level 4, Marriott Downtown
Abstract Text: In the United States, suicide and non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) are increasing public health concerns that require prevention and intervention. In response to barriers preventing those in need from receiving mental health information and care, researchers have developed online mental health resources (e.g., fact sheets) to make this information more accessible and actionable. However, most people leave websites within 70 seconds, so online resources need to quickly engage users to increase the likelihood that they access and act on the information. One way to increase engagement is for online resources to appeal to specific users. This study investigated the relationship between resources with a specified audience demographic and public ratings of personal relevance, understandability, approval, and likelihood of recommending that online resource. Undergraduate students (N = 364; 68% White) completed a survey that asked them to rate and rank subsets of 59 resources on suicide, NSSI, and related treatments like CBT. These resources were coded by two undergraduate students as containing information about youth, adults, older adults, caregivers/providers, a specific racial-ethnic minoritized group, another demographic group (e.g., Veterans), or no specific demographic group. Preliminary analyses suggest that there is a positive impact of having a specified audience demographic on the likelihood of recommending online suicide and NSSI resources (p = .0559). Resources with specified audiences did not have significantly different personal relevance, understandability, and approval ratings than resources with no specified audience. The number of audiences addressed in a resource was not associated with approval or likelihood of recommending the resource; resources including information for multiple audience demographics were rated similarly to resources with information for a single demographic. These findings suggest that individuals may consider a resource’s audience when thinking about mental health information that may be helpful for others but may not necessarily consider the audience when consuming information for themselves. Further research into resource accessibility and actionability is needed to improve users' personal engagement with online suicide and non-suicidal self-injury resources.