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Suicide and Self-Injury

Effects of Suicide Stigma Reduction Interventions upon Adult Help-Seeking Intentions

(PS11-29) Effects of Suicide Stigma Reduction Interventions upon Adult Help-seeking Intentions

Saturday, November 16, 2024
2:30 PM – 3:30 PM EST
Location: Franklin Hall, Level 4, Marriott Downtown
Abstract Text:

Introduction: Stigma surrounding mental illness and help-seeking are prominent barriers to help-seeking behavior. Individuals experiencing suicidal ideation and/or behavior often internalize additional stigma related specifically to suicide, which can intensify suicidal desire (Baams, Grossman, & Russell, 2015; Testa et al., 2017) and further deter help-seeking (Downs & Eisenberg, 2012; Han et al., 2018).
Recognition of stigma's role as a barrier to help-seeking has spurred the design of interventions and public health campaigns to increase help-seeking behavior via stigma reduction (Corrigan, 2004). However, though efforts to increase help-seeking in suicidal individuals by reducing suicide-specific stigma have demonstrated effectiveness in an undergraduate sample (Hom, Stanley, & Joiner, 2015), the broader utility of interventions solely targeting stigma reduction while failing to address other barriers to help-seeking for suicide (e.g., logistical concerns, distrust of providers) has been questioned (Hom et al., 2015).


Objective: Examine changes in help-seeking intentions following engagement with a stigma of suicide reduction intervention within a broader adult population.


Methods: 204 adults not currently receiving treatment/medication for mental illness concerns (64.2% female, 54.4% White, mean age = 24.42 years) were recruited from community and undergraduate populations in the context of an evaluation of online single-session stigma reduction interventions (Rogers et al., 2018). Participants were randomly assigned to spend 20 minutes browsing one of three websites: the first (National Suicide Prevention Lifeline) provided psychoeducation about suicide and suicide prevention, the second (Live Through This) contained firsthand accounts of lived experiences with suicidal ideation and behavior, and the third control website (National Diabetes Education) provided information about recognizing and managing diabetes. All participants were asked to report their help-seeking intentions using the General Help-Seeking Questionnaire (GHSQ) at baseline, after browsing their assigned website, and at 1-Month Follow-Up.


Results: A mixed ANOVA test found that differences in participants' total GHSQ scores across timepoints were not significant, F(2, 366) = 1.18, p = .31, and did not vary between treatment conditions, F(2, 183) = 1.75, p = .18. The interaction effect of treatment condition and timepoint was also not significant, F(4, 366) = .65, p = .63.


Conclusion: While Rogers and colleagues' (2018) initial study found brief online psychoeducation and lived experience interventions reduced suicide-related stigma, this secondary data analysis found those interventions did not significantly alter help-seeking intentions among a subset of participants not then engaged in psychiatric treatment. These findings support Hom and colleagues' (2015) suggestion that interventions targeting suicide-related stigma alone may not be sufficient to increase help-seeking intentions. Future efforts to promote help-seeking among suicidal individuals may need to address more diverse barriers to help-seeking, and/or discuss stigma related to suicide, mental illness, and help-seeking in greater depth.