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An analysis of the impact of suicide prevention messages and memorials on motorway bridges
Author(s) -
O'Neill Siobhan,
Potts Courtney,
Bond Raymond,
Mulvenna Maurice,
Ennis Edel,
McFeeters Danielle,
Boyda David,
Morrissey Jacqui,
Scowcroft Elizabeth,
Isaksen Mette,
Turkington Robin
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
suicide and life‐threatening behavior
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.544
H-Index - 90
eISSN - 1943-278X
pISSN - 0363-0234
DOI - 10.1111/sltb.12736
Subject(s) - suicide prevention , injury prevention , significant difference , poison control , occupational safety and health , human factors and ergonomics , bridge (graph theory) , medicine , forensic engineering , medical emergency , environmental health , psychology , demography , engineering , sociology , surgery , pathology
Recently, there has been activity at public locations where people have died by suicide, including the erection of suicide prevention messages and memorials (decorations). This research looks at the impact of these decorations and associated media coverage of the decorations on suicidal behaviour at bridges. Incidents ( n = 160) of suicidal behaviour on 26 bridges across motorways in England were analysed. Overall, there was no significant difference in the proportion of incidents pre‐decoration versus post‐decoration ( p ‐value = .55). The incident rates were not significantly different pre‐ and post‐decoration ( p = .46). Only one bridge had statistically significantly more incidents post‐decoration and media reporting ( p = .03). However, following correction for multiple testing there was no significant difference in pre‐ and post‐incident rates at any of the bridges. In total, 58% of bridges had a greater frequency of incidents when decorations were absent; however, this proportion was not statistically significant ( p = .41). Further research is required to establish how suicide prevention messages are perceived. There does not appear to be any benefit, but it often generates media coverage which has been shown to increase risk.