Beneficial and Harmful Effects of Reducing Public Suicide Stigma

Public Suicide Stigma Clinical Trial

Official title:

Beneficial and Harmful Effects of Reducing Public Suicide Stigma

Clinical Trial Details — Status: Completed

Administrative data

• NCT number: NCT04756219
• Other study ID #: 352/20
• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Start date: February 19, 2021
• Est. completion date: March 19, 2021

Study information

• Verified date: June 2021
• Source: University of Ulm
• Contact: n/a
• Is FDA regulated: No
• Study type: Interventional

Clinical Trial Summary

There is growing evidence that negative attitudes towards persons affected by suicide (i.e. persons who experience suicidality, persons who lost a loved one to suicide), so called public suicide stigma, is harmful for suicide prevention, for example by reducing social support, inhibiting help-seeking for suicidality and increasing distress as well as suicidality among stigmatized persons. Reducing public suicide stigma could therefore be an important factor of successful suicide prevention. However, reducing public suicide stigma could also be harmful, for example by increasing attitudes that suicidal behaviour is a normal and acceptable solution for crisis situations, which could decrease help-seeking for suicidality and encourage suicidal behaviour. This project will (1) develop four interventions (contact-based vs. education based, video vs. text) hypothesized to reduce public suicide stigma, (2) determine the efficacy of the four interventions with regard to reducing public suicide stigma, (3) identify additional harmful (e.g. normalization of suicidal behaviour) and beneficial intervention effects (e.g. improved attitudes to seek help) and (4) investigate pathways explaining intervention effects.

Recruitment information / eligibility

• Status: Completed
• Enrollment: 1800
• Est. completion date: March 19, 2021
• Est. primary completion date: March 19, 2021
• Accepts healthy volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers
• Gender: All
• Age group: 18 Years and older

Eligibility

Inclusion Criteria:

Participants need to be at least 18 years old, speak German and provide online informed consent. Exclusion Criteria: Persons who self-report to have experienced suicidality within three months before baseline will be excluded.

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• Public Suicide Stigma
• Suicide

Intervention

Other:
• Contact Video
No additional information necessary.
• Contact Text
No additional information necessary.
• Education Video
No additional information necessary.
• Education Text
No additional information necessary.

Locations

Country	Name	City	State
Germany	Ulm University	Ulm

Sponsors (1)

Lead Sponsor	Collaborator
University of Ulm

Country where clinical trial is conducted

Germany, 

Outcome

Type	Measure	Description	Time frame	Safety issue
Primary	Stigma subscale of the Stigma of Suicide Scale short form (SOSS-SF)	Batterham al. (2013) The Stigma of Suicide Scale. Psychometric properties and correlates of the stigma of suicide. Crisis 34(1):13-21	Immediately after the intervention (t1)
Secondary	Stigma subscale of the Stigma of Suicide Scale short form (SOSS-SF)	Batterham al. (2013) The Stigma of Suicide Scale. Psychometric properties and correlates of the stigma of suicide. Crisis 34(1):13-21	Two weeks after the intervention (t2)
Secondary	Literacy of Suicide Scale (LOSS)	Batterham et al. (2013) Correlates of suicide stigma and suicide literacy in the community. Suicide Life Threat Behav 43(4):406-417	Immediately after the intervention (t1); Two weeks after the intervention (t2)
Secondary	Cognitions Concerning Suicide Scale (CCSS)	Cwik et al. (2017) Measuring attitudes towards suicide: Preliminary evaluation of an attitude towards suicide scale. Compr Psychiatry 72:56-65	Immediately after the intervention (t1); Two weeks after the intervention (t2)
Secondary	General help-seeking questionnaire suicidal ideation subscale (GHSQ-SI)	Wilson et al. (2005) Measuring help-seeking intentions: Properties of the General Help-Seeking Questionnaire. Canadian Journal of Counselling 39(1):15-28	Immediately after the intervention (t1); Two weeks after the intervention (t2)
Secondary	Current suicidality	One item adapted from the PHQ-9 (Kroenke et al. 2001; "Do you currently experience thoughts that you would be better off dead or of hurting yourself?" response scale from 1 (not at all) to 7 (very much)	Immediately after the intervention (t1); Two weeks after the intervention (t2)
Secondary	Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS), negative affect subscale	Breyer & Bluemke (2016) Deutsche Version der Positive and Negative Affect Schedule PANAS (GESIS Panel). ZIS - GESIS Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences	Immediately after the intervention (t1); Two weeks after the intervention (t2)
Secondary	Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-2)	Löwe et al. (2005) Detecting and monitoring depression with a two-item questionnaire (PHQ-2). Journal of Psychosomatic Research 58(2):163-171	Two weeks after the intervention (t2)