W08-03 - Suicide Related Information on the Internet and Implications for Prevention

Abstract

The presentation will give an overview of the Estonian language websites that users are likely to find when seeking suicide related information on the web. The material for the study was collected within the EC Public Health Programme project SUPREME (Suicide Prevention by Internet and Media Based Mental Health Promotion).

Sixty search hits were examined using the Google search engine on two different keywords referring to suicide (in Estonian language ‘suitsiid’ and ‘enesetapp’). Research method was qualitative thematic content analysis. The following five content categories were revealed: statistics about suicide; suicide provoking and stigmatisation; suicide prevention and help for persons in suicidal crisis; neutral informative materials; professional advice.

The conclusions based on the results were: the websites of organisations aiming to prevent suicides should include clear guidelines where to refer in case of depression and suicidal thoughts; when developing a website, the strategy for making websites easily available in search engines should be carefully elaborated; the websites that avoid stigma and offer help should open first, when a suicidal person uses in search engines the keywords like suicide and depression; web-based forums should not be un-moderated discussion groups, especially those targeted to adolescents and youth.