Introduction

 Suicide - one of the leading preventable

causes of death around the world. More than
1,00,000 individuals every year
(NCRB,2015)

 Suicidal behavior is contagious (Gould,

1990)

 Cause-effect relationship between the

quantity of reporting on completed suicide
and subsequent suicide rates (Pirkis and
Blood,2001; Pirkis et al., 2006).
 Introduction
Werther effect

 Papageno effect

 Suicide contagion more likely when

 Method is specified (Ashton and Donnan, 1981; Schmidtke and

Häfner,1988; Fekete and Macsai,1990)

 Story is repeated (Philips 1974;Stack,1987)

 Introduction
 Dramatic and prominent (Stack 1987;
Kopping et al,1989)

 Celebrity suicides (Wasserman, 1984; Stack

1987, Fekete and Macsai 1990)

 Similarity : age, sex and nationality

(Hawton,2005)

 Possible to reduce risk by implementing

guidelines (Pirkis et al, 2011).
 Review of Literatures

The criteria for causal relationship between the

media reports and the subsequent suicide rates

-Strength of the association

-Consistency
-Temporality
-Specificity
-Coherence
 Review of Literatures
Literature on Werther Effect
-WHO (2008)

-Philips (1974)

-Takahashi (1998)

Your Text Here Literature on Papageno effect

You can simply impress your audience -Michel et al (2000)
and add a unique zing and appeal to your
Presentations. -Littmann (1983), Sonneck and
Etzerdorfer,1998)

-Martin et al (1997)

Literature on training Literature on adherence to guidelines

-Gururaj et al (2003) -Jain et al (2016)

-Ramadas et al (2011) -Armstrong et al (2018)

-Harshe et al (2016)

-Chandra et al (2014)
METHODOLOGY

 NEED OF THE STUDY

 AIM OF THE STUDY

 To develop a module for the media students on

responsible reporting of suicide and related mental
health aspects
 Objectives

1
To assess the feasibility of the
prepared module among the media
To develop a module students
for the media that
includes components
of responsible suicide
reporting and
associated mental
health aspects.
 Operational Definitions
Suicide
Suicide is the act of deliberately killing oneself
(WHO). Also referred to as ‘completed suicide’

Suicide contagion
Suicide contagion is the exposure to suicide or
suicidal behaviors within one's family, one's
peer group, or through media reports of suicide
and can result in an increase in suicide and
suicidal behaviors (U.S Department of Health
and Health Services)
 Operational Definitions
Mental illness
Mental illnesses are health conditions
involving changes in emotion, thinking or
behavior (or a combination of these). Mental
illnesses are associated with distress and/or
problems functioning in social, work or family
activities (American Psychiatric Association)

Mental health
A state of well-being in which the individual
realizes his or her own abilities, can cope with
the normal stresses of life, can work
productively and fruitfully, and is able to make
a contribution to his or her community (WHO)
 Operational Definitions
Responsible reporting
The reporting style where the guidelines for
reporting are followed, thus reducing the
sensitization of the incidents of suicide

Suicide Survivors
The family members and friends who
experience the suicide of a loved one
(McIntosh,1993)
Theoretical Explanation of Media
Impact
 Social Learning Theory (Bandura,
1977)

 Differential Identification Theory

(Glaser,1956)

 Symbolic Interactionism
(Blumer,1969)
(Stack, 2005)
Process of the study

Phase 1 – Formative work

Phase 2 – Development of the

module

Feasibility testing
 Phase 1
 Review of Current literature

 Formative Qualitative research using FGD

and In depth interviews

 Purposive Sampling
 Phase 1
Universe
Media professionals, Mental health professionals, Media
students and suicide survivors

Population
The Media professionals, Mental health professionals, Media
students in their second year and suicide survivors in South
India.
 Phase 1 1
Inclusion Criteria

 The media and mental health

professionals who have been
working in their area of
expertise for a period of at least
5 years
 Media students doing their
second year Masters
 Suicide survivors who had
stayed for a period of at least 6
months with the individual who
committed suicide
 Phase 2
 Preparation of the module

 Responsible suicide reporting, mental health and enriching the

mental well being of the media professionals

 Participatory teaching methods

 Content Validation
 Phase 3
 Feasibility testing

 Semi structured feedback form

 Phase 3
Data Analysis

 Thematic Content Analysis

 NVivo
 Ethical Considerations
 Ethical clearance will be sought from the institute for
the study

 Written informed consent will be obtained from all

participants.

 The aim and objectives of the study will be explained

to the participants
 Confidentiality and anonymity of the participants will
be ensured.

 The collected data will be used only for research

purposes

 Participants would be referred for expert clinical

opinion if the need is observed
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