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. 2014;10(1):97-107.

Media coverage of youth suicides and its impact on paediatric mental health emergency department presentations

Stephanie L Leon  1 , Paula Cloutier  2 , Marc-André BéLair  3 , Mario Cappelli  4
Affiliations

Media coverage of youth suicides and its impact on paediatric mental health emergency department presentations

Stephanie L Leon et al. Healthc Policy. 2014.

Abstract
in English, French

Background: To examine mental health (MH) presentations to the emergency department (ED) of a paediatric hospital following two highly publicized local teen suicides.

Methods: Youths aged 12-18 years with a MH chief complaint and/or diagnosis were included. Differences in frequencies were analyzed using chi-square tests, and relative risks were evaluated using generalized linear modelling.

Results: Significant increases in the number of ED presentations were found within the months of the publicized suicides compared to the same months of previous years. No differences were found in symptom acuity, suicidal status and psychiatric hospitalization rates. Significant increases were found in relative risk of presenting to the ED 28 and 90 days post both publicized suicides.

Conclusions: RESULTS suggest there was an association between highly publicized suicides and an increase in the number of MH presentations to the local paediatric ED. Considerations of media's potentially positive role in MH awareness are needed.

Contexte: Examiner les visites pour raison de santé mentale aux services des urgences d'un hôpital pédiatrique suite à deux suicides d'adolescents fortement couverts par les médias locaux.

Méthode: Les jeunes de 12 à 18 ans avec un motif de consultation et/ou un diagnostique lié à la santé mentale ont été inclus dans cette étude. Les différences dans la fréquence ont été analysées au moyen du test de chi carré et les risques relatifs ont été évalués par modélisation linéaire généralisée.

Résultats: Nous avons observé un accroissement significatif des visites aux services des urgences dans les mois qui ont suivi l'annonce des suicides, comparativement aux mêmes mois de l'année précédente. Nous n'avons pas observé de différences dans la gravité des symptômes, le statut suicidaire et les taux d'hospitalisation pour raisons psychiatriques. Nous avons observé un accroissement significatif du risque relatif de se présenter aux services des urgences de 28 à 90 jours après l'annonce des suicides.

Conclusions: Les résultats font voir qu'il y a un lien entre les suicides hautement médiatisés et un accroissement du nombre de visites pour des raisons de santé mentale aux services des urgences d'un hôpital pédiatrique local. Il est nécessaire de se pencher sur le rôle potentiellement positif des médias dans la prise de conscience sur la santé mentale.

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Figures

FIGURE 1.
FIGURE 1.
Monthly mental health presentations from January 2007 to March 2012*
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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