Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2024 Jun 14;24(1):444.
doi: 10.1186/s12888-024-05905-x.

Change in attitudes after a suicide prevention media campaign in the Mid-Norway region

Christine Mohn  1   2 , Egil Haga  3 , Hanne Sofie Wernoe Nilsson  3   4 , Jane Pirkis  5 , Lars Mehlum  3
Affiliations

Change in attitudes after a suicide prevention media campaign in the Mid-Norway region

Christine Mohn et al. BMC Psychiatry. .

Abstract

Background: Suicide prevention media campaigns are one way of reaching people at increased suicide risk who would otherwise not seek help. This is the first study of a Norwegian campaign directed both at individuals at risk for suicide and at their social network.

Methods: We evaluated a media campaign consisting of outdoor posters, feature articles, film clips, and online banners in print, digital, and social media spread across the Mid-Norway region in late autumn 2022. This campaign material consisted of information about how to seek help for suicide thoughts and mental health problems and how to help a friend in similar situations. Before and after this campaign, 1149 adult individuals living in Mid-Norway participated in a survey on attitudes to suicide, mental ill health, and help-seeking.

Results: There were only marginal changes in attitudes and help-seeking literacy after the campaign. This result was sustained when controlling for age, sex, and campaign visibility. For males, there were a few changes in the negative direction, i.e. lack of willingness to seek help from family and friends, after the campaign.

Conclusion: We conclude that the campaign did not seem to have the desired effect and suggest ways of improving future regional Norwegian media campaigns.

Keywords: Help-seeking; Mental health stigma; Public campaign; Suicide; Suicide prevention.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing interests.

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Stene-Larsen K, Øien-Ødegaard C, Straiton ML, Reneflot A, Zahl PH, Hauge LJ. Suicide in Norway The Public Health Report 2023. Norwegian Institute of Public Health. https://www.fhi.no/he/folkehelserapporten/psykisk-helse/selvmord-i-norge/ Published 2023. Accessed June 30, 2023.
    1. Cavanagh JT, Carson AJ, Sharpe M, Lawrie SM. Psychological autopsy studies of suicide: a systematic review. Psychol Med. 2003;33(2):395–405. doi: 10.1017/S0033291702006943. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Bakken IJ, Ellingsen CL, Pedersen AG, Leistad L, Kinge JM, Ebbing M, Vollset SE. Comparison of data from the cause of Death Registry and the Norwegian patient Register. Tidsskr nor Legeforen. 2015;135(21):1949–53. doi: 10.4045/tidsskr.14.0847. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Niederkrotenthaler T, Reidenberg DJ, Till B, Gould MS. Increasing help-seeking and referrals for individuals at risk for suicide by decreasing stigma. The role of mass media. Am J Prev Med. 2014;47:s235–43. doi: 10.1016/j.amepre.2014.06.010. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Clement S, Schauman O, Graham T, et al. What is the impact of mental health-related stigma on help-seeking? A systematic review of quantitative and qualitative studies. Psychol Med. 2015;45(1):11–27. doi: 10.1017/S0033291714000129. - DOI - PubMed

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources